Coffee & Honeycomb: October 2013

SHOP ALERT — $5 STATEMENT NECKLACES

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Right now, Urban Peach Boutique is having a ridiculous online sale of $5 on all their briolettes, mini bubbles, and tessellates necklaces — no limit! You just have to use the code "5BUCKS" and the discount will be taken right there and then at checkout. The sale lasts until tomorrow night, but I would act fast because some of the pieces are selling fast!

I've never shopped at Urban Peach before so I'm not sure what the quality will be until they arrive, but the deal was just too good I couldn't resist. I picked up five in mustard yellow, ivory, gray, teal, and coral in variety of shapes.

The two are at the top are what briolettes look like. The mustard yellow is a tessellate, and the mint is a mini bauble. Cute, right?!

You should grab one for yourself (and an early Xmas gift for a friend, too.) Let me know which ones you choose to get!
XO.

I WANT / 01

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

A VEST.

That is at the top of my wish list right now. My wardrobe has never held one before nor did I ever desire to add it to the shopping list prior to this season, but after studying abroad in Italy last spring and spotting faux fur vests on the backs of every girl on the street, it sucked me in.

Anyone have one? Anyone know of a good place where I can find one?!

Here are some styles I'm loving:

[ left | right ]

MONDAY PINS

Monday, October 28, 2013

I feel a major case of the Monday's this afternoon, so I'm looking to the web to shake up the creative bones in me. Here are some pins that seem to be doing the trick...

one | two | three | four | five

FAVE FALL DIYS & FREE THINGS

Sunday, October 27, 2013

DAY 23 : I WILL NOT GO UNLESS YOU BLESS ME

Thursday, October 24, 2013

This past weekend, our church hosted its annual Revival, a 3-day event strategically placed mid-way through the semester, to open up a space and time for students to be revived and refueled. It's filled with sermons, prayer, and worship. It's a grand time. (:

This year was my fourth one. It is also my last one as a student, and my favorite one.

The sermon from the first night really struck a chord with me and reminded me of this series so I wanted to share a bit about it here. The speaker, Reverend Charlie Dates, spoke on Geneses 32, when Jacob wrestles with God... Genesis 32 begins when Jacob is in the middle of the night hiding from enemies and running away. We meet him sending off his family across a river.

Verses 23 and 24 read, "...he sent over all his possessions. So Jacob was left alone..."

Reverend Charlie Dates pointed out this redundancy as a literary device to emphasize the state of Jacob at this time. He was stripped away of all his physical comforts, his possessions, as well as his emotional and relational support. Jacob is stripped, empty-handed, and alone. At this moment, is when God chooses to meet him and wrestle with him.

The text says they wrestle until daybreak and as God tries to end it, Jacob holds on and says one of most profound and telling requests.

He says, "I will not let you go unless you bless me."

When we are stripped away of everything, our innate need and deepest cry of our heart reveals itself — to be blessed by God, to be seen by God. Can I say that again? When we are apart from all the comforts and securities this world can offer us, it is at THAT moment our true and real and personal need and desire is to the surface. To be blessed by God. To be seen by God.

And isn't this what we've been talking about this whole month? I had never read this passage this way, and that particular point cut away at me just as the Word should. I felt so known and understood and rebuked, too. My whole life pattern has been to maximize comfort, maximize security... meanwhile stifling the voice and power of God.

In this passage, God reminds me that He meets me when I am stripped away of everything. That he must take everything in order to give me everything. I want to learn how to daily take everything so tender to my heart and lay it before Him at His feet... ready to be filled with more of Him. More of Him.

DAY 22 : SIN RUNS DEEP

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Yesterday was cliche fall weather in Urbana-Champaign. Burnt orange leaves on the ground with sporadic gusts of wind that blew the leaves whichever way, and a huge, golden sun warming everything in its reach.

I had plans to eat lunch with a girlfriend of mine and we went to a new pizzeria/cafe on campus called the flying machine. We parked a bit away from the shop so we walked through downtown Urbana, enjoying the scenic view around us.

We first ordered our drinks — coffee drowned with brown sugar for me, some exotic tea for her pretentious taste (just kidding) — and split a pizza. We found a table and took our seats, and over a creamy, meaty Mediterranean slice of pizza, we started to exchange different significant childhood stories that we are convinced started this trajectory we now call our life story, our life path. Those 'moments' that made us who we are today. (Casual afternoon conversation. Her and I clearly can't do 'small talk' really.)

We discussed unhealthy relationship stories, views on the church, home dynamics... and while she was lost in one of her stories, she paused for a moment... as if she was going down a memory lane of pain and hurt, but could walk through it confidently with 20/20 vision. She looked back up and said, "It was such a small instance, but it affected everything. Man, sin runs so deep." I responded by just nodding silently, taking it all in, and projecting that truth onto my own stories, too. She was right. And however we landed into this odd, personal, and reflective conversation in a casual pizzeria on a sunny autumn day, we faced-to-face with the truth of humankind.

Sin runs deep in your family, in your city, and in your country... and it also runs deep and wide in your heart. And because we were never meant to live with sin or brokenness, because our fragile bodies and souls were made for the garden of Eden, we run around like self-righteous but headless chickens finding ways to bring some sort of restoration back in our hearts, families, cities, and countries...

It's important to know your story, to reminiscence on your past and walk down memory lane, to be able to recognize in your own life that sin really runs deep. And then, take time to glance at yourself and lament at the ways sin wronged you, but then gaze at the cross because where sin runs deep, His grace is found.

Today, I'm thankful for autumn, thankful for coffee, thankful for good friends... But I'm even more thankful for every way God uses little things to remind me of His infinite grace and redemptive story.

DAY SIX : EMBRACE LONELINESS

Sunday, October 6, 2013

There's a deep, grumbling hunger in your heart to be acknowledged, known, accepted, and loved.

Do you feel it right now?

Some days the cry isn't as loud, and you are able to get through the day's tasks without dwelling. Other days, the cry is loud and it feels so deep it consumes you — your mind seems to continuously bring you to a state of loneliness. Happy friendships and couples and families seem to surround you, and you just feel all alone.

In those moments, we tend to suppress those feelings and equate it with weakness, or conclude there is a glaring flaw in us that deems unlovable. But that moment your loneliness becomes evident, and one day it will, it doesn't mean you're weak, and it isn't an opportunity for you to mull over your flaws. It's an invitation from the Lord to meet him in deep intimacy and find healing.

Embrace it.

I know. That sounds fearful and daunting — and straight-up weird. Aren't we always told to conceal and control our pain with food, alcohol, and willpower? In moments of pain, and in this case, loneliness, going closer to where it hurts seems like the worst thing to do, but your need to be known and loved was made by God, and only He can fully and permanently meet that need. You must find where it hurts and let yourself go in that space.

DAY FIVE : SHARE A LITTLE LOVE

Saturday, October 5, 2013

When we know we are loved by God, we can freely share the love onto others, too.

What does that look like?

I presume it looks a bit like this:

Share a little bit of your love, my friend,
Share a little bit of your love.
Share a little bit of your love, my friend,
And it will come back to where it began.
And watch it grow (watch it grow),
watch it grow (oh, watch it grow),
Watch it grow to where it touches every land.
Help it grow (help it grow), help it grow (oh, help it grow),
Help it grow by only reaching,
Reaching out to someone your hand.

--
We are now on day five of this series, and I realize it is SO, SO, SO difficult to blog daily. However, his mercies are new every morning.. and hopefully there will be EXTRA mercies for this new week! Oh Lawd have mercy.

Happy Saturday, folks!

*See the entire series here.

DAY FOUR : WHISPERS

Friday, October 4, 2013

I think living out of our belovedness means to know and believe that God loves us — every part of us, all the time.

I think we believe God loves us for the potential we have, or for those few and far in between times we act "obedient" and "lovable." I think we believe God loves us for who we will become, and that he is simply tolerating who we are now.

And while it is true that God is pruning you and shaping you to be more like him and to have a heart that moreso resembles his, he loves you infinitely, now. Even at this exact moment.

He loves you when a curse word slips out of your breath, or when you cheat on that hard exam, or when your thoughts are consumed with idolatry and bitterness. He loves you when you fall into yet another unhealthy relationship, when you oversleep, or when you talk back to your parents. He loves you when you're failing and everything you do seems to go wrong. He loves you then.

Not only does God love you in those moments, but he also loves you the SAME amount as when you THINK you are "obedient" and "lovable." Like when you're serving His children, reading the word, or practicing patience, His love is the same. His love is constant and unchangeable.

Do you believe that?

It's true — and not only true in the vaguest and most universal way, but also in the most unique and personal way to you. God's love is for you. You just gotta grab it. Not just once, not just twice. Not just on Sundays. But every day, every hour. Every time it seems the world is telling you you are not enough — not pretty enough, not smart enough, not good enough — that's when you need to grab it most.

Hush those worldly voices and listen to the one and only's voice that matters. Because every day, every hour, he is actively whispering love into your soul. Do you feel it?

*FIND THE ENTIRE SERIES HERE.

DAY 3: SMALL MIRACLES

Thursday, October 3, 2013

I used to think God would never move in the smallness of my life because it was just that -- small. Ordinary.

Maybe if I prayed "holier" prayers, he'd answer me, I reasoned.

In my mind Jesus was great and glorious and unable to understand, relate, or meet me in the context of my life. I didn't think Jesus could be God/friend/savior of my "todays."

In John 2, Jesus attends a wedding with his mother, and some friends approach him complaining about the rapid loss and lack of wine. Jesus uses this opportunity to perform his miracle. He asks them to fetch six jars and fill them to the brim with water. He turns that water into wine, and instructs those same men to give them to the wedding guests. Jesus' first miracle was turning water into wine. Think about that for a second. He did not save a life, heal a leper, cure cancer, or even explicitly bring salvation. He just saw a friend in distress, and met that need.

So maybe it is bigger than that. Bigger than wine, bigger than water.

He saw a friend's need, and met it, revealing his role as a friend and a provider. Maybe the reason he chose this to be his first miracle is because God wanted to remind us he is our friend and provider, too.

I think we can extend this truth into our own lives. Jesus has that same heart for us. He sees the small needs of our lives, he hears our worries (both big and small), and then he responds to them. He doesn't disregard or dismiss, but he sees them and meets them.

And sometimes, he performs minor miracles.

*FIND THE ENTIRE SERIES HERE.

DAY TWO: FATHER'S ARMS

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Recently my pastor had a baby daughter named Eden. (Yes, like the garden of Eden.) I think she is three years old now, and she is the cutest bundle of flesh and bones I have ever seen. She sports an awkward bowl cut and has pale pink lips that always seem to form themselves into a pout. Often her hands are filled with food or someone else's iPhone playing a re-run of Blues Clues. Eden is a ball of sass and baby fat, and she knows how to use all of it to charm her way into whatever she wants — usually it's food or Blues Clues.

If you want her to like you, you must play hard-to-get. Hugs and kisses must never, ever be freely or easily given. She'll smell your eagerness a sanctuary away and use it against you. I learned that the hard way.

Some Sundays I'll arrive and see that she is just having an awful morning. Her cheeks are stained with dried tears and her fists are clenched tightly. Temper tantrums, they call it. She'll shoot an evil glare your way if you even just look at her the wrong way. On those days, even Blues Clues and candy can't bring her to a smile. The only thing that really seems to work is when her dad picks her up and holds her in his arms, slowly rocking side to side.

There was one Sunday when I witnessed that exact moment and it was something so intimate and biblical it stayed with me for weeks. Her dad bent down and swooped her up from the ground and into his arms, and I saw the physical transformation take place as her frown was immediately replaced with a content grin. It was as if he scooped her out of her complete angsts and misery in exchange for fresh air and warmth. She knew she was safe in her father's arms. She felt comfortable, whole, and good.

That moment stayed with me because it was true for all of us. Something magical happens when we know we are in our father's arms. Comfort, safety, and peace come to mind.

Now I know father analogies are always tricky because a lot of us don't have great relationships with our dads nor do we want to compare God to our dads. We live in a broken and fatherless generation. But God made us with the innate need and desire to be accepted by our dad, maybe not our worldly dad, but our Father almighty. And this is our story, too.

Proximity is our constant urge to be closet to Dad, to touch his beard and to hold his attention. It is a primal desire that we never outgrow. More than doing and performing, we long to be near him. — Kevin DeShazo

In Romans, Paul reminds us that we have been adopted as children of God. We are heirs of his kingdom. And the different groans in our hearts -- frustrations, sadness, anger, confusion -- are all heard by a God who also desperately wants to reach out and scoop us out of our own misery. We were never made to hustle, we were made to be held in his arms. Abba, father. The father's arms are always wide open. Today, I dare you to take a risk and believe that to be true, and run into the set of arms that offer relief and comfort. A place where you can close your eyes and replace that frown for fresh air and contentment.

The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.[a]And by him we cry, “Abba,[b] Father.” Romans 8:15

*Find the entire series here.

THE BLOGGER'S DIGEST BLOG HOP

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

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Hi and welcome to The Blogger's Digest!

The Blogger's Digest is a place for bloggers to share their latest {or greatest} posts and build connections with other bloggers. You can also share your blog's social media links so we can all follow along! To get the most out of a blog hop, it's encouraged to stop by and visit others' blogs and let them know you were there.
Our Co-Hosts This Month

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If you are interested in being put on the list as a co-host, email me: piganddac {at} live {dot} com Last Week's Highlights photo highlights_zps88bdd154.jpg

1. Play-doh Excitement - Delineate Your Dwelling

2. Stop Solider Suicide - Happily Ever After

3. 6 Words to Say to Your Child - Baby for Scale

4. Painted Pumpkins & Fall Décor - Windgate Lane

5. Everything You Need to Make Your Own Fall Wreath - Crafty Chelsea

Let's get this party started! How to join along:

Submit a post from your blog. It can be about anything!
Share your social media links so we can follow along with your blog
Connect with other bloggers and follow those who follow you!
If you "like" someone's Facebook page, leave them a message with the link to your page if you'd like a follow back, otherwise they won't be able to find your fan page.
Link back to the blog hop in whatever way you feel most comfortable - the more people who join along, the better for all of us!

An InLinkz Link-up

DAY ONE : THE GREATEST LOVE

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Welcome to the first of "31 DAYS OF BELOVEDNESS."
(I talked about it a bit here.)

There are just some things, or more specifically, truths, I want more of in my life. Things I want to learn, understand, soak, and this month it's about our belovedness. I'm not here to educate or preach, I'm here to walk and wrestle and chew — and I invite you into the process.

This is day one.

I wanted to start the series just by acknowledging who we are, children of God, and praising the only one who can give us that identity.

The song is "TIl I see you" by Hillsong. An involuntary groan comes out when I listen to these lyrics. It is the current echo of my heart:

The greatest love that anyone could ever know
That overcame the cross and grave to find my soul
And 'til I see You face to face and grace amazing takes me home
I'll trust in You

With all I am I'll live to see Your kingdom come
And in my heart I pray You'd let Your will be done
And 'til I see You face to face and grace amazing takes me home
I'll trust in You

I will live to love You
I will live to bring You praise
I will live a child in awe of You

You are the voice that calls the universe to be
You are the whisper in my heart that speaks to me
And 'til I see You face to face and grace amazing takes me home
I'll trust in you

You alone are God of all
You alone are worthy Lord

And with all I am my soul will bless Your name
--
Ps. Happy October 1st! Swing by to IN ITS TIME to see my blog featured for her monthly button swap. Show her some love while you're there. (: She's one sweet, sweet lady.