Joy! @joyoladokun - Tumblr Blog

Why I get so excited when people call me a world traveler....

Because its true, Now and forevermore, True. I will traverse the sea and sky blue For You. Only You.

Yesterday, Jesus and I roadtripped it up to Oregon and on the way we found this guy in Sacramento. So blessed to have time to write rest and adventure before life goes back into full swing. #rest #reflection #adventure #joyandjesuscrushpdx #psalm33 #heartandart

#reflection #heartandart #rest #psalm33 #adventure #joyandjesuscrushpdx

I'm not going to write about it just yet...

I'm back.

I can't even begin to describe it. I don't really want to.

Not just yet.

Instead, I'll spend the next two days driving up and down the coast with Him, trying to reflect on every detail of those beautiful two weeks. I hope that I can tell those stories as beautifully as He ordained those moments to be that moment when He decided that-- out of all the much grander beings-- He would send little old me to be His hands and feet.

Beautiful things don't ask for attention.

It's not that I don't love you. I do humbly, silently and irrevocably.

I'm just convinced that you don't feel the same,

and there is this instinctual conviction inside of me

That says I'm not made to chase.

So I sit here humbly, silently, and wait.

I know that if you won't have me,

someone will. Someday.

SHE

"I am very dark, but lovely."

These words I have never said,

Or even thought in my entire life,

Sit here emblazoned, in plain view.

Sit here engraved in the Word of Truth.

So it must be true;

I can be very dark, but lovely too.

#poetry

To the man I locked eyes with who was drinking Sapporo at 8am:

I hope you did not feel condemned.

I hope you did not feel ashamed;

I'm not allowed to throw stones anyway.

I hope you felt grace.

I hope you felt how I felt when He first looked my way;

Safe.

#poetry

The Hummingbird

I lay on my side wincing at some movie that was hard to watch, trying to ignore the buzz of the needle like a warning shot.

Let the games begin.

Let the pain begin.

Let the ink find its way under my skin and be a testament to God's providence.

I wasn't really expecting to find Him there, but I did.

I found Him in the waiting.

I found Him when the needle scraping ceased for just a second and I thought that He was finished. But when I began to stir He said "The time has not yet come. Don't move, don't fret, my work of art is almost done."

Then the sound of the gun would start again, and He would go back to the shading.

Painstakingly taking His time because He cared so much about what He was making.

He was creating a masterpiece.

Though He knew it was hurting me, He couldn't lighten his touch.

I knew that much.

I'd long ago learned to trust that the pain means that something new, something beautiful, something worthwhile was to come.

There was nothing to do but to sit and wait.

Sit and wait with Him.

Sit and wait with skin burning at the touch of this Artisan.

Sit and trust that He who began a good work would surely finish it, and that it would be good.

#poetry

I want to love you like I love the city of L.A.

I want to love you like I love both the filthy and the clean streets,

Both the broken and the pristine.

It makes no difference to me, I love that city.

To love you like I love the nooks and the crannies,

The art in the alleys,

The heartbroken families who limp on without Daddies.

To love you like a needle in a haystack,

A needle in a trash bag,

Fresh from making track in a runaway vein.

I want to strengthen the places where the Father's good graces abound,

And fill your streets,

Your lovely streets with praise.

I want to love your hands,

Love them until they're raised

Soaking in the Son's rays recklessly.

Seeing as I love you imperfectly,

I want to love your imperfection, and have you receive it without question,

Because I saw each flaw and chose you anyway.

My dear L.A.,

Even if you're not the place I'll stay,

I'm okay with visiting.

#poetry #mondaymorning

As my good friend Carrie Underwood says... "Thank God for Hometowns"

Today, for the first time in almost a year, I'm going to board a plane to Arizona to spend my second favorite holiday with my first favorite people.

The first thing I'm going to do when we drive into those city limits is grab a 32 oz cup of glory (unsweetened iced tea) from QT. Next, I'll get home, throw my bag down,take a gander at the gargantuan portrait of my sisters and I, go into my room, sit at the piano and let the sounds of worship fill every square inch of the house I grew up in. I love that house, I loooovvvee the people in it, and I love how for a week life in my sleepy little farming town will be delightfully predictable.

I know I'll wake up early and walk in on the last moments of my parents praying together like they've done every morning for as long as I can remember.

I know I'll hear my dad's infectious laugh ring out as he watches the Three Stooges.

I know I'll sit in the backyard and look at the stars late at night.

I know I'll hear my mom's angelic voice cut through the silence and yell, "Get your black @$$ in the kitchen and help me cook!"

I know we'll celebrate my oldest sister's engagement.

I know we'll watch Denzel Washington movies, eat candied yams, and take a synchronized family nap.

I know my dad and I will wake up first, and as we're stumbling around the house in a turkey stupor we'll talk about the Apostle Paul (his favorite), and we'll end up in the same passage that we always do,

" Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

I know that as my dad talks about his two favorite verses in the whole of scripture that I'll remember what I always seem to forget....

God is in control.

Indian food with my main squeeze @kirstenbeninato!! Gearing up for India:) If you guys haven't bought an EP yet and want to support my trip, click the link in my profile or ask me how to give directly.

Great is thy faithfulness.

Reflection on My Deepest Longing

Let me start by setting this poem up. Today I stole a few moments away in a coffee shop I love and read books that I've picked up and forgotten too many times. I don't know if it was the Lord's providence or not (yes I do), but both chapters of the two separate books I read were on the characteristics of love and the possibility of pursuit. I have a hard time believing that a man will see me, fall in love, and pursue me relentlessly until he wins my heart. That hasn't been the case in the past, but I am going to start believing for it, so I'm meditating on it for the next few days.

Funny how past hurts can imbue,

can blind, confine, and bind you

to one desire. Child, beneath your

cool exterior burns a raging fire

of love, laughter and life. Why,

beauty is not just inside you.

It is all that you are, it is your truth.

Have hope, have faith for your pursuit.

#poetry