"Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice like the great deep. O LORD, you preserve both man and beast." Psalm 36:6

"You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands." Isaiah 55:12

After several days of rain(although it was much needed), the clouds parted and the blue ridge mountains were crystal clear. As the mountains came into view my heart was flooded with many thoughts and emotions. I have always loved the mountains since my first visit to Colorado in elementary school, and it seems that each spiritual place for me in my life involves mountains. I have posted a picture of mt. everest in Nepal where I traveled on my first mission trip and am reminded of the beautiful people there, and all that happened in my life on those two trips. Mt. Ranier in Washington reminds me of close friends, family, laughter, refuge. The view from 400 is the promise of adventure, growth, and all that our move to GA promises to bring.

Did I mention that I love mountains?

Eternal Perspective

On my way home the other day Christy Nockels and I were spending some quality time together jamming out. As I was belting out with her praises to our King, I was overwhelmed just at how good our God is and thats when it all hit me.

As I posted previously the last few weeks have been marked by some struggles as well as watching others walk through their own insecurity battles. As I took that time in the car to just focus on God and praise Him, my lens came into clear focus. When I was focused on myself and my insecurities, comparing myself to others, and trying to meet the percieved expectations of others, the perspective I had of myself was blurry. I couldn't see myself for who I truly was. As I shifted my focus to Christ and an eternal perspective my vision cleared and I could see myself as I truly am; and accept the creation that God crafted.

As a wise friend recently told me; "when we go to that place of insecurity we are no longer free to be ourselves nor can we be who others need us to be" (not word for word but you get the idea). Satan wants us to be focused on ourselves and he tries to do this through insecurity. As I have seen in my own life this week, when am I in that place of insecurity and focused on that it cripples me from walking in the freedom of Christ. It also hinders my being used by God because I am not looking to Him.

As I have shifted my perspective to an eternal one, I now see my insecurities from a temporal angle. Am I going to walk in security everyday for the rest of my life? No, I know that everyday will be a choice to have an Eternal perspective or an Internal perspective-so feel free to ask me if I am being Eternal or Internal!

Merry Christmas

War on Beauty

Over the last several weeks I have battled some personal insecurity struggles. During this time people have fought alongside me against their own enemies, while I have seen others crumble under the intensity of the attack. Mind you there were some days that I was badly wounded because the enemy seemed more powerful that day and I too crippled under the intensity. However, as the attack is ceasing for now, my heart is aching as I look around me and see how many have been crippled by the seemingly overwhelming power of the enemy. The war on beauty that women are facing each day is, I believe, at one of its fiercest levels.

As I am fighting this battle, I am recognizing again the importance of clinging to the truth of God's word, concerning our bodies...His Temple. Because the lies of this world concerning beauty and our bodies are so strong we have to be constantly armed with God's word in order to be able to live in victory. Now, I say this as a personal lesson I am learning myself.

I am seeing more and more Christian women falling subject to the lies of deciet concerning our bodies the world is telling us. I am not saying that exercising, wearing make-up, cute clothes, etc. is wrong I am just seeing so many women "fixing" themselves because they feel that the way they were created isn't good enough. I too have felt this deep pain of feeling like certain parts of my body weren't "just right". And although I don't always feel like my body is beautiful the way the Master crafted it, I know that the truth is that it is. Over the last several weeks I have struggled to cling to this truth, but more than anything I have longed for all women to be set free by this truth, and to know that our true beauty comes from our inside out.

Not only is the media targeting women's perceptions of true beauty, but they are also warping men's perceptions of beauty. The war on beauty is not only on us as women but also on our men.

My prayer today is that God's truth would renew our minds and that when we look in the mirror we would see ourselves as He sees us, a beautiful creation, a reflection of Him.

Very Cool video:

http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.com/home.asp

Faith, Hope, Love

We have been doing a series at church on Faith. My heart has been stirred as we have talked about God's greatness and faithfulness to work on His children's behalf. The definition that we are using for Faith is: "The belief that God can and the hope that God will". This has brought me back to my blog title and the deepest desire of my heart. I want to always believe that God can perform what might seem impossible to me, and I never want to limit His ability to work on my behalf due to my lack of belief or trust that He can. I know that in His sovereignty what I want or ask may not always be what is best...and I gladly rest in His wisdom of what is best for my life. Continuing on this path Bryan and I have started our own family "advent" since we didn't have an advent book this year but we had the candles. During the advent season there are 5 candles, 4 for the Sundays prior to Christmas and then 1 for christmas day. For our first three Sundays we have done our devotions on faith, and hope, and next week will be on love. I know that leaves two candles, but the last one obviously is about Jesus and the fourth one well...that is yet to be determined.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13:13

You can listen or watch the messages at:
www.mountainlakechurch.org

Enemy Lines

Its comforting to know that when the battle wounds us Jesus allows us to come and rest in His arms as we heal. He doesn't ask us to be strong and keep fighting despite the pain, He allows us to stop and rest until the pain subsides. So often our world tells us to ignore the wounds of life and be strong and overcome them yet Jesus draws us in to speak healing truth to our wounds. He has given us every weapon we need to win our battles against the Enemy, and yet when we lose a battle there is no criticism for how we fought only words of wisdom as to how to better fight next time. I look forward with such joy when Jesus returns to throw the Enemy into the depths of hell, lock the gate and throw away the key(and there is no spare for this key).

It's also comforting to have a husband that will reflect Jesus' arms.

New Blog

Hey...I started a new blog just to keep people updated on our life since this is more of my personal thoughts. Check it out!

www.kbisbell.blogspot.com

Destination Unknown

Its so good to be back in the blogging world. Thanks for those of you who faithfully checked even when I didn't post for quite some time!

Fall is one of my favorite times of year especially now that the leaves are turning! I just love seeing God's amazing creativity and thoughtfulness in the transformation of creation during the seasons! I wish it were a little cooler but soon enough. An additional thing that I get to enjoy the sight of everyday when I come home are the foothills of the appalachain mts. We are hopefully going to make it up there soon to enjoy them! We are going camping the first weekend in November. It's a family tradition I look forward to every year.

I have a ton that I could blog about because Tozer's book is so rich i'm having to read it slowly(also due to the fact that its written in 1940 style english). However I like the title of this topic.

This past week Rodney talked about the aim of "Awakening" and did an amazing job. It was also quite hilarious because it paralled some of the things I had read in Oswald Chamber's "My Utmost for His Highest" earlier in the week. I just love it when the Lord is so clear about what He wants to tell me that He does so three and four times.

The basic principle was that "Awakening is not a destination but a journey to be lived". This thought so simple and yet so profound reminded me that my destination is Heaven and my time on the earth is the journey. So often though I get distracted by my earthly destinations and lose sight of my eternal One. It helped to reawaken me to a principle our friend Brennan Manning talks about "Being fully present in the present". I have a hard time with this on many different levels because I can space out at any moment and enter my day dreaming world and so often I live in the future that I miss the "strawberries" of the present(another Brennan analogy). I am so excited about the dreams that God has placed in my heart and I desperately want to see them come into fruition, but I also know that He wants to do things in and through me right now today exactally where I am. I am excited to live with the mindset of "destination unknown" (in an earthly sense) and focus on my heavenly one. Although being the planner and daydreamer that I am this is a hard mindset to live by it brings such freedom to say ok...wherever, whenever I'm ready(thanks Farah).

Relentless Pursuit

I have started a book that I have had for several years and am just now reading(like many I posess). However, I think my finding it during unpacking the other day and the sudden desire to read it over others was simply because of what the Lord wanted to continue to stir in my heart along with what He had already started as a result of the Awakening series at church.

A.W. Tozer's book "The Pursuit of God" is a fairly well known one and one I think every believer must read. The forward drew me in as I read Tozer's heart behind the book as well as a brief synopsis of his own personal pursuit that led to the book. I was hungry...and the first bite was so satisfying I have been chewing on it for several days.

Tozer says: "We pursue God, and only because, He has first put an urge within us that spurs us to the pursuit."

Although I have heard "God pursues you first you did not go to Him first" before on many different occasions, this time it melted my heart and a swell of deep love and desire washed over me as I thought about God's relentless pursuit of His people since the beginning of time. Having been a Christian since a young age sometimes the "pursuit" seems like its been my pursuing God(and usually not enough of it). The Lord just gently spoke to my heart that He relentlessly pursues me still as well as all His children. Then Shawn's story of his own personal "fresh picture" of God came to my mind as I thought about how Shawn shared that God chose us, me his adopted, sinful children over his pure, holy son. Christ asked for the cup to be passed away from Him if possible, but because of God's relenless pursuit of His people He chose to put the sin of the world and seperation from His son(for a time) so that He could have a relationship with His people and the vail could be torn. I have basked in the wonderful thought that our Holy, Magnificent, Powerful God relentlessly pursues us at all cost. His love is so deep for us and He has blessed me with a fresh picture of how deep His love is. Knowing daily that I am this deeply loved and living in light of it stirs my hunger for more of my Jesus.

It's About Time

Well after several months of procrastination I am re-entering the blog world. Part of my delay is that I don't have reliable access to the internet because we dont' have internet at our house and the computers at school are IBM's if that is any hint to the age and speed of them. Needless to say blogging on them would be a two hour process.

Bryan and I have settled into our home here in GA(somewhat) and have gotten into a routine with our jobs/commute. We both are enjoying our jobs and exploring our new home. We have joined a great church and are getting plugged in there in several areas. We have joined a growth group of other young married couples and love it! We meet weekly with them and are really enjoying building those relationships. So thats really it for now...life is good and we really love being on the same schedule, having our own home and being settled at least for a year or so =).

I will have to back-post what all the Lord has been teaching me since we moved here. One of the really neat things has been with our students at school. I am working with 6 autistic students(all boys) in Kindergarten and 1st grade in a self-contained classroom with a teacher and another aid. In only 6 weeks I have fallen in love with these boys and have such a desire to see them improve in all areas. It has been such a humbling experience to work with these boys and better understand what its like for families with children who have special needs but also just how to love on these boys. I am excited about all that the Lord wants to teach me through them.

Right now our church has begun a new series called "Awakening". I will have to post more later since this one has gotten so long, but I am very excited about what the Lord is stirring in my heart and the body here in Cumming, GA.

www.mountainlakechurch.org - Check it out!

Details

This last week has been one of the craziest weeks of my life; however, the Lord also pulled all the details together a midst the craziness.

My nephew Tyler James Brewer entered 7 weeks early on Tuesday, July 11 at 1:02 pm. He and Jennifer are both doing great. To see pictures of him you can go to www.lorimercer.com/tylerbrewer

Bryan is going to be teaching Health and coaching PE at Snellville Middle School and I am going to be a teacher's aid at Hopkins Elementary School. We are both excited about these jobs. I am going back to school to work on my Master's degree and we are going to be attending an amazing church with many growth and service opportunities for both of us.

We are still working on the housing situation but will hopefully have that nailed down by the end of next week. As soon as we have a place to live we will pack up and head over, right now though we are still enjoying our time with friends and family in Montgomery. I am hoping that the change in pace of our lives will allow me more time to blog, but I won't make promises I can't keep...so hopefully more blogs will come but don't hold me to it.

Oh Yeah...

We're moving...mid-July...metro-Atlanta area...details will come as we know them

Miss Oklahoma

I know its been way too long since I last blogged, but life has been crazy!

Currently, I am in Tulsa, OK watching my best friend Julia McNeese compete for Miss Oklahoma. Its been a great time of relaxing during the day and then competition at night. Tulsa is a very interesting city with a lot of historical places. I tried to post some pictures but my computer is weird and I couldn't. I promise to post more often

For Meagan Maki

This post is for Megan Maki the faithful blogger who still checks my blog despite my not blogging for so many months now. Bryan and I have settled into life here in Montgomery(sort of). The "slower" pace of life we had anticipated has yet to be found. I am still working at Curves and reaching women which I love, however we are seeking the Lord on the next step for us. This time in Montgomery is much needed as far as investing in our families and a time of spiritual renewal. We are, however, ready to move on to the things the Lord has put in our hearts. I apologize for my not blogging recently I just have not made the time to process and share what the Lord has been teaching me. However, I will post a little more later on what the book of Daniel has been revealing.

No I didn't disappear

1. WAR EAGLE- Auburn beat LSU
2. I get to wear workout clothes everyday to work!
3. I get to share the love of Jesus with almost 200 women on a weekly basis
4. I get to spend 3 hours with my sister and nephew everyday
5. I get a three day weekend
6. I have an amazing husband who wants to see me set free from the lies that I believe
7. I have amazing friends who are always there for me
8. My nieces and nephews are the coolest kids around
9. I love living next door to David and Farah
10. I love our dog Bailey

Job 4

So...since graduating last December my job situation has varied. I am currently at my third job since April. Job 1. Daycare 2. Dr. Office 3. Real Estate Co. receptionist Probably not good to put on resume that my typical length of employment is about two months. Thankfully I can say this change in jobs is not due to being fired, but to better jobs coming along. I have gained experience at each job and narrowed down which positions do not fit into my "dream" job.

So on to job 4- I will soon become the manager of a Curves Fitness for Women club that my friend owns in Montgomery. I am really excited about this opportunity. I will get to interact with and minister to women-which I love to do. I will get to encourage them and pray with them, because Curves is a christian company. My schedule will be amazing with 3 days off each week. I am so excited that the Lord has blessed me with this opportunity. I have wanted to work with Curves for awhile and the positions were not available. It will give me great experience and training to further the ultimate goals I have for my life and feel called to accomplish for the Lord. The schedule will allow me to have more free time to work on other things that I have been trying to finish for several years, as well as be more workable with going back to school online.

I am excited about the things the Lord has for us in the this next year. The Lord's quiet voice continues to speak whispers of what is to come and to be patient in this time of preperation.

Our House

we live in 24 and they live in 20.

This is our new home. We live next door to David and Farah(Bryan's brother and sister-in-law).
Its a lot of fun to live next door to family...its still weird b/c they lived in WA for the last 5 years...so its odd to just walk next door and there they are. However, we love hanging out with them and playing with the boys and Faith(their dog) and Bailey are great playmates. The upstairs is not yet picture ready...so look forward to more pics once we get settled upstairs. Our life as usual has been a little crazy...but we don't mind all the madness.

Meet Bailey

Bailey is the newest member to the Isbell clan.
He is a lab mix(what he's mixed with we don't know) But as you can see he's adorable.

Catching up

Baby Cole is always smiling or laughing.












This is me driving the JEEP! Its great having a brother in law with a Jeep Wrangler!













I'm holding my adorable nephew Davis while
we watched the 4th of July Fireworks!













We took family pictures for my moms birthday!

Look at the Nations

“Look among the nations and watch— Be utterly astounded! For I will work a work in your days Which you would not believe, though it were told you." Habakkuk 1:4-6

Everything going on the last few months has really stirred me to be more prayerful of the nations. Today I was reading the news at work and there are 4 million in India who have been left homeless after flooding(this is on top of the millions there already homeless). There are several other countries experiencing flooding with death and disease a companion. My heart is just hurting for the world and all that is going on. Let's not forget to pray for the nations and our fellow brothers who are ministering the gospel there.

Be Still

Still is not a word that has crossed my mind nor an action that my body has engaged in over the last several months. Tonight I finally crashed, I am still. My mind is slowly quieting down and my body has no choice but to be still, as I am exhausted. Over the year my life has changed dramatically, and I have had little time to process it all, beginning with getting engaged last September, graduating, beginning post-graduate life, planning a wedding, getting married, making major life decisions 3 weeks after being married, finding jobs, starting jobs, moving to a "new" town, starting another new job, moving into another new house. I'm exhausted. I don't care that my house is packed in boxes and my car, I don't care that my closet isn't organized neatly, I just want to rest and savor the fact that my house is quiet, and I have nothing to do tonight that can't wait until tomorrow.

The last year seems like a blur, and here I sit, married, in a new house, living next door to my relatives who lived in Seattle for the past 5 years, graduated from college, my best friends gone all over the US, and it seems so surreal. But tonight I am enjoying being still and soaking in all the changes that have taken place in the past year of my life. Its hard to believe things I dreamed of for so many years have finally taken place, and yet I know there are more to come.