Ups and Downs

Ups:

• I found a cute shirt and necklace for under 12 dollars today.
• I got to have lunch today at my favorite restaurant, Cheddar's.
• Texts from a friend filled with uplifting song suggestions.
• Reconnecting with an old friend.
• The possibility of a photoshoot with a long-lost best friend. 
• The realization that I leave for vacation numero dos in a week.
• Sweet tea and iced coffee. Lots of it, too.
• Taking a long walk by fields filled with fescue, cows, queen anne's lace, and red clover at golden hour.
• My sweet niece and nephew.
• Helping a church and a sweet girl in Joplin.
• Looking through old photos.

Downs:

• Finding out that the roll of film I sent off to be developed was undevelopable due to heat damage.
• Anxiety.
• My crazy, stupid, OCD tendencies. 
• The devastation in Joplin.
•  Loneliness.
• The realization that you like someone who probably does not like you like that. (I don't care if I'm nearly twenty. Girls can still get crushes.)
• The dog days of summer coming very, very early.

I was reading in my devotion book, Daily Light, this past week. It's a book filled with a collection of morning/evening devotions, containing only Scripture.  I would highly recommend it. Anyway, I came across a particular verse in Job that I had read before, but it had never really jumped out at me like it did this time.

Now acquaint yourself with Him and be at peace. - Job 22:21

It just really gripped my heart. I keep repeating it to myself over and over. Because peace is not something that I have known in my life for three years now, due to my own foolishness and just...life circumstances. Life is messy, and that's okay. But I know that God can give me peace. I just have to swallow my pride and ask for it. 

It's been an up and down week, but I'm finding freedom in who Christ has made me. 

xo, Katy

P.S. Tomorrow is my half-birthday! I don't care if I'm nearly 19 1/2. I still celebrate the half-way mark. :)