more favorites

another blog post within 8 days! I know, a miracle. I had fun with the favorite theme, so I thought I'd share a few more with you....enjoy :)

quote:

verses:
Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. (John 16:20-24 ESV)


blog post- it's a beautiful story that will make you want to go to Paris :)

video: I found this so inspirational! Nico's Story

friday favorites

hi there! I decided do something fun and do a 'favorite-y' post- so here's some of my favorites...

quote:

verse:

Psalm 118:14-19 

14 The Lord is my strength and my song;

he has become my salvation.

15 Glad songs of salvation

are in the tents of the righteous:

“The right hand of the Lord wdoes valiantly,

16 the right hand of the Lord exalts,

the right hand of the Lord does valiantly!”

17 I shall not die, but I shall live,

and recount the deeds of the Lord.

18 The Lord has disciplined me severely,

but he has not given me over to death.

19 Open to me the gates of righteousness,

that I may enter through them

and give thanks to the Lord.

blog post: (please just go check it out :)

dear little girl; and on that note please go check out this beautiful new blog!

video:

(not a one direction fan, but definately a piano guys one- and I loved this :)

book: kisses from Katie, by Katie Davis. just finished it, and was so blessed and inspired by this story of a young woman in her twenties who has adopted 13 girls and working for Jesus in Uganda.

alright that's all for now. let me know what you think! I love hearing from you :) (suggestions anyone?) have a blessed weekend!

x madison

come what May

May- a busy, growing month. so many thoughts crowding in and around me juxtapose the wide empty green hills rolling around me. and somehow through the confusion there's a calm- a sweetness in the bitter. i only see my weak self clinging to Him in the chaos of my mind that i've created. i see my filthy self, a pure God, and one spotless Door that is open between the two. i see my pathetic self,  an infinitely creative and beautiful God and a Friend who makes me see everything beautiful, and makes all things new. i see one hope, one joy, one love- only one who can satisfy and bring delight. He is one i  am eternally humbled to call friend. because through all my tumbled out babbling and filth and sin he makes me pure and clean, and makes me grow. 

X madison

april snapshots

april

 (included 16th birthday adventures :) 

i didn't actually read the last one, but we're fangirls so i had to snap a picture. 

thanks to all if you who made my 15th year such a joy! (that includes anyone who bothers to read this!)

x madison

God's Glory in the Wilderness

In my reading this morning I came across these words written by Susannah Spurgeon, which I thought I would share:

"And it came to pass, as Aaron spoke unto the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, and, behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud." Exodus 16:10.

A friend, writing to me from China, quoted part of this passage as having brought much comfort and blessing to him in a time of trial and difficulty. On turning to my Bible, I discovered that the context indicated that the appearance of the Lord, on that particular occasion, was rather matter for fear than for joy, for the people had grievously sinned, and could expect only the just punishment of their offences. But my friend, being not under the law, but under grace, did rightly, I think, in eating the honey out of this dead lion. For him, the cloud-enveloped glory could mean only deliverance, safety, and peace.

But from what an unexpected quarter the glorious vision came! "They looked toward the wilderness." Not a cheering prospect, surely! Not a likely spot to which one's eyes would naturally turn for a revelation of the Divine presence! A solitary place, without habitation, or fruitfulness, or beauty; a waste and arid land, where the sun smites by day, and the moon by night; a place where the wild beasts meet, and dragons and owls dwell in safety. Yet such a desert does God choose, in which to reveal Himself; and the watcher sees, amid all this desolation and loneliness, nothing less than "the glory of the Lord."

It is marvelous how full God's Words are, of blessed possibilities of unfolding and disclosure. However dark and indistinct a passage may at first sight appear to be, it will glow as with hidden fire when the Spirit of the Lord breathes upon it, and the eyes of faith and desire look closely into its depths. You have, doubtless, known the joy of this insight, dear reader. A text you may have read hundreds of times without noticing anything special about it, suddenly becomes alive, as it were, for you, and speaks to your heart, as the very voice of God Himself!

My correspondent had this delightful experience with the verse we are considering; and do you wonder at it? Cannot you make it your own?

Look into your past life, and see whether you cannot recall many times when you "looked toward" some wilderness of trial, or sorrow, or affliction, which lay directly in your pathway, but without the expectation of seeing "the glory of the Lord" there. Everything else you saw—the darkness, and the discomfort, and the danger—and you feared exceedingly.

Yet, has it not been true that, where and when you most needed Him, your blessed God has come to you; and, before long, your dreary desert has "blossomed as the rose!"

Then, too, with what infinite compassion for our weakness does He manifest Himself! His unveiled glory would strike us with blindness; so He makes it appear "in a cloud." With tenderest condescension, He deigns to enwrap His splendor in a misty veil of light, that the brightness of His presence may shine through, and yet not dazzle us.

Do not fear to look toward the wilderness, then, if your God has put you there; for here are the "goings forth" of the Lord from of old, and even thus does He give "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."

I hope they encouraged you like they did for me! Please forgive my neglect of my poor blog, I really want to thank you sincerely for bothering to read it! Hopefully I will post again before summer :) God's blessings be with you! 

xxx madi

All Things Beautiful: Book Giveaway

All Things Beautiful: Book Giveaway. Just popping in to say go check it out...because book giveaways are always worth a try :)

xxx madi

thoughts on a Friday afternoon

amidst the chaos of every day life, we are somehow able to enjoy even the simplest pleasures. unlooked for, undeserved, and yet so precious! learning to roller skate, and having my younger brothers help me stay up. staying up late talking to my 3 year old sister. reading with the window open, listening to the rain. experimenting with water colors like a little kid. watching the olympics and obsessing over figure skating. writing. singing. worrying. trusting. isn't that what life is made of? so many little moments all stitched and patched together that make one big blanket of memories. rough patches. smooth patches. bright ones, dark ones, crooked stitching. all put together beautifully by Loving Hands. 

(random pictures from pinterest :)

have a really lovely weekend, friends.

xxx madi

Is Chivalry Outdated?

A quickly thrown together post on chivalry:
I came across this interesting (and somewhat maybe, disturbing) article in our Costco Connection Magazine :) Is chivalry outdated? The 'yes' proponents seem to be thinking of chivalry as men treating women like 'fragile flowers' -and that we need to kill it. (Go ahead and give it a quick read. And vote for chivalry while you're at it!)

Chivalrous: having the high qualities characteristic of chivalry, such as courage, courtesy, generosity, loyalty, etc. (American College Encyclopedic Dictionary)

(See this article: Chivalry Is Out Of Style)

C.S. Lewis:

The word chivalry has meant at different times a good many different things-from heavy cavalry to giving a woman a seat in a train. But if we want to understand chivalry as an ideal distinct from other ideals – if we want to isolate that particular conception of the man comme il faut which was the special contribution of the Middle Ages to our culture- we cannot do better than turn to the words addressed to the greatest of all imaginary knights in Malory’s Morte Daurthur. “Thou wert the meekest man”, says Sir Ector to the dead Launcelot. “Thou wert the meekest man that ever ate in hall among ladies; and thou wert the sternest knight to thy mortal foe that ever put spear in the rest.”

The important thing about this ideal is, of course, the double demand it makes on human nature. The knight is a man of blood and iron, a man familiar with the sight of smashed faces and ragged stumps of lopped-off limbs; he is also a demure, almost a maidenlike, guest in hall, a gentle, modest, unobtrusive man. He is not a compromise or happy mean between ferocity and meekness; he is fierce to the nth and meek to the nth. When Launcelot heard himself pronounced the best knight in the world, “he wept as he had been a child that had been beaten.”  The Necessity of Chivalry, in Present Concerns: Essays by C.S. Lewis, edited by Walter Hooper, page 13.

I, for one am for chivalry-(the right kind!)  what do you think?

xxx madison

amateur poetry on a windy day

Jesus my love and my glory, my hope-

My Unblemished Lamb and my Scarlett Rope

My Companion unseen, to my Captain I'm sworn

His scepter to receive, His crown will adorn 

Forever He's loved me, though I be untrue 

I vowed Him my service; my heart resists to do

Forever the faithful, loyal, and steadfast 

Teach my wicked heart to cleave to You at last!

love to you this windy january day!

xxx madison 

what I read in 2013

so here's my 2014 post- what I read in 2013

* required for school

(audiobook)

1. Narnia (can't remember which!) - C. S. Lewis 

2. The Thunder (a novel on John Knox!) - Douglas Bond 

3. The Faith and Freedom Trilogy - "

     (4,5)

6. When a Nation Forgets God- Erwin Lutzer

*7. Stop Loving The World- William Greenhill

8. Eight Cousins- Loisa May Alcott

9. Letters to Children - C. S. Lewis

10. Hand of Vengeance- Douglas Bond

11. The Betrayal- "

12. Hostage Lands- " 

13. Ishmael- EDEN Southworth

14. Self-Raised- "

15. North and South- Elizabeth Gaskell

16. One Thing I Desire- Sarah Bryant

17. So Much More- A & E Botkin

*18. Passionate Housewives Desperate for God- Chancey & McDonald

*19. Eats, Shoots and Leaves- Lynn Truss

20. Talk to the Hand- "

21. A Cup of Cold Water- Farenhost

22. Wings Like a Dove- "

23. (Reflections on the Psalms- C.S. Lewis)

24. (Sherlock Holmes- A. Conan-Doyle)

25. A Study in Scarlett- "

26. Escape from Slave Traders (?) 

27. The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe- Lewis 

28. The Hobbit- J.R.R. Tolkien

*29. The Bible and the Future- Hoekema

30. The Impossible Journey- Gloria Whelan

31. The Toothpaste Millionaire

32. The Minstrel in the Tower 

33. The Last Little Cat (31-33 are kids books :)

*34. On Writing Well- William Zinsser

35. My Sergei- Ekaterina Gordeeva

36. Bell Mountain- Lee Duigon

37. Beyond the Summerland- L.B. Graham (if you like LoTR you will love this! Read!)

*38. Seven Men Who Rule the World from the Grave- Dave Reese

39. The Hidden Hand- EDEN Southworth 

so, that's not too bad- I wanted to get at least 40 though- maybe I can get to 50 this year? we'll see! what have you read this year? have you read any of those books? 

happy new year dear friends! thanks for taking the time to read my humble (and quite infrequent) little posts!

much love to all of you!

xxx madi