Beautiful Chaos

hi sweet friends,  i hope this advent season finds you all well! many of us are finishing up the semester with finals, and papers, and presentations. business and long to-do lists are dragging us down and can easily hinder our relationship with our Maker. even during advent, my heart is weary with all that is going on around me and in my life. but even through the stress and weight, i trust that the Lord is piecing it all together for His good. He's taking this chaos and weaving it into beauty. and for that i am oh so thankful.  i love music. it has always been a huge part of my life, whether it be playing instruments, singing, or just jamming out in my room. i easily connect to music. in high school, i thrived on worship music, but coming to college i stopped listening. this summer, the Lord absolutely changed my heart and gave me a desire to pursue Him through music once again. lately, two songs have been popping up in my life quite frequently. and by quite frequently,

hello sweet friends, life is hard sometimes. y'all know this. we don't live in Eden. our homes aren't seated in paradise. the world we live in is a broken, sinful, beautiful, freezing at times, hot mess of a place. due to the fall, we're the same. hurting, sinning, way too busy, worn out people trying to make a name for ourselves. and this is hard. things don't go our way. we forget about important obligations and have to face the consequences. we are worn out  from studying our butts off and still not making the grade. we are exhausted  from pouring into relationships and then having friends fail us and turn away. we are weary  from trying to abide by God's laws when others aren't.  guys, i don't know about you, but i'm in serious need of rest. in Matthew 11:28 (Message version) it says,  “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest.

To begin, I want to proclaim my absolute love and awe for The Lord. Every day, through the trials and joy, I'm in awe of His power and plan for my life. Developing my relationship with Christ has been an adventure to say the least, but it is so worth it.  Recently someone said to me, "Shelby, your life seems so easy. You get accepted into everything."   Woah . Not true, my friends.  Let me be the first to tell you, my life is not as peachy as it may seem. I struggle, y'all. I sin daily. My words are not always gentle and my heart is not always focused on Christ. But thankfully, Jesus has blessed me with grace . And He has blessed you too! And for this I am so thankful. Because through His grace, I have joy. I'm able to fight through the temptations that life throws at me with Christ at my side. When trials arise, I know that God has had these planned for me since the beginning of time. Let that sink in a bit, because it's huge and so incredibly exciting!!! Onc

hello all, i'm currently in alaska. laying in a hammock listening to old pine by ben howard & getting eaten alive by mosquitos. it's 9pm and the sun is beginning to set over the snow capped mountains. there's a slight breeze and the air is crisp and fresh. today i took a nap on a dock down at auke lake and i dipped my toes in the cold water as i watched an eagle soar above me. life is good. i feel alive here. it's easier to breathe and to think. i only have 4 weeks left. updates: -- Job i work for juneau tours/juneau whale watch. i'm a dock representative, so i'm in charge of getting large groups of antsy tourists on the correct bus at the correct time to the correct place before any of them start to get cranky. i've translated for people in spanish, been cussed at, shoved against a bus, dealt with crying customers, & i've had the pleasure of meeting tourists from all over the world. i've met mizzou grads, sorority sisters, na

"The time has come," the Walrus said, "To talk of many things: Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax-- Of cabbages--and kings-- And why the sea is boiling hot-- And whether pigs have wings." Well friends, there is PLENTY to talk about. I just finished up my sophomore of college at the University of Missouri - aka the best college ever. This year was all kinds of crazy & definitely full of adventure! As y'all know, I don't blog. I'm awful. I'm inconsistent. I am not a journalist & I give mad props to those who are. But, for the duration of this summer. I am going to try my absolute best to update this blog weekly!  I'm going to Alaska for the entire summer on a Campus Crusade for Christ (CRU) Summer Project. I'll be in Juneau spending my summer working for a whale watching company and evangelizing! I'm for realz pumped. God has so much in store for us & I couldn't be more excited or terrified!! I fly out May 27th and