May 2012
17 posts
My new website/blog is up & runnin!
Hey friends, it’s finally here! Check out “Travelin’ Light”
http://convergeauburn.org/chelsie
There you can find the latest writings, Jesus, life, news about my upcoming Africa trip and other fun things!
If you kept up with my tumblr page, I won’t be using it anymore, so check out the site!
Much love,
Chee
Changing blogs!
Hey dear friends! Recently I’ve been made aware of the need to revamp my blog and make it more functional for you! That’s why I haven’t written in a bit… I’ve been working on a website— surprise! My goal is to have it fully functioning by this Monday, May 28th. I will share my site here in a post when it’s up.
Once that’s up and running, I...
7 tags
worms and treasures
The warm, sticky, late afternoon air wrapped it’s heavy presence around us as we walked down the street of my neighborhood. One girl held my longboard as I held the hand of a 4-year-old, who holds my heart. There’s something about little Daniel— I’m not sure what it is, but there’s something. His life just explodes with joy and I cannot help but smile when I’m...
13 tags
redeemed recliner.
I breathed in the late afternoon as the wind made it’s way through my little silver car’s windows and danced with my messy hair pinned back in a bun. I’ve got to be honest and say that I am relieved that the dusk sky in this city is quite gorgeous. I thought for so long that nothing could match a sun streaked sky in Tampa—- little did I know I was right, but also wrong....
9 tags
men plan, but God prevails.
I don’t want to make this decision on my own. I certainly don’t want others to make it for me or suggest the way I should go. I don’t want my wild, free spirit to think it’s something cool and jump on in because of that. I don’t want to go because I feel like that should be the next step. I don’t want to go because I think it’s something great and so does...
Mom: I'm walking into Walmart now, I got to go.
Me: Do you have your pepper spray?
Mom: Heck yeah I do. I carry it everywhere. Even when I go for a walk around the neighborhood.
Me: Really?
Mom: Yeah, I even carried it around with me when I walked around the cruise ship by myself.
Me: No you didn't.
Mom: Yes I did. You never know who might mug me when I don't have your dad with me.
6 tags
“Only the Lord forgets sin. Only God can take it and send it as far as the east...”
– Bathsheba (historical fiction) from “Unspoken” by Francine Rivers
11 tags
the shovel of truth.
Oh my soul, be not deceived— wait for Him, don’t be quick to leave.
-Bethany Dillion from “To Those Who Wait”
This particular line has wrapped its simple words around my heartstrings recently and I realize it’s for an extremely important reason. It’s because of that one little word, the one that is subtle and often ignored, yet it leads to a chocking death...
7 tags
the little things.
The heavens have opened up tonight and apparently the ground is extremely thirsty. I’m sitting in a quiet room with nothing to listen to but the pouring rain knocking on the roof above my head repetitively. I cannot sleep, but I know God’s kept me awake so I can see. As I listen, I cannot help but think about giving thanks; I am so thankful that I can see Him right now. Sometimes the...
15 tags
there's a whole lotta stuff to remember when...
Traveling has always sparked a sense of adrenaline in me; even just a quick drive in the car to a destination gets me going. I was the kid that wouldn’t call home from camp (I always got in trouble for that, but it wasn’t because I was trying to ignore my mother), because I didn’t get homesick and my mind was on the present, not looking back. It was thrilling to me to go to a...
6 tags
actively waiting.
Talk to me about water and you’ll find I can catch your drift. I grew up along the sea shore and the pool side; water, it makes sense to me. I would also choose to drink it during a basketball game over Gatoraid and I carry around a water bottle everyday like it’s going out of style.
I’ve found I’ve had some of the most life changing moments evolving around water....
9 tags
weapon of the day: laughter
It’s a wild thing when we ask God to be our strength; He equips us in a way that is fit for those exact circumstances. It’s an amazing moment when you confess to Him that you don’t have any strength (and you don’t want to try to do it on your own anymore), and you desire Him to be your strength instead.
I pray your glory shine in this doubting heart of mine and all...
8 tags
9 tags
a moment where the wait finally brings life.
I told Him I wanted to trust in His understanding and not my own; He took me seriously. That’s when He knew the only way I could walk down the path less traveled, the one that brings His name alone glory and the one that sings of freedom and redemption, meant I had to be put in a crisis so I would truly acknowledge Him in all my ways and submit to His ways.
The heat slowly started to rise...
7 tags
this city.
I breathed out a tired, heavy sigh today as I let my arms rest on a metal balcony I stand at most days. I smiled as the warm sun hit my face and thanked God as thoughts raced through my mind. I always try to steal a moment or two there to just stop and think. I stood bent over, with my fingers intertwined and hands hanging over the edge, gazing over a city street that has become familiar…...
9 tags
the battle rages on.
“If this ever happens to me, and I’m not married at the time, when I’m out on my own, I’m coming home because I can’t survive by myself.”
Mother’s are a blessing and sometimes I think we take them for granted if we have one that truly thinks about her kids instead of herself. As I got older, I realized just how much my mom sacrificed for us, even when it...
11 tags
the birds and the flowers.
I’m sitting outside and some birds are singing something sweet; but the Holy Spirit sang something over them which is so much sweeter:
“My love, I will take care of you.”
There’s some trees, I’ve noticed, on the back porch of this little apartment that have birthed some delicate white flowers.
“Have you forgotten so soon, my child?”
Oh my wandering...
April 2012
12 posts
“I heard that faith moves mountains—
I know it moves my feet to follow...”
– Audrey Assad, From “Slow”
7 tags
failure is not in His name.
“You’ve never failed. You’ve never failed. You’ve never failed. You won’t fail me. Your promises are true. You aren’t like a man that would lie or change His mind. You’ve never failed.”
My lungs struggled to pump out breath and say these words this evening. They were slow and repetitive; all I could do was push out these words with every ounce of...
4 tags
digging up the roots.
I’m the middle child— stuck between two boys, which means I didn’t have the typical middle child syndrome. There’s something about being the only girl… your boys, they love you and fight for you. They will go great lengths for you and not think twice, which you realize is pretty amazing once you stop getting embarrassed by it! It’s going to take an incredible...
a story that impacts Eternity; kindness &...
Redemption has stories to tell.
Tuesday morning I sat alone in the little consignment shop. I asked God to bring whoever needed to be there today and after all the waiting, I realized that maybe I was the one who needed to be there. I prayed for the ladies who were going to come and for the Lord to show them today that they are loved. I wasn’t discouraged, which is a miracle in itself; I was...
broken fingers.
“If I had to get rid of them, I would,” I began. “That’s the story of my life these days.”
It’s a good one too— but that’s because it’s not really my story anymore.
I’m sitting in my room right now starting to pack it up. I’ve always loved to travel but always disliked the hand it holds- packing. What’s worse than packing...
thirsty in every season.
The wind blew through my window with an inviting gust of something fresh and sweet early this afternoon. I was sitting on my knees starring out of my small bedroom window, taking in some of the last moments I’ll spend in this apartment. When the sun shines the way it did today, you know, when it paints the earth golden and wraps up creation with a warm hug, I always believe it’s a gift...
the arms that hold what is good.
Tonight I had a conversation with a 14 month old while I was helping her get her totally legit elephant PJs on. (Seriously, I wish they made adult sizes because it was beyond rad). She was laughing and looking out the front window as the five other kids played. Pioneers and Indians they were, and they were gracious enough to excuse me, the Indian Queen, because the Baby Indian Princess was getting...
a difference of fifty-one.
Six-thirty came way to early this morning. I normally don’t get up that early, but Tuesday mornings, at least for this season of my life, have changed. It was the first Tuesday in a step of obedience to an answer God gave me in prayer one morning about two weeks ago.
I washed my face and starred at my wild hair.
“At least it’s not greasy,” I thought, as I put a headband in. I silently made my way...
lift up your head.
“Sometimes I just don’t know where to begin,” a friend said to me over the telephone line last night. It was a statement of desperation— she knew things had to change. She wanted the freedom of Christ and she wanted Him to be the Lord of her past.
I sat on my knees under a night sky as I heard her voice. My eyes grew wide as I looked into the dark sky because I heard my...
March 2012
2 posts
cheerfully waiting.
While the world was waiting on a change to come along… light broke in.
-David Crowder
Jesus and I had a talk the other day… well, it’s been an on-going one, but it finally came together and collided with the very depths of my being. I felt like my guts were spilled out on the floor and radically, life flooded my veins. Finally— waiting didn’t seem so bad...
do something risky and throw away your fear...
To a Florida kid, a cold night outside hits my skin with a painful hello and seeps down to my bones leaving a hurt that consumes me head to toe. It’s something I don’t think I’ll ever grow out of and honestly I don’t want to. I was reminded of this pain this evening as I was walking to my apartment door, but something collided with it. I suppose it was God whispering in my...
January 2012
4 posts
“And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good....”
– “The Master Artist” from Come Away My Beloved
maybe it's all gone black, but You're ALL i see.
Have you ever screamed at the top of your lungs from the depths of your gut and soul because you really understood that you were free? Well… maybe you haven’t or maybe you think this sounds crazy. But tonight I did. Something amazing came to life in the cracks of my soul and heart that only the Lord Jesus Christ could do.
I was driving in the thickest fog ever and as every thing...
beautifully broken.
God has wrecked everything I have ever known and come to call my life these days. The funny thing is, I look at what this culture would call strange or a disaster and I see something beautiful. I know I am not looking at it with my own eyes and I know I didn’t get to this point because of anything I have done. Something supernatural happened— I was blind, but now I see.
I never knew...
Kenya: Day 4. August 21, 2011. Sunday.
“By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world- our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believe that Jesus...
December 2011
9 posts
current lessons.
I came to the end of myself and I found God; His arms were open and His path was straight. His understandings were healing when I realized He knows and I don’t. My “understandings” left scars, unanswered questions, pride, judgement and really they didn’t make much sense at all. But His, they were beautiful. You see, His ways are good. My ways are broken and sinful, so how...
He leads us into beautiful places.
I remember this time last year clearly; there’s a few things that are the same but a bunch more that are different. Tomorrow, I am going home for Christmas… and this is where this all begins.
Last year at this time, I was at the end of me. I was tired and I felt like I could sleep for weeks. It was my first December away from home for my birthday and it was also my first December in...
Egypt? I'm not goin' back.
I have to start off by saying that God’s word is alive and active; hallelujah. Last night, I was reading in Jeremiah and God’s people were headed back to Egypt and living in complete rebellion to the Lord. They wanted to do what they wanted and they thought “freedom” was in the very place they were in bondage years before. God was pretty tired of it.. His love sent people...
Twenty-four: Lord, it is Yours.
“And do you seek great things for yourself? Seek them not, for behold, I am bringing disaster upon all flesh, declares the LORD. But I will give you your life as a prize of war in all places to which you may go.” Jeremiah 45:5
I woke up yesterday on my 24th birthday with vision— it was vision that was not my own. Instead, it was vision breathed upon me by God. I could hardly get...
Twenty-three, you were beautiful and tough; you taught me to grow up and how to stand when everything was crashing down. Soon we say goodbye and it’ll be time to say hello to a new song. Thank you Lord for the lessons you taught me and the freedom you are having me walk into— twenty-four:: it’s all for You Jesus. All of my days.
December 7, 2011: A day of vulnerability, dreams...
Vulnerable.
This December started off kind of rocky for me.. mentally that is. Before December started, I didn’t realize that my last few days of being 23 would be a fight. I could not pin point it at first; I woke up one morning and looked around my bedroom.
“Where am I,” I thought. “And how did I get here? Lord, was it supposed to look like this?”
I realized my...
“Twenty four oceans
Twenty four skies
Twenty four failures
Twenty four tries...”
– “Twenty-Four” by Switchfoot… song of the week as 23 wraps up- song of this new year in my life.
December, sweet December... Are you where you...
The beginning of December always comes so sweetly to me and it always causes me to pause and take a look back. That’s because in nine days, I always end up being a year older. An Anberlin lyric is racing through my head right now:
Are you where you thought you’d be, so beautiful and only twenty-three?
-From “Alexithymia”
Talk about a line that sinks deep and really...
November 2011
6 posts
“You might let me cry; You might let me sing; You might let me feel a fraction of...”
– “Never Let Me Down” Andy Gullahorn
The Candlestick →
Word from the Lord.. I love you Jesus.
A word the Lord gave me this afternoon:
Jesus keeps no record of wrongs; He loves us when we are weak and when we make mistakes. He doesn’t degrade us or point out all that is wrong with us. Instead, there’s only grace.
He takes us in, brushes us off and with love, He shows us why we need Him. He makes us new and His grace is so amazing and sweet that we cannot help but ask Him to...
“You have to tear it apart to get the pieces to mend.
Strange place to start –...”
– Andy Gullahorn
I'd wait for the whole world to show you.
If there’s one person to ask about love, it’s certainly Jesus Christ, who is love Himself. When I was 10 years old, I so clearly experienced a love that set me free and radically changed my whole life. I didn’t grow up in a Christian household and I was so hungry for the Lord. As I approach 24 in less than a month, I can look back and say I’ve been through thick and thin...
To all those who gave and prayed for me to go to...
Jambo! (Hello in Swahili)
As I write this, I realize that it’s been a full two months since I have been back from Kenya and finally the Lord has given me words to share with you! So much happened in Africa and I’m so thankful the Lord allowed me to go in August. Before I share some things that happened, I first need to share why it has taken me so long to put Kenya into words.
When it...