fall or rise

this past weekend was absolutely amazing. i was in atlanta for my best friend from second grade's bachelorette party. knowing that it was going to be 12 girls cooped up in a 2 bedroom condo for 2 days of chaos sounded, well, miserable. but true to form, my assumptions were far from reality. this weekend, in all it's hilarity and tight quarters, was a weekend of freedom.

dancing. laughing. eating. remembering. celebrating.

why freedom you may ask? in the past couple months i have felt so unlike myself for various reasons. old masks here. new masks there. impress this person. work harder for this person. and so on. but enter your best friends from growing up and i found myself in a place of release. i cannot express to you how liberating it felt to be, well, me. these girls KNOW me. they know the brace-faced, bushy haired, tomboy and they still love me. they know the rebel. the angster. the revolutionary. they know it all....and they still love me. they love me when i am polly-put-together and love me when i am susie-screw-up. they still think of me as the same person and love me regardless. it's not even a question. i don't even have to think about if they still love me whether i fall or rise.

all i am trying to portray is an unconditional love that i haven't felt in awhile...or let myself feel rather. a love that a Father has made and loves me to rest in. this weekend was a great reminder that He has made me in His image. i don't have to work for His love. and the weekend showed me where i frequently equate His love to earthly examples. this weekend taught me to shake off the old and herald in the new. and laugh while you do it.

so i thank you girls for being shining examples of the heart and bringing this one even closer to more of Him and His plan.

"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." Hebrews 13:8

Psalm 16
A miktam of David.
1 Keep me safe, O God,
for in you I take refuge.
2 I said to the LORD, "You are my Lord;
apart from you I have no good thing."

3 As for the saints who are in the land,
they are the glorious ones in whom is all my delight.

4 The sorrows of those will increase
who run after other gods.
I will not pour out their libations of blood
or take up their names on my lips.

5 LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup;
you have made my lot secure.

6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
surely I have a delightful inheritance.

7 I will praise the LORD, who counsels me;
even at night my heart instructs me.

8 I have set the LORD always before me.
Because he is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken.

9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest secure,

10 because you will not abandon me to the grave,
nor will you let your Holy One see decay.

11 You have made known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.