HIDING PLACE
By Sarah Groves
Early when the day is new
Before the stirring
I will come and talk to you
And confess the ways I am broken
To recall the words you've spoken
And to try to comprehend
The love you have for me
You are my hiding place
You fill my broken heart with songs
Songs of deliverance
You sing of how the weak are strong
You never meant for me to walk alone
You are always for me
As the truest lover of my soul
You hear my desperate calling
You have kept my feet from falling
And have set me on this rock on which I'm standing now
You are my hiding place
You fill my broken heart with songs
Songs of deliverance
You sing of how the weak are strong
And I believe you
For you've saved me from my darkness and my shame
And I believe you
For I hear your song of beauty grow with pain
You are my hiding place
You fill my broken heart with songs
Songs of deliverance
You sing of how the weak are strong
a new song
Found
(based on Deut. 32 and Acts 17:28)
In the desert, He found me
In a barren, howling waste
From the scorching sun He shielded me
And wiped the dirt off my face.
He wiped the dirt off my face.
Chorus
Father, dear Father
Saviour, my Saviour
Breath of Life, Oh my Life!
In you we live, in you we move
In you we have, everything (x2)
Everything!
With sweet honey from the Rock
He satisfied my every need
I opened my mouth and he filled it
With the finest of wheat
With the finest of wheat
Chorus
Like an eagle, soaring over me.
He taught me how to fly
With Mighty wings, He guided me,
I’m the apple of His eye.
I’m the apple of His eye
Chorus
Outro:
Let us proclaim the Name of the Lord
Let us give Him Glory
Raise your voice and sing
All Honor to the King,
Alleluya...Alleluya...Alleluya.
I've had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend.
I've been praying to have a heart of gratitude.
Here are things I am thankful for
Family
Wonderful friends
A good job
Health
A wonderful house to live in and great roommates.
Living in beautiful part of Canada
Living in Canada, a country that is politically stable.
Being able to vote, and have a voice.
On Saturday we went to Lake Louise. Everytime I go there it just takes my breath away.
Sunday afternoon was our family thanksgiving dinner.
My mom cooked an awesome spread (as usual) and we invited our friends, Ian and Allison, whose family is in Ontario and the Zimboys (brothers from Zimbabwe ) whose dad is visiting for a couple of weeks.
It was so great to meet Mike, Paul and Simon's dad. It makes me sad to think that he is returning to Zimbabwe so soon, where times are very hard and things are as unstable as they are.
Anyways, thanksgiving was great.
Tomorrow are our national elections. I get to vote!
our spread...mmmm
This has actually been one of the most excellent Falls I have had in a long time.
First of all, I am not dealing with any of the school stress I would have dealt with, had I chosen to take classes this year.
Second, the weather has been INCREDIBLE! 
Last week was in the 20s! I also happened to have some days off, which I took full advantage of, choosing to go gallivanting with friends to waterfalls, canyons and castles (well, the Banff Springs Hotel is pretty much a castle, haha).
Today I also threw out the old, to welcome the new. I emptied my closet of old clothes and summer stuff I won't be needing for the next, say 8 months?
It feels good. I am also excited to see what the new season holds.
I am learning more about how God fights for me...for us. Like a warrior fights for a captive, like a lover for his beloved, like a groom for his bride...
many people I know are going through hard times right now: a friend of mine has a tiny little nephew who is not well; friends of the family are dealing with newly diagnosed cancer, and divorce...
I was talking to my close friends about this topic of being in the thick of it, and what it means to hold on to what is unseen, not seen. Jason preached on this verse from 2 Corinthians 4: "16Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."
TO know that God is sovereign, that God is good and unchanging...that He loves us and will never let us go, even when we doubt and wrestle with him, is humbling and assuring. I want to have an expanding view of my Maker, growing..becoming...
elbow falls
Dan, Rachel and Julie at Elbow Falls.
I had an incredible weekend!
Dan was invited to go play at this Christian music festival at a rafting resort near this small town in B.C. called Lytton. Kumsheen, which means "meeting of the great rivers"(the Thompson and the Fraser meet at this very spot where Lytton is located) was the name of the resort.
We drove for 9.5 hours ... ROADTRIP! and arrived in the evening in this awesome place that I never knew existed in B.C. It's like a desert with a beautiful canyon and the river flows right through. I have never seen so many trains! The railroad is built all a long this river valley.
Anyways. We spent an amazing weekend, with 30 degree weather, relaxing, swimming, hiking and enjoying live music.
check out some great teather ball action, haha. So Napoleon Dynamite!
There were great live performances Rachelle Kostelyk (check her out!) and Ill ProFhetz (this hiphop/rap group from Kelowna). And on Saturday night, Dan performed ..myself and Karen were his band, hehe. I was on back-up vocals and Karen was percussion and back-up vocals. It was sooo much fun! We had a great time of prayer before we played, singing and talking with God in our cabin tent. When we were on stage it felt like we were in our living room with friends.
I am so excited for what God has in store for my bro. Please check out his awesome songs( I'm so proud of him! ) and buy a cd! lol. He's getting started... He sold a few cd's and we made some new friends.
The best part of this trip, was that it was FREE! YES! that's right! in return for performing an hour set! isnt' that SWEET!!? God is so good. I was praying at the start of this summer ... really wanting to go to B.C. on a road trip, and I was disappointed when didn't work out during my 9 days off.. but then along came this awesome opportunity! what a GIFT! Praise God!
So, lets get to one of the many highlights of the weekend.... RAFTING! WE decided to go power rafting, instead of paddle rafting since we've all done the paddling before..MAN IT WAS INCREDIBLE! We spent about 4.5 hours on the river and had a great lunch. The rapids were awesome and the scenery was just breath taking! Our guide was this really cute Aussie (what can I say, i'm a sucker for adventurous boys with accents, lol), he had some interesting facts to share about the surroundings, as well as some b.s. stories, to entertain us. Anyways, it was awesome! so many great rapids. Next time (and i'm def. planning to go back there!) i want to paddle them. Unfortunately I don't have rafting pics, cos I didn't take my camera on the river, but I added some other pics of the weekend.
We stayed in these great cabin tents with the most comfortable beds/bedding. The food was delicious (one night we had salmon steaks! and the first night I had the most delectable creme brulet I've ever tasted). The hot tub was great too.
o, now that summer is pretty much over... I am looking back and thinking what an amazing summer it has been!
I went to Fairmont hot springs twice! Had a chance to go hiking, Go on an overnight trip to a condo in Canmore, I went rafting, took a road trip and was able to do most of the things I planned to do back in May when I wrote down some goals for the summer.
Some of these goals included going somewhere, and I wrote in brackets (B.C.), lol. Getting a guitar and playing more, getting a tattoo, learning to spend more quiet time with God ( was able to have an amazing silent retreat and it was so sweet to be there in His presence for a whole day) and I am learning more and more what it means to walk with HIm, praying unceasingly. Join a gym and exercise (although, i can definetely do more of that!). the only thing I didn't do on my list, was paint.
I read quite a few books as well...
one of them was the Shack. A REAlLY good book many people were telling me about and I finally read it. It really helped me see some things with a fresh perspective.
Paul Young, the author, spoke at Ambrose (my school) last night. He is an ambrose alumnus, something I didn't know!. He had some awesome things to say. Very humble and real guy. He was just able to share about his journey with God. And one of the things that struck me most, was how God's grace is such an incredible thing that we often misunderstand, and we don't live in it fully. I think that is one thing I also learned from the book. My prayer is that we will come to live more freely with every struggle, hardship, joy, big or small change, every mistake and its concequence, that comes into our lives... to live freely in this grace God gives; this love that God is.
like this flower in the desert :)
I saw the leaves changing and falling and it's only the end of AUGUST! I am blessed to experience my favourite season twice in one year! When I woke up the other morning and felt that Autumn nip in the air I was immediately transported back to NZ... where I had my first Fall this year:
Still no word from the job i applied to. Apparantly it can take weeks... that means i am still in the 'don't know anything' zone where I wait and see what happens... carrying on with life, as best as i can, as I know it now, expecting that it can all change in an instant... that's how i should always be living, isn't it?
It has given me the opportunity to really think about what I want to be doing this upcoming few months... I am leaning toward working and getting more involved with ministry at church, really throwing myself in hardcore into both areas. THis excites me.
Taking school at the same time, might cause me to go and spread myself thin again, so school might just be out this year...
saving money is NOT a bad thing. especially if school costs a million and I want to see more of the world!
anyways. guess what i did this weekend? I drove a manual car for the first time!! My dad took me out in their little Kia something or other...a cute little SUV tjorretjie (afrikaans for little car)and i drove STANDARD!! I only freaked out once, when I turned onto a highway from a halt, and I had to speed up to 80km in seconds only! because of the traffic....only the car made the most horrible sound and wouldn'move!! Then all of a sudden I realized that 3rd and 1st gear is awefully close together on the gear shift. hahahaha.
i started out in 3rd gear by accident, REVVING REALLY high, the poor guy behind me probably thought............what the deuce?!
I made it home safely... and i am looking forward to the next time...and the next until I can do it with my eyes closed...or well...you know what I mean.
as an aside, it is awesome to see how many people use a search engine to find a remedy for taking JELLY fish out of HAIR! and end up on my blogsite... thank you site meter for endless amusement.
I decided to use a coffee press instead of using the coffee maker this morning… and MAN OH MAN! It’s like every little bit of flavour in the grinds seeped into the boiling water! I thought, why stop at this? So I grabbed my ghetto little $2 milk frother and whipped up some frothy cream to smoothly top it.
That’s ok, I need to drink less coffee anyways, but if my one cup a day is going to taste THIS good, then I’m contented.
Today, I had this memory of being here.
I hope to return to Southern Africa one day. We had so many cool adventures when we were kids. I'm thankful for growing up in an exciting place that.
It was a lot of fun! 
