The Lyrics For Today

Love is real
It is not just in novels or the movies
It is fact
And it is standing here right in front of you
So if you open your eyes
Oh what a sweet discovery
There is hope, and there is joy, and there is acceptance
So now let all of the light that collects on your plants
Keep you warm, make you smile
And I will be there with this pen in my hand
To record all the while
You'll be laughing so loud
That the house would shake with sound
And everything will be as new as the day it was found
Love is real
It is not just in long distance commercials
Or something that you thought you felt back in high school
So I will turn black and white
Become that horoscope you're reading
It predicts something good is on its way
Oh, and then I will send you the world green and blue
In a box through the mail
You can open it up, hold it right in your hand
And be glad that it's there
And be glad that you're there
Now, you can feel all the knots in your stomach start to untie
And suddenly it's not so hard to say you're all right
Love is real
It is not just in poetry and stories
It is truth, and it will follow you
Everywhere you go from now on
So if you'd just cast off your doubt
Then your lips would answer for you
Oh my darling, when you smile, it is like a song
And I can hear it now
And I can hear it now
And I can hear it now
Yes, I can, I can, I can
I can hear it now
I can hear it now
Yeah, I can, I can, I can
I can hear it now
I can hear it now
I can hear it now
Yeah, I can, I can, I can
I can hear it now
I can hear it now
-Kathy With A K Bright Eyes

They're tearing up streets again.
They're building a new hotel.
The Mayor's out killing kids to keep taxes down,
and me and my anger sit folding a paper bird,
letting the curtains turn to beating wings.
Wish I had a socket-set to dismantle this morning.
And just one pair of clean socks.
And a photo of you.
When you get off work tonight,
meet me at the construction site,
and we'll write some notes to tape to the heavy machines,
like "We hope they treat you well. Hope you don't work too hard.
We hope you get to be happy sometimes."
Bring your Swiss-army knife, and a bottle of something,
and I'll bring some spray paint and a new deck of cards.
Hey I found the safest place to keep all our tenderness.
Keep all our bad ideas. Keep all our hope.
It's here in the smallest bones, the feet and the inner-ear.
It's such an enormous thing to walk and to listen.
I'd like to fall asleep to the beat of you breathing
in a room near a truck stop on a highway somewhere.
You are a radio. You are an open door.
I am a faulty string of blue Christmas lights.
You swim through frequencies.
You let that stranger in, as I'm blinking off and on and off again.
We've got a lot of time.
Or maybe we don't, but I'd like to think so, so let me pretend.
These are my favorite chords.
I know you like them too.
When I get a new guitar, you can have this one and sing me a lullaby.
Sing me the alphabet.
Sing me a story I haven't heard yet.
-My Favorite Chords The Weakerthans

Oh, my life is changing everyday,
In every possible way.
And oh, my dreams, it's never quiet as it seems,
Never quiet as it seems.
I know I've felt like this before, but now I'm feeling it even more,
Because it came from you.
And then I open up and see the person falling here is me,
A different way to be.
I want more impossible to ignore,
Impossible to ignore.
And they'll come true, impossible not to do,
Impossible not to do.
And now I tell you openly, you have my heart so don't hurt me.
You're what I couldn't find.
A totally amazing mind, so understanding and so kind;
You're everything to me.
Oh, my life,
Is changing every day,
In every possible way.
And oh, my dreams,
It's never quiet as it seems,
'Cause you're a dream to me,
Dream to me.
-Dreams The Cranberries

Lay It Down

There is plenty God has blessed me with, but my withholding from the Lord, will keep me from truly knowing Him. Tonight, I wanted to sleep, but God kept calling my name, kept beckoning me near Him. Being nearer to the light means being more exposed of all the crap I sink myself in. Lately I have gotten in the habit of being a big fat hypocrite and saying I am letting go of control, but even my prayers include "then I" or "so I". Tonight was a huge conviction of realizing, surrender is more than a prayer. I know this, and yet I avoided it, skirted around it, even preached it and didn't do it. I choose to lay it all down..will you join me?
I am surrendering it all
My future
My work
My father
My goals
My car
My finances
My ambitions
My guilt
My mom
Justin
I am laying them down before God, and I just want to encourage anyone who runs across this to take a minute to lay even what seems menial down before God. Make Him first, because His heart weeps for ours, for our hurts, our needs. He needs us as we need Him.
Today so many beautiful things happened. I can really appreciate what God is doing, by recognizing what He has done. Today God gave me many memories, one of which included a dream turned reality. I took it all in as I sat next to Justin at Sonic. There we were, an old fashioned kind of love, in the early summer, at the drive through, with our cold drinks, after a bike ride on the cruisers, listening to oldies, dreaming together. God gave us that moment. He orchestrates our dreams into reality everyday, if we can just recognize it. I will fail to recognize God's calling of my name if I do not let go of all this muck.

Here is a song that is stirring in me, if you want the mp3, I will gladly e-mail it to you :)

Jesus, All For Jesus

Jesus, all for Jesus,
All I am and have and ever hope to be.
Jesus, all for Jesus,
All I am and have and ever hope to be.

All of my ambitions, hopes and plans
I surrender these into Your hands.
All of my ambitions, hopes and plans
I surrender these into Your hands.

For it's only in Your will that I am free,
For it's only in Your will that I am free,
Jesus, all for Jesus,
All I am and have and ever hope to be.

Robin Mark, Revival In Belfast

Life is something wonderful. Praise our God who forgives, who heals, who redeems. In the grand scheme of things, what I choose to stress about will not matter. I want to be an encouragement, a joy, I want to radiate, not be slanderous. There a thousand plus things I am in the dark about, that are out of my control, but the Lord will be my constant.

Love without condition

Illuminate the dark

Ketchup

So, the events of the last few weeks have been a whirlwind of something quite fantastic. Let's see, my Justin graduated Hope College in Michigan. My trip out there with Shaug and Amy was incredible. I watched with much pride as J accepted his pretend diploma ( a real one will be issued to him soon haha)

It was such gorgeous weather in Holland. We visited the "beach" there along Lake Michigan and enjoyed the quaint downtown Holland. Once we got Justin packed up we headed on the road, first stop Chicago! We made our way across the states, seeing awesome and very important landmarks like the U.S.'s only landlocked lighthouse...or the worlds largest thermometer. We got to visit out friends Steve and Shelly in Parker, Colorado and see downtown Denver. We did so much, it's hard to include everything, but it will be a trip we will never forget. The day before Justin's grad we found out his family had moved to Fresno, so he is living there now. It's hard, but we are working it out. Yesterday we celebrated our one year dating anniversary, since we were on the road for our real one back on the 10th. So, it was a day of shopping for new school clothes for J, dinner, a baseball game, and lots of wonderful conversation.
So, we could use some prayer, for some pretty big things coming up. Praise God Justin got his financial aid package from the Culinary Institute and it was much more than expected, but he still needs some money. So our prayers include, financial aid for Justin, a car for both of us, clarity on big future stuff, God's direction, our work situations, our families. Today was my final day of class so praise God for that! Also, Justin has likely landed a job at a restaurant in Fresno, so another big praise God for that. Amy is doing well and the baby is doing great, a very healthy and pretty spot on pregnancy so that is wonderful. My niece Amanda is graduating high school soon. Relay for Life turned out well, all the madness before hand paid off and it was a very healing time for me and I am sure many others.
Ok, time for some brutal honesty
I am stressed, I don't feel stressed, but my body says otherwise
I am praying about school in the fall, and just God's direction in general
I don't paint nearly as often as I used to
Shaugs heart for his family is humbling
Realizing my mom won't be around for the next few years of my life, including big things like my future wedding day, my kids, is sinking in now and it sucks
I am a huge fan travel, but a bigger fan of experiencing firsthand
Justin's ambition and willingness to do follow the Lord overwhelms me in all the right ways, I'm going to marry that man one day
I am certain now there are moments God shares with us, where we see ourselves as others do, and it can be wonderful, and it can be devastating, but in those moments I have to choose to see me as God does, despite what I now understand about myself
I am hungry for a deeper understanding of what I say I believe in
Relationships require more selflessness than I am usually willing to give
I am hungry for independence
Control over my life will paralyze me, love will make me move
Pray with the one you love, daily, it pays off
Alright, that was my random catch you up the life of Korina blog, nothing poetic for now. But I will cop out and leave you with a poetic quote

“The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing. (Zephaniah 3:17)”

Finally

Tomorrow I will run and jump into the arms of my love and give him a long awaited kiss hello. Yes, I know you all just threw up in your mouths a little, but if this is the reason why, then it is worth it. I have come to realize just how much I need this man, and after tomorrow, I won't have to say goodbye for months at a time anymore. He is graduating with honors from Hope College in Holland, Michigan and in the fall he is attending the Culinary Institute of America in Napa, California! Praise God! I am so proud of Justin, and completely honored to be by his side as he begins this next stage of his life. If you think of it, continue to lift him up in prayer, that God would continue to guide and direct him. Pray that more than anything, our God would be glorified by the life Justin so obediently and joyfully chooses to live.