God's paintbrush!

The Tulip Festival in Woodburn, Oregon did wonders for my soul! I have not felt that inspired by the creativity and grandeur of God in a long time. I would recommend anyone go and enjoy this beautiful sight. 














I had the privilege of going to Portland for 4 days to visit a dear friend.
We had a great day at the The Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm, as well as walking long through the seemingly-endless forests of Oregon, walking deep into aisles of new and used books at Powell's Bookstore, had a fantastic evening of worship at Door of Hope in Southeast Portland, and topped off by ice cream at Salt & Straw.





One of the most interesting parts of my time there was Friday night. The biblical teaching at Door of Hope is presented by two different teachers. I had a chance to hear Tim Mackie speak and it was quite profound. He spent an hour explaining the historical context of the gospel of Matthew, as well as gave us an understanding of how Jewish people would have read into the way Matthew is written. The parallels between Old Testament stories and the entrance of Christ into the world were astounding. I really enjoyed it.
Then we did something wild. We read through the entire book of Matthew. It took over 2 hours. There were moments I was falling asleep inside, moments I was riveted, moments I stared at a cross up on the wall and imagined, moments I judged, moments I wanted to leave, moments I wanted to read the Bible every second for the rest of my life.
Overall, my reactions showed me what an incredible need I have for my savior. I love Him so much, guys.
I'm seeing Him at work in my time in America. It's really amazing to see how I pray about something, and He just responds. 

I had a great day today with an old Bible teacher of mine who is one of my dearest soul sisters and such an amazing woman. We connected on such deep places of hurt and high places of joy. It was such a splendid time. I am SO thankful for my life.

Tonight I am cleaning out my closets at my parents house, in hopes of giving them some extra space to store things. I found an old box of notes from high school. What a troubled soul I really was. I am pretty sure that whole note-finding experience deserves a blog of its own. Also some interesting facts I learned last night about TB treatment. So, if I forget, would someone PLEASE remind me to story those 2 topics on this here blog?

xo





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