Welcome back to the blog! The past month has been an absolute whirlwind, but let me do my best to take you guys with me through it!

I want to use this blog to take a moment and reflect on what Jesus has done in my life recently, and most importantly what i'm learning about his character, and qualities. The word that has been on my heart this past week is "intentional". I cannot simply seem to wrap my head around the fact that people look at what God has made and think "accident", when creation screams purpose. Allow that to sink in. The little things so passionately reveal intention, and we look past it so easily. To truly revel in his wonder is to allow your jaw to hit the floor, to stand in awe and speechlessness of the way things are made. To fall on your knees in a beautiful aching of exasperated amazement. When I apply logic to mystery, it takes away a certain shock that can only be felt when in a supernatural encounter with Jesus. God created logic, and people twisted it to turn away from the certainty of creation, when it was made to perfectly and intricately align with it. The intention is phenomenal.

I am rereading my favorite book, "Gentle and Lowly" with my team, and the way that Dane Ortlund puts into perspective of what flows from the very heart of Christ changes my view on his character entirely. One of my favorite quotes comes straight from the book in chapter one, while he's trying to describe Jesus. he says "This is one so unspeakably brilliant that his resplendence cannot adequately be captured with words, so ineffably magnificent that all language dies away before his splendor" I appreciate so deeply how in his writing, he writes with such a depth and poetically passionate dialect. He uses words that are so intricate and intentional to somehow describe Jesus himself, the words carry such a beauty that when used in this specific sentence and many more times in this chapter, leave me standing in awe and captured by the pages. It's a type of poetry that catches a description and adds an emotion without speaking of said emotion. He explains also in this chapter how the very heart of Jesus is love. "The Jesus given to us in the Gospels is not simply one who loves, but one who is love; merciful affections stream from his innermost heart as rays from the sun." I love how he applied this simile. it paints a perfect picture of just how "natural" it is. Rays are a direct result from a beaming sun. They stream from it, and we wouldn't think anything else. Love in this instance is the sun, and merciful affections are the rays. That's how natural it its. It's not hard for him, and it's not a burden. Love is the literal cause of his character. Our Father is so intentional, that even his creation reflects him.

Past our sin God gave us his intentionality and beauty for us to marvel at. How gracious and forgiving He is. He is literally always with you. Lately Jesus has been teaching me not to leave him in one place. Not that God isn't omnipresent, but our simple acknowledgement of him gives us a heart posture of ready and willing. He is our friend, and he sits in the quiet, and the loud, in the busy and the slow; He is there. by acknowledging His presence, we simply accept His invitation into joy and comfort to carry throughout the day. If that doesn't scream intentional I don't know what does.

As you go about your days, allow yourself to stand in awe. Take him with you and allow him to move in your heart.