FOUND!!

Two things:

1. Please join me in a celebration over the recovery of my lost Moleskine. It was, after all, behind my friend Meredith's bed. Tonight she placed it in my trembling hands. I'm never letting it out of my sight again.

2. Please forgive me for my delay in blogging about men, women, and relationships. It's coming, I promise. Right now I'm trying to sort through the email questions (AHEM... I notice that no one left questions in the comments but you all emailed me with them. How brave of you. Hah! Kidding!) I've been taken up with a few other projects this week, and I will commence blogging about men and women soon.

I dig you guys so much.

xoxo,
TLC:)

Things to come...

Over the next week, I'm going to do a lot of blogging about women, men, and relationships. This is due in part to the fact that I've been asked to speak on the topic, and I want to get your feedback about my commentary so that I don't end up saying anything stupid. Hah! :)

If there's anything in particular that you'd like me to address, you can leave it in the comments or write me a personal note:

tlc at tara leigh cobble dot com

Have a stellar day!
~TLC

Whatever befalls us...

"Whatever befalls us, however it befalls us, we must receive it as the will of God. If it befalls us through man's negligence or ill-will or anger, still it is, in even the least circumstance, to us the will of God. For if the least thing could happen to us without God's permission, it would be something out of God's control. God's providence or his love would not be what they are. Almighty God Himself would not be the same God; not the God whom we believe, adore, and love."

- Mary Wilder Tileston, Daily Strength for Daily Needs

This is easier to hear and believe when things are going well. But I've found it more crucial to believe when I'm struggling, when I'm waiting, when I'm hurting. One of the most crucial things of the Christian walk (for mine, at least) is actively believing in His unceasing goodness to me, no matter the circumstances. Lord, help me to be unwavering... not in my hope of what things You'll do for me, but in my pursuit of YOU as the ultimate.

Old Pages

Today I found an old journal. I love that I have documentation of the following events:

10.19.03 -- NYC
(note: this was my second time to ever visit NYC)
Maybe I feel a little bit like this City... like I am somewhat intriguing and mysterious, but only from a distance. Only if you are looking at the skyline in a photograph or from the bridges that surround it. And then once you get close to it in real life, it is overwhelming, unattractive, all horns and sirens, cold and harsh.

But this is a lie. First of all, my heart is good. I know this because God gave me a new heart when He redeemed me and He said that it is good. When I read "Waking the Dead," I knew that I needed to be awakened, that God's truth needed to dictate my perspective instead of the lies that Satan sneaks into my world so frequently.

And second, this City is stunning. Even up close, even from the inside, even from the concrete. Maybe even more so. I have never known another city like it...

------

11.09.03 -- Houston
(note: although I was touring in Houston, I still lived in Nashville)
I'm begging for Your direction in my life. Part of me feels like I might not be meant for Nashville much longer. Maybe this is nothing, but...

------

But maybe not! Hah!! (For the record, I moved to NYC a year later.)

Mostly, though, the journal had a theme: there was a lot of waiting. Waiting for sanctification, waiting for understanding, waiting for action, waiting for healing. Waaaaaiting. And so I wrote this today at the end of my journal:

This lesson will be life-long, but You are so gracious to strengthen my muscles and my faith - to teach me the gentle art of waiting, of keeping a quiet heart. It's hard, You know, to wait for a God who wears no watch... to try to discern the timing of a King who is somehow both in every moment but also beyond time itself.

I read these old entries filled with stories of my brokenness, my mistakes, my damned relentless hope, but mostly of Your goodness and Your guidance and the nights you carried my broken body to the foot of Your cross. Where I belong. There really is no end to Your love for me, is there? Even as I sit waiting... yesterday, today, tomorrow... You sit beside me smiling, knowing that You will walk with me through all the waiting left to do. Until You finally carry me Home.

And honestly, as much as I curse it and am bruised by it, please know that I love the relentless hope You've given me. You are beautiful, so sweet to me, so tender in the waiting...

Your love for me makes me giddy. Absolutely giddy.

Dear The World:

Dear The World:

I am grieving the loss of my tiny cobalt blue Moleskine notebook. I lost it somewhere near you. It might've been in the guest lodging at Malone College in Canton, OH... or perhaps the bed and breakfast in Winchester, IL. Or even the Holiday Inn near Hannibal-LaGrange College in MO. Maybe even behind Meredith's bed in Nashville, TN (but probably not).

While I can continue living and breathing without it, I'd really love to have it back. It has my name and phone number in the front of it, and it contains documentation of some of the most amazing things God has ever said to me. Scripture, sermon notes, song ideas, scribbles for another book idea, and a list of my girlfriends' prayer requests for the past several months. The longer it's gone, the more I miss it. Please let me know if you have it or see it or know where it is. On the off-chance that you stole it from me, you can mail it back to me anonymously... no hard feelings, mmkay?

It looks like this, except it's cobalt blue. If you saw me with it recently, please let me know where... this helps me narrow down the places where it might be found.



Thank you, world.
xoxo,
TLC

True!!

He who learns must suffer.
And even in our sleep, pain that cannot forget
Falls drop by drop upon the heart,
Until, in our own despair,
Against our will,
Comes wisdom to us
Through the awful grace of God.

-- Aeschylus. Agamemnon (The Oresteia), 458 BCE

One reason to love NYC today

I love NYC for so many reasons, not the least of which is this installation piece, which is located on 21st Street between 6th & 7th Avenues. The sea monster is connected to subway grates, and when a train passes through the tunnel underground, the sea monster inflates. Brilliant!!

Cover your eyes!!

Remember that Balenciaga shoe I complained about earlier ? Well, it's back. Except this time it's a knock-off by Steve Madden, and it's even uglier (I know! I didn't think it was possible either!!), and it's $99, which means that real life people might actually buy it on purpose, which means that this summer is going to destroy your eyeballs.

Get ready, America. This is your future: