it's the little things that count...

and it's the little things that will drive you crazy...

during these last few days of our engagement, all of the wedding planning is at its height. there's only so much you can do during your engagement, which is why long engagements just don't make sense to me. 6 months and 2 weeks was more than enough time for us. you have to book the locations for the ceremony and reception, the photographer, the caterer, and some other big ticket things, but other than that most of the work happens the week before...

my mom and i have been running around Tallahassee paying the vendors, double checking the bouquet orders and the food for the reception, etc. and it's pretty crazy...no it's REALLY crazy. fun though, but still...crazy.

it's such a joy to be able to plan such an amazing event, and to be able to make it how i want it to be...there's been a lot, a WHOLE lot of thought put into this 6 hour event...

but Satan sure does try to magnify the small things that don't go as expected...my shoes got a little dirty, my dress needs another steam, my nail broke (even though i'm getting a manicure tomorrow, i got really aggravated about it today!)...and plenty of other little things!

but right at that moment of frustration i have to keep catching myself and reminding myself about the bigger picture that a) at the end of the day, the only thing that matters is that Dave and I are Mr. and Mrs. Hess and b) that God was glorified. THAT'S IT! the candles being all lit, the stage looking beautiful, the food tasting great, the guests following proper etiquette; none of that matters in the end.

praise God that i have an amazing mother who has been SUPER WOMAN with this whole wedding planning. and an unbelievably forgiving and understanding fiance, who means everything to me, the most perfect man in the world for me, and the one who holds all of my affection. I do Dave Hess! I do!

Coincidence? I think not!

10 days...10 daaaaaaaaays! Amazing. We've been engaged for over 6 months... I know that doesn't seem too long, call it the "Every Nation Style Engagement" if you will, but it seems like it has taken so long to finally get to the final stretch. I've grown alot, we've grown alot, and our marriage is going to be so strong thanks to this fruitful engagement season. What an amazing time.

Our biggest desire for our wedding day is that God would be glorified and magnified above anything else. The picture that we will show on our wedding day, reflecting God's love and adoration for His Bride, the Church, will be so tangible and so evident, we pray that many lives will be touched through us. Dave and I have been striving so hard to glorify God in everything that we do, and by staying pure during our engagement season (it's hard keeping those boundaries when you have the man of your dreams right in front of you!), and by saving ourselves for each other and that first kiss! Praise God, we're going to make it. It's only by His grace. Praise God.

And that's just what Satan hates. He hates it when people love Jesus, they make a commitment to him, and they stick with it! I'm not saying we're perfect, but Satan hates every effort towards glorifying the name of Jesus.

And it's easy to tell. There has been alot of spiritual attack on us lately. There's been alot of spiritual attack during our engagment, but especially these last few weeks. I know that Satan wants to release an arsenal of stress and discouragement (he already has let a few arrows fly), but I WILL NOT HAVE IT! Praise God for all the faith building that he's been working on me with through the years, it is paying off!

Even yesterday as Dave's car broke down, for the second or third time in the last month or so (coincidence? I think not!) -- God was in control and he COMPLETELY provided and turned the situation around within 24 hours. It's amazing! I can't go into much detail yet, but God is so good!

He can do anything. I'm serious. My God is so HUGE! I just had to praise him.
Satan hates me, but I hate him more, and I have a big God to back me up.

What has God done for you lately that you are praising Him for?

"Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried...your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you." -- Jesus of Nazareth

"As I hear heaven's melody, As You begin to..."

Zephaniah 3:17 -- "The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you with his love; he will exult over you with loud singing." (ESV)

The other day I was walking across campus when I saw a rare sight. A young looking man was pushing a stroller with a sleeping baby in it. The baby was probably around a year old or so, and the dad looked like he could have been my age.

As they approached while I was walking to the SM building, I could hear some hip hop music getting progressively louder as I walked. Come to find out, it was the dad's cd player that was sitting on the top of the stroller that was blaring out a song that uttered a profanity every other word. In the moment I was disgusted, what kind of a dad would do that? Let the kid sleep! Or at least play something more calming.

I've heard it said that if a baby listens to Mozart or some kind of classical music when they are young that they will grow up smarter. Don't quote me on that, but I'm pretty sure there's nothing beneficial about the song that father was letting sing out to the TCC campus listen to...I wonder how that will affect that child in the future.

But then it hit me...What is my father singing over me? Another version of that verse says that God "will rejoice over you with singing" (NIV). He rejoices? Over me? That should change something in me. My response should be out of adoration and fulfillment of that joy.

My sister was in a musical recently, "The Secret Garden". It was pretty good, my sister was fantastic (as usual), but there was one scene that pulled on me in particular. If you don't know the story, you should go see the musical or rent the movie, but one of the veins of the story is about a crippled boy, Colin, and his father, Archibald Craven, who can't stand to be with his son because he reminds him of his deceased wife who died in labor.

One scene pulled on my heart: Colin was sleeping, and Archibald Craven snuck into his room and began to sing a fairy tale story to him. A typical story about a knight in shining armor, a dragon, damsel in destress, etc. And you know what happened? Colin dreamed about it, and it gave him hope, and changed his outlook on his seemingly hopeless life as an invalid and a forgotten son.

So what is my Father, our Father, singing over me, singing over us? He rejoices over us. He showers His love on us. His love is never ending. It has no bounds. Nothing we can do can separate us from that love. It is unconditional, it has no conditions. God does not expect us to do anything to win his love. We can't.

He brings us peace. God frequently speaks to me in dreams, and although sometimes those dreams can shake me up a bit and be a jolting warning of things to come, there is always peace. God is a God of peace. That's one good litmus test as to who is speaking to you, who is speaking over you. Satan will never, ever give you peace. Not true peace. Complacency, sure. Apathy, absolutely. But that is not true peace.

And what Satan speaks to you will never agree with the Word of God. That is another way that we can know who is speaking to us: God is always in alignment with Truth, His Word. He is Truth, and Truth is in His nature. Satan will not, truth scares him and breaks the holds he has on our lives.

So I ask you: What is God been singing over you? What has He been speaking to you about? And more importantly, how will you respond when you "wake up"?

superwoman or just plain crazy?

Well i've got about 13 hours until i have to be at the airport to catch my plane to budapest. the team and i are really excited about what God's going to do on this spring break mission trip, and i'm especially excited to see all my friends that i met and spent so much time with this past summer...

wow. it's crazy to see where God has brought me since i was last in budapest. i was single and content with just me and Jesus, and now i'm engaged to be married. wow. even when we were planning this spring break trip i wasn't engaged. God is good. so much happened last summer, i learned so much...and now it's showing fruit. and i get to go back! wheee!

i love going to other countries. the smell and feel of an international airport is so cool. people look so different, sound so different, but we're all people, part of God's glorious creation.

but i know...i'm getting married in a little over 2 months (72 days!) and i'm crazy enough to go to europe in the midst of all the mayhem of planning my wedding...don't worry, i'm not too crazy. i think God has given me a special grace to go back, to serve again, and see His kingdom advance, all while ironing out details, nearly freaking out that one of my bridesmaids hadn't gotten her dress until this last week, and being a full time student!

crazy? no. superwoman? no. God's grace? yes. " From the fullness of grace we have all received one blessing after another."

i am so blessed. God is so good. can i just brag on him a bit?

not only does he bring Dave into my life, God brought him in the PERFECT timing, he orchestrated everything perfectly, my family adores him, and as for me?...well, he is most definetly everything i have ever wanted. every single dream, every single wish, every single desire for a husband is all fulfilled in that man. not that he's some perfect being mind you, but God is so good to make some one so perfect for me. i can literally tell you time after time when i prayed for my husband, asked God for a certain attribute for my husband to have, dreamed about him, wished for crazy things like brown hair that i could run my fingers through one day and was styled "spikey" like...i'm still reminded of those dreams, wishes, etc. and God is so good. he made dave just for me.

ok i'm sorry. i could go on and on about how amazing dave is, and how INCREDIBLE God is for making him and putting him in my life...

wedding things are going well, i've gotten my dress (alterations in a week! they're taking it from a size 8 to a 2...i don't know how but they are!), the bridesbabes have theirs, the men have their tuxes, the reception is good to go, so is the ceremony location, as well as the musicians, the rehearsal dinner, did marriage counseling...

now i have just under 72 days to twiddle my thumbs and read more books on how to be a great wife. :-)

question: is the electric slide the only song that everyone knows the moves to that isn't as obnoxioius as "YMCA"? i need more dancing songs for the reception...any favorites?