These days

I have been going back and forth on whether or not I should do a Calendar again this year counting down the days to Christmas. I wasn't sure if I could come up with something inspirational again this year. But I have decided to do it. Mostly because it helps me remember and appreciate these days. This season. The reason why we celebrate Christmas.
So... starting tomorrow I will post something each day until the 24th. It might be songs, videos, quotes, thoughts. Whatever inspires me each day.

xoxo

Ramona

** picture taken on a trip to the Vosges in France

Change

I knew there would be change. I knew that change was going to come. I felt it, I could almost grasp it. It lingered around the corner at the advent of this Fall season.
And now I feel myself left in chaos hoping that soon the great changes will come to happen. I still feel them, they still linger. And I hopefully keep moving forward finally able to see it. That thing. That change. That answer that is just around the corner.

xoxo

Ramona



photo via

Learning to Breathe

And you get up and keep walking...

xoxo

Ramona

A Reminder

Sometimes you have to listen to music again to remind yourself of the feeling and the thoughts and the decision based upon that very moment when you first listened to that music.
Today I have to listen to Dvorak's symphony No. 9 "From the New World" again and remind myself what choices I made going into this season, this Fall.
I cannot allow myself to be stolen of these decisions, these very deep dreams and this urge for something greater than I can fathom.
I remind myself of the choices after my trip to India and I remind myself of the Epic life I want to live.

xoxo
Ramona

In your Shade

As most of you have probably figured out I am currently reading Captivating by John and Stasi Eldredge again. And it is just perfect timing because somehow I just needed to hear some things again. Very different things than I learned the first time I read it though.
The thing is I want to be a woman after God's heart. I want to be the Proverbs 31 woman. Some of you might say, "Oh Ramona that's too high of an aim" or "Ramona, these are just symbols" or "Ramona, come on really?" Yes really. I want to be the kind of woman that when I enter a room God's love and grace and His anointing are shining so much out of who I am that people will be attracted to me. Not because of me and all the great things I can do, but because of God through who I am what I am.

In the chapter Beauty to unveil they really explain what it means to be with a beautiful woman and is not the outward appearance but beauty that comes from the inside. And there is one line that really got me and encourages me to be eager to become like that. "You find room for your soul. It expands. You can breathe again. You can rest. It is good. That is what it is like to with a beautiful woman. you are free to be you."
Actually it is like being a tree.

And yes being that. Being at rest and offering this beauty to others is risky. Really risky. As you open your heart to share with others, to invite others to eat from your fruit or sit in your shade is a leap of faith. You don't know if they will respond at all or if they will come and cut of the branches or throw away your fruit.

Nonetheless I know how important it is to offer that beauty even if it hurts sometimes. Even if branches are cut off or destroyed. But I am planted on a riverbank (Psalm 1) and like that one quote in one of my favorite movies The New World "Think of a tree how it grows around its wounds. If a branch breaks off, it don't stop but keeps reaching towards the light."

We must offer beauty. We must invite and share.

xoxo

Ramona

PS: Listen to some new songs on my Current Soundtrack
PSS: Have a look at my Travels
PSSS: I watched this beautiful movie yesterday
PSSSS: Picture from my sister's bachelorette party in July.

The North Wind and the Sun

"The North wind and the Sun had an argument one day. They disputed which of them was the stronger. A traveler came along the road at that time, and the Sun suggested a way to resolve the argument. Whoever was able to cause the traveler to remove his coat would be the stronger. The Wind accepted the challenge and the Sun hid himself behind a cloud. The Wind began to blow. Yet the harder he blew, the more the traveler clutched his coat about himself. The Wind sent rain, even hail. The traveler clung even more desperately to his coat. Finally, in despair, the Wind gave up. The Sun came out and began to shine in all his glory upon the traveler. Quite soon the man had removed his coat. "How did you do that?" asked the Wind. "It was easy," said the Sun. "I lit the day. Through gentleness I got my way." 

- out of Captivating by John and Stasi Eldredge

Just your ordinary girl?

Ever heard girls say, "I guess I am just your ordinary girl..." or "I am just simply the girl next door" or "I am just your average girl..."? Well I did and sometimes even used to say these words in my mind as a defence or explanation for I don't know what :-)
And then the other week it struck me: Ordinary? Simple? Average? I don't want to be that (and I certainly am not!)!
So I looked it up and here are some definitions of these words:

or·di·nar·y [awr-dn-er-ee] adjective
1.of no special quality or interest; commonplace; unexceptional: One novel is brilliant, the other is decidedly ordinary; an ordinary person.
2. plain or undistinguished: ordinary clothes.
3. somewhat inferior or below average; mediocre.
4. customary; usual; normal: We plan to do the ordinary things this weekend.

sim·ple [sim-puhl] adjective
1. easy to understand, deal with, use, etc.: a simple matter; simple tools.
2. not elaborate or artificial; plain: a simple style.
3. not ornate or luxurious; unadorned: a simple gown.
4. unaffected; unassuming; modest: a simple manner.
5. not complicated: a simple design.

av·er·age [av-er-ij, av-rij] adjective
6. of or pertaining to an average; estimated by average; forming an average: The average rainfall there is 180 inches.
7.typical; common; ordinary

I certainly do not want to be defined by these adjectives as a woman. I want to be a worldchanger, different, breathtaking, unusual, luxurious, beautiful, tender, elaborate, colorful, special!

Because I believe that is how God sees me. That is what defines His creation. And I am part of that creation and of His being an artist. And I don't think that any artist would call their piece of art unspecial or plain.

Therefore I just want to encourage you that before you say things like that about yourself. Rethink. Change your mindset about yourself. You are not ordinary, simple or average. You are special, extraordinary, complex and beautiful! God wanted you!

xoxo

Ramona

PS: picture from last Christmas with my best friends! We are anything but normal!

Waiting for Forever

"Bad love letters beg for love back. Good love letters ask for nothing"

Sometimes you watch movies and they are entertaining. They give you the bliss of a moment where you enter a world of drama, romance, action or adventure. Everything ends happy and you are happy. We all long for it. We all long for this Epic.
And then there are movies which are different. They are special. They have you enter a world. Their world. You experience it with them. These movies don't need special effects or overdramatization or sexual content. They are beautiful as they are. Simple. And when they end you know something has changed. They describe our longing in a deeper sense. They touch your heart on a deeper level. They touch areas you didn't know existed.
Waiting for Forever was like that for me.

Here's the trailer. Be inspired.





xoxo

Ramona

Picture via

Berlin, Belin!

Last weekend I went to our Capital. Berlin. I hadn't been there in over ten years (man does that sound old!) and I wanted to give the city a second chance to prove to me that it is beautiful indeed.

And oh did she redeem herself! Berlin is such an interesting city, such a green city and such a versatile city. It somehow had slipped my mind (don't know how that happened) how much history can be found there. On every corner, on every street are remainders and reminders of our history. And not only our history in the second World War but our history in the Cold War. The history of the Wall.

It impressed me and I again learned so much about my country again. I live so far in the south that we don't see these things everyday right in front of our eyes. So that was most definitley good.

The first picture is a remainder of the Berlin wall, the second picture is of the Global Stone Project for peace. The third is of course the Brandenburger Tor.

This is the memorial for the killed Jews in World War 2. It is very impressive. I just sat there and thought about it. It amazed me that in the center of a city they errected this memorial made of over 2000   of these. 

There was this light festival. It was beautiful with light projections everywhere on famous buildings and places. Here is says, "whithout him love would ony be half as beautiful."

This is where we had one of the best coffees I have ever had. After that we went to the fleemarket, ate corn on the stick, listened to this 12 year old sweet boy playing guitar and singing and watched a British magician do his tricks. It was so fun and relaxing and good to be at another place for a weekend. Sometimes you just need to get away for some days. 

Anyways, I had a wonderful time and will definitely return. Berlin, you are a beautiful city and I am glad I gave you another chance.

xoxo

Ramona

Thursday Tunes

Today I want to share two songs with you I've really been into lately. Mostly because we dance to both of them in my dance class and that is why they mean so much to me. They're both by Adele.
I love both of these songs and interpreting them in dance brings out some interesting feelings but it helps you to just dance it all out and be in that moment. Anyways I know these are two very soft love songs that make you want to cuddle up with candles and cry and although I don't feel like doing that (the crying part) they somehow make me feel like Fall and lighting candles and dreaming of my future husband. And that is a good thing. To dream. And to hope.
xoxo
Ramona

via

Beauty

"A woman in her glory, a woman of beauty, is a woman who is not striving to become beautiful or worthy or enough. She knows in her quiet center where God dwells that he finds her beautiful, has deemed her worthy and in him she is enough."

~ Stasi Eldredge

Picture from here

Men and Guitars

A man with a guitar and dreamy eyes singing love songs gets me and melts my heart in an instant.

Yesterday my friend and I went to a Joshua Radin concert and I loved every single bit of it! I just stood there and soaked in the music, closed my eyes and even cried.

Find some of my favorite songs in the Current Soundtrack.

xoxo

Ramona

Epic

All my life I have had this feeling in my gut that my life was about so much more. That my calling is so much greater than I can anticipate. That God has something planned for my life which I cannot even imagine.
Before this new season started I had the feeling that something beyond imagination was going to happen in the fall. That some of that epic is going to start. Then I started reading this book called Epic and it summed up what I felt my whole life. The series we do at church right now is called "Taming the lions" and somehow all of it fit into what I was feeling.
I believe we all long for it. That special something. That heroic act in our lives. When we watch movies there is always something amazing which happens. Something we sometimes don't dare dream about. Something we don't allow ourselves to hope in because we think this couldn't happen to us. I believe a lot of single women feel that way when watching movies like Pride and Prejudice. We dream and want this amazing man to win the world for us, pursue us and win our hearts. All to finish with an ... and they lived happily ever after. Then we look at our own reality and get disappointed. We don't believe anything like that could ever happen to us. I have talked with a few of my single friends lately and sometimes I can see and feel the frustration and I can relate. Because I too get frustrated sometimes. I too watch these movies and ask myself why this doesn't happen to me.
Yet I don't think that is the right question to ask. We should not ask why not, but what do I dream of? To be honest with you within the last weeks and months one thing I have learned is to dream again. To actually allow these dreams to take root. To allow these dreams to prosper no matter how high in the sky they might seem, no matter if they seem unaccomplishable. All I know is that I am dreaming these things for a reason.

Last week I watched the movie Gladiator again. I hadn't watched it in years but it was perfect timing. It summed it all up. We were created for so much more. I have always been completely in love with these epic movies. They trigger something in me. They trigger my desire for adventure. They make me want to save the world. I have this desire of doing something big and heroic. Not just for myself but for God. My whole life I have had this feeling about something big and heroic I am supposed to do.

And then life just somehow happens and we forget about it. We go about our normal ways, our routines and we lose that feeling. We grow up.
I don't want to become like that. Over the last years I have not dreamed like I am dreaming now. I don't want to get settled and comfortable and save.
I want to live a life that is on the edge, full of adventure and danger and victorious battles. I want God to look at me not only as His princess, His daughter, but also as His mighty warrior with whom He can conquer the world. A heroine representing His love and grace and faithfulness on the earth. Because merely do I live for myself. My life should not center around myself but around Jesus. The words of Maximus in Gladiator get me every time, "What we do in life echoes in eternity." ETERNITY. What word. What a thought.

And so I have jumped right into this season and I am on my way. The big thing might not have happened yet but it is on the verge. Every day is filled with amazing things. Every day I am learning new things. Every day I am becoming more the woman of God He wants me to be. Therefore even if I don't feel or see it yet it is already happening.

One thing I have learned already and with that I want to encourage you (especially the single women I have talked about) is that God wants us to experience this Epic. This epic love story. This epic life. Allow yourself to dream. Allow yourself to start seeing these things. Not only relationship wise but in every aspect of your life. Start living the epic and do not, please do not settle for anything less than what you dream of (I am writing to myself here... everyday I tell myself that!).

"This is what God says, the God who builds a road right through the ocean, who carves a path through pounding waves, The God who summons horses and chariots and armies— they lie down and then can't get up; they're snuffed out like so many candles: "Forget about what's happened; don't keep going over old history. Be alert, be present. I'm about to do something brand-new. It's bursting out! Don't you see it? There it is! I'm making a road through the desert, rivers in the badlands." - Isahiah 43:16-19 The Message

xoxo

Ramona

PS: The new music in my Current Soundtrack is the language of this season

Pure

Just wanted to leave a quick note. We live in exiting times and I love how the Lord keeps showing me things, pouring His love over me.

This song really touched me yesterday at my church's praise and worship night. There is nothing like His love!

How has your week been so far? What are some new dreams and visions of yours?

xoxo
Ramona