A Blank Page and Plenty of Ink

The sun beating upon my back
Precious words before my eyes
Flying high above, soaring through the skies

Ink built up, ready to spill
to pen pages and pages and share with the world

The life that's held within,
The beauty that this heart holds.
Ready to make an impact;
To produce, shape and mold.

Carefully crafting clouds,
Sending them through the air.
With one breath,
One strong life filled breath
Birthing that which is new,
and letting it dance through the sky.
Dancing with the sun,
and singing with the stars

Recollecting times of before
Dreaming all the dreams that are in store...

Provision Upon Provision

My palms were a bit sweaty as I carried the shiny green bike frame up our flight of stairs. I was nervous about locking up on the veranda where everyone could see it. I had become quite vigilant about locking it up within the closet of our apartment's car port.

Not too long before, I had left my bike just outside the closet door, in between my friends car and the closet. When I went to go to work, my bike was gone. I had taken as a personally, as the bike had been a gift from some dear friends.

I was going to start school which was a good 10 minute drive from my house, and as I later came to know because of my friend's generosity, about a 25 mn bike ride.

I was so sad starting my shift right after I had found out. I shared with a few of my regulars what had happened, as they had expressed their concern for me.

Later that evening, Barry, a sweet older gentleman who comes in every day to get his wife 2 Venti Caramel Macchiatos (one for that afternoon, and the other that she reheats for the morning). This was his second visit of the day, and as he walked in the door - he pointed to me and that he needed to talk to me. I was making drinks- so I was going to take a few seconds to finish up and as I did, he wheeled in a beautiful green mountain bike!

I came from behind the counter and gave him a huge hug. "I told my wife about your loss, and she wanted you to have hers. She only rode it once or twice"

It was so incredible to me how God used this family that I barely new to bring so much hope to my heart, and share so much of my Father's heart toward me.

A few days later I was hanging out with a friend on my day off, when I received a phone call from my store. I reluctantly answered as I didn't want to work on my day off and had figured that was the nature of the call. To my surprise, Mohammad, another regular from our store (grande coffee) was on the store's phone. "Natasha, come to the store right now." My friend and I walked to Starbucks to meet him, and there he was with a big grin on his face, a white towel in his hand. He handed me the towel and said that it might need to be wiped off and pointed to the bike propped up against the window of the store... He also handed me a pump which I could keep to make sure the tires stayed full (which is so awesome because I secretly don't like going to the gas station to fill my bikes tires).

I had one need - transportation to school.

God provided, not once, not twice, but three times over. Restoring what I lost two times over.

So I now have two beautiful mountain bikes, and am able to share my bike with a coworker who was also needing some form of transportation to and from school.

Back to carrying my bike up the flight of stairs... As I locked it up I didn't understand why I felt God nudge me to lock it up there as opposed to in the closet. Periodically throughout the night I'd take a peek to make sure it was still there. Finally, I let go, and decided to trust Him. If it was Him nudging me to do so, then he'd also take care of it, even if I didn't understand why...

Later on He whispered over my heart... I want to put on display my provision for you.

And every day that I go to lock it up or unlock it, I'm reminded of how well He takes care of me :)

Honesty is the Best Policy

Being honest with where you're at can sometimes take guts.

To expose not where you want to be, nor where you've been; rather, where you ARE.

NOW

UNASHAMEDLY

Sometimes, that's the only way to get to where you want to be-

All the wishing in the world can't get you from where you are to where you want to be without being honest about where you are.

For example - my Robinson Crusoe paper.

I got stuck.

Yes circumstances happened to coincide with the timing of the due date, but the reason as to why I was stuck was my unwillingness to admit where I was at and that I needed help.

The longer that I let time pass, the harder it was to come forward with where I was at... the first paragraph.

Crazy Week. Due date passes. I let this one slip by.

Then steps in grace - another chance.

But now it's been months and I'm still on the intro paragraph.

Another due date about to slip by.

And Grace comes aknock'n at my door.

So this time, I let her in.

Show her exactly where I'm at what I was thinking and where I'm stuck.

2 sentences later - and I have CLEAR VISION, and DIRECTION.

No longer hiding behind my I've got it together face.

A little more freedom, and a bit of sweet success.

I proudly report that my relationship with Ol Robbie that sea-faring wanderer, has now come to an end :)

Newness

I feel like I need to document this somewhere, and to make a status of this on facebook would cheapen the feeling I have....

I feel like there is really big exciting news.
I checked my email's inbox... treasures of ministry updates, but there is something more, something has shifted - I feel it. Something big.

So I wait with hopefilled anticipation :)

I Speak

I speak and I move mountains
I speak and I uplift hearts
I speak and hold everything together
I speak and I lift joy in this land.

I want to teach you to speak in the way that I do;
To uphold what's worth upholding with your voice.
To care for the brokenhearted;

And break down walls of iron-
That all may see the beauty of this majesty.

There is a wind blowing, shifting the topsoil-
Letting you dig deeper for this treasure
This treasure that's already yours.

Straigtened Spine

Sleepover.
Giggly girls.
Dancing.
Making food.
Movies.
Healing.


HEALING....
It was SO wonderful to see our friend Miranda aka Randy be healed.

We were discussing which 2 girls would get the pleasure of cozying up in the twin bed, and which one of us would sleep on the floor. I was totally set for the floor when Randy shares that the floor is better for her because of her back. She explains the pain she had had and discomfort of having a pretty major curve in her spine. I was like, "so let's fix that ..."

Zahkea and I layed hands on her back, prayed, and spoke healing over her body. Sure enough, our God is HEALER. Miranda, wide-eyed, reports the difference that she feels in her body not only from the pain, but also with less intense of a curve.

We could totally see that she was carrying herself differently, and not only in her posture. She said that she felt taller. We all run to the doorway where she had been keeping track of her height. She showed us where she had been at, how she had shrunk (because of the curve in her spine) and upon measuring her- she was TALLER than both of the latest markings :)


To celebrate this healing, Randy slept in the cushy bed :)

Flavor Time

I've realized that in my cooking, I hold back on the flavor...
I tend to make things a little more bland,
the thought behind it being that it COULD potentially be TOO MUCH
and that people wouldn't like it.

Similarly,
I've held back with who I am
I don't want to be TOO ( whatever )
so I've held back.


But we're taking strides away from this,
and it's time to pull out the cilantro ;)