gladly, beyond.

i have made some observations about life.

and how i think it should be. 

for a very long time i really have believed that i had life pinned. i love the tender ways God shows me that His ways are higher than my ways; His thoughts higher than my own thoughts. 

i don't want picket fences or perfect children or pretty things. i want to keep going to school, keep loving people, keep pouring out heart and soul and blood and sweat and tears into hearts that have been left too long on empty. i want Jesus, more and more everyday. i want to see Him in places i haven't before. i want hear him. not in the thunder or the rain, but in his whispers. i want Him to show me as much of His beauty and strength and majesty and mercy and love and power as i can handle. maybe more. and somewhere in the middle of all this, i want to be swept up on a glorious adventure by someone who sees every emotion of my being as a reflection of the God who placed them inside me. i want to be a part of something wonderful with someone wonderful and someone wild. i want him to take me "somewhere i have never travelled, and gladly beyond". 

i don't want it to stop there. i want to have a life that is busting at the seams. a life full of celebration. i want to try every ben and jerry's flavor and take long baths with shirley temples and play board games with my children. i want to keep painting and keep baking and keep making friends. i want a life that overflows with the fruit of the spirit and the love of God and grace from Jesus in such a way that it sweeps up others in the tide. 

i don't want to forget to dream. i want to live in color and outside the lines.