An Apology to WordPress

Dear WordPress,

I’ve been cheating on you.

The cute design options, the easy photo blogging, and nicer layout options wooed me ever so slowly away. Only One Life is safe for the time being, but Pebbles of Joy is no longer located at wordpress. Check out the new and improved Pebbles of Joy here. Please note that any links on your blog need to be changed to direct others to the new beautiful site. WordPress… I am so very sorry.
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Alabaster Hearts

I have been interviewed! Check it out over at Alabaster Box. Leave comments too!

A Week of Remembrance

This week holds two anniversaries of the two saddest days of my life.  I thought about blogging about it, writing each day, commemorating what I had learned. But the pain is still so fresh, the wounds so deep, the words escape me. I still hold those two days very closely in my heart, not ready to share with the world. I would appreciate prayers and understanding in these days to come. I will return next Monday, changed, but how much of the journey I share has yet to be decided.

In Christ,

Rebekah

Ever After

My Montage 7/20/08

Coming Soon…

Jenny and Brian ~ July 19, 2008

And they lived happily ever after…

Beijing 2008

For most, hosting the Olympics is the best moment to shine. However, as a communist country, China’s Olympic moment has had some very ugly situations. Some Christians believe that this is actually a good thing, because while the Olympics is going on, any forgeiner can pass out Bibles for free. You can also guess that there will be no arrests or raids on house churchs, for fear of drawing attention, and creating an international incident. Whatever the case, there has been a hard crackdown on Christians leading up to the Beijing Olympics 2008.

Christian jailed for walking near Olympic hotel

House Churches Raided

Christians Expelled from China

What Do You Have?

Our church had it’s VBS this week. It turned out to be much more heart-changing than I ever imagined. A lot of things were going on behind the scene, and in my heart. God really used the small break in life’s normal routine (or lack thereof) to make me stop and face some things I had been avoiding. One evening the father of the home I was staying in shared a devotional with us. He asked us something that hit me so hard. He said “what do you have in your hand?” In other words, what are you holding onto that can be used of God.

The one thing that I realized I was holding onto big time was writing. I know I can write (sometimes not as clearly as others), but it’s just not something I do. I do it to serve my purposes. That’s what this book is for. It will bring me outside my comfort zone, and completely focus my eyes on Christ. I cannot write. I cannot write anything close to a book that people will want to read. So why do I feel this passion, this burning desire, this heart that is so very full of things I want, I need to say?  I can only say it is because it is something God has placed in my hand. He gave me this ability, and however much I don’t believe in myself, it is something I must do. I hold it tightly in my hand, so very afraid to let it out, scared to share, scared that I will comepletely fail. That’s why this is not about me, but it so is.

I started writing it, and realized very quickly I needed to evaluate my heart completely. I had to set some boundaries, and determine what was needful to say, and what would be too much. I needed to set down what my purposes were, and how I would serve others. I am memorizing many verses, so many of them about pride! Do you know that when you write a book you use the words I and me way too many times?!

I finally realized I need to just give this over to God, and do it. He will handle the rest, as long as I give it my best. Prayers are greatly appreciated!

*Edited to add this amazing song*

“Make It Matter”

Pack my bags and my regrets
Every second that I’ve wasted
Chasing after
My pursuit of happiness
Has only left me searching
There must be more

Take my life and lift me up to the sky
Take my dreams and help me to fly
On the wings of possibility
Come rewrite my history
(till it’s) only you I’m chasing after
Take this life and make it matter

Help me give more than I take
Let me see into somebody else’s heartache
And be the difference love can make
My heart is finally finding
That there is more

Only one life to live
Only one love to give
Only one life, only one love
So make it, make it matter

~ Natalie Grant

Reflections On My Book

As I sit here listening to Steve Green’s song “Always” I thought through my book, and what I want to do with it. My life has been full of good things, and I never want to forget that. But it has also been regularly cloudy at times. Because those are the times that have molded me and changed me the most, those are often when I have written about when preparing material for my book. I don’t want anyone to read my book and feel sorry for me, and think “oh, she’s had a hard life” because I haven’t. If God was just I would be in hell this very moment. His mercies consume me, His hand protects me, and He is working all things out for my good. That is the message, that is the ryhthm in the symphony of my life. I’ve been working on it a bit more lately, and I thought it was time to post a couple of exerpts. Mainly to keep me accountable to the world wide web, because I said I would do this. So I’m doing it.

Chapter 13*: Our Heather

“The whole family was assembled, and we stood around the dining room watching Heather. In the stillness of that moment, the little girl doctors said would never walk, walked the length of the room. Leaning on her walker, she walked across the room with the biggest smile on her face….

… She began getting sick, and losing that precious ground she had gained. Little by little she slipped away from us until January 1st, 2005. On new years day, alone with her mom, she slipped from this world, and rested in her Heavenly Father’s arms….

… I miss my spunky little cousin. I miss her sitting on my lap and stealing my Barbie dolls. I miss her croaky little voice and her mischevious smile. But I know she is doing things I could only dream about. Even in Heaven she is probably causing all kinds of trouble. She might be pinning robes together, or trying to paint the streets of gold pink. I know Jesus is shaking His head at our little piece of Scottish Heather.”

Chapter 15*: Saying Goodbye

” Before we left I walked through each room, remembering so many good times. Each room brought new tears to my eyes. From our laundrey room that held my dog and her puppies, to my brother’s bedroom where one of his friends put a hole in his blinds, to my aqua room where I grew up. There was our back porch where I would swing and pretend I was flying, to my parent’s room where I spent many sick days, to our living room where we played paper baseball the summer of the fires….

… We shut the door one last time, and I couldn’t help realizing as we locked the door how many precious memories filled that house. We drove off, I looked back one last time, and then it was gone. We were gone. One life ending, and another just beginning….”

Come To Jesus

I have been listening to this song morning, noon, and night lately.

Sisterchicks Do the Hula:

Every life is a story…The artist simply expresses the truth and beauty of that story.

We have to learn to just go with it, to live in that unforced rythm of grace…we listen to the mele, the poetry, the story of our lives, and then we just go with it and express the story as gracefully as we can.

People who share aloha are those who draw close to another. They come close enought to trust another with the essense of who they are…

You have to try new things while you can. You have to tell yourself you can do anything. Otherwise you will get old. Fast.

Sometimes children are affectionaltely called pua (flower) because they are fragile and sweet and small. They stay with us for such a short time. Think of this the next time a child links his arms around your neck and you wear his embrace like a lei.

Been there, done that, lit the tiki torch

Sisterchicks in Sombreros:

We don’t choose the best moments of our lives. God chooses them for us

Crazy of not, I’ve decided there’s nothing wrong with loving somebody and telling them so.

Surrender is a beautiful thing. I think the more we surrender of ourselves to God, the more He takes over and leads us the way He wants us to go.

“Get into the havit of saying ’speak lord’ and life will become a romance.” – Oswald Chambers

Sisterchicks Say Ooh La La:

Every promise can be heard in the celestial courts, which gives every promise the potential of becoming something of eternal significance.

The gift of a true friend is that she sees you not the way you see yourself, or the way others see you. A true friend sees who you are inside and who you can become.

Hope is the most versitale and sparkling of all accesories and can be worn by any woman, regardless of her age.

Shake what yo mamma gave you!

I [want] someone to recognize that what I was doing cost me something.

Grace upon grace

Sisterchicks Down Under:

If you feel a deep hunger but don’t know what you want, just ask God to order for you, that way you’ll always get what’s best on the menu.

Lamentations 3

[His love is] not catious but extravegant

There is nothing as fabulous as the feeling of belonging.

Sisterchicks On the Loose:

Forever knit together by the same hands that dimpled the moon with His thumbprint.

Life is too precious. Whether it’s short or long. Life is just too precious NOT to enjoy every second of it.

{Sisterchicks – a friend who shares the deepest wonders of your heart, loves you like a sister, and provides a reality check when you’re being a brat.}