I've been scanning the titles of my blog posts recently and have come to the conclusion that there are too many themed, planned ones and not enough random, rambling ones that make blogging so fun. Nor are there any (lately) that really accomplish my original purpose in having a blog--telling you what God is doing in my life these days. So, I'm going to try to fix both those problems. I will ramble. Consider yourself warned. :D
First, let me "classify" a statement I made yesterday in the "Tuesday's Tidbit" post. By calling the information "useless" I simply meant that you will never need it for any practical purpose in life. A game of Cranium or Trivial Pursuit, perhaps, but not much beyond that. Obviously, I find all the "useless" facts that I post on Tuesday's Tidbit very fascinating...that's why I post them. :D I collect tidbits of trivia just like I collect quotes. OK, moving on now... :D
Hmm...life these days. Well, we got the Gaither Vocal Band Reunion DVDs in the mail yesterday. We watched Volume One last night, and it's great!!! I can hardly wait to watch the other one. All of the guys are so incredibly talented--at one point, they pulled together 4 of the guys who had never sung together before (Buddy Mullins, Marsh Hall, David Phelps, and Lee Young) and had them sing "He Touched Me". They were amazing!! And I'm loving the interviews and stories and such, too. All the behind-the-scenes stuff adds so much to the videos! It helps make the artists seem, um, more real and all. Dad was giving me and Mom a hard time last night, because at one point you see Ernie whisper to Doug (oh, yeah--Signature Sound was there, as part of the audience!) and we wanted to know what they said!! We're just odd that way, I guess.
The rest of life just keeps humming along. Time is flying by WAY too fast! I can't believe it's already so close to the end of January. My "little" brother Caleb turned 20 on Saturday. Now that is scary... :D We weren't able to get together actually on his birthday (he lives in San Angelo), but he and Amber are coming here in February so we'll celebrate his birthday (and my parents' 25th anniversary) then.
The other really exciting thing in my life right now deserves its very own blog post, which I'm going to work on tonight and will hopefully get posted tomorrow. So be watching for my latest "this HAS to be God!" story!! :D
OK, factual events aside, let's see if I can kind of summarize what God is doing in my life (besides the "this HAS to be God!" story) so this post doesn't end up being epistle-length. :D
For Christmas, I got a little devotional book called "Jesus Calling" by Sarah Young. The devotions in it are very short and are written as if it were Jesus talking. It seems like every day there is a sentence or phrase or thought in the day's devotion that is just perfect for me that day. Here are a couple of the ones that have really made me stop and think:
*It is through problems and failure, weakness and neediness that you learn to rely on Me...Thus begins your journey of profound reliance on Me...This is not a path of continual success but of multiple failures.
*Though I have all power in heaven and on earth, I am infinitely tender with you. The weaker you are, the more gently I approach you. Let your weakness be a door to My Presence.
*The more you trust Me, the more I empower you to do so.
*Do not be ashamed of your emptiness. Instead, view it as the optimal condition for being filled with My Peace...I see straight through you, into the depths of your being. There is no place for pretense in your relationship with Me. Rejoice in the relief of being fully understood.
And then today's:
*I want you to be all Mine...Depending on Me may feel like walking on a tightrope, but there is a safety net underneath: the everlasting arms. So don't be afraid of falling.
Well, so much for summarizing... :D I just want to point out the common thread running through all of those bits and pieces: don't be afraid of falling or being weak or needy. God's grace abounds when I am weak, but I want so much to appear strong, so I pretend. I pretend like I have it all together and under control. I'm "fine". You know what "fine" stands for, right? Freaked out, Insecure, Neurotic, and Emotional. :D
I'm learning--slowly--that there is nothing wrong with being weak. There is nothing wrong with failure, nothing wrong with falling down--as long as I fall into His ever-so-strong arms. He will always catch me and carry me through. His grace is always enough. And when I am weak, He is allowed to be strong in my life. When I let my brokenness show, His perfectness shines through. When I am real, failures and all, He can be seen as real to those I come in contact with. I'll finish with one more quote I heard recently:
First, let me "classify" a statement I made yesterday in the "Tuesday's Tidbit" post. By calling the information "useless" I simply meant that you will never need it for any practical purpose in life. A game of Cranium or Trivial Pursuit, perhaps, but not much beyond that. Obviously, I find all the "useless" facts that I post on Tuesday's Tidbit very fascinating...that's why I post them. :D I collect tidbits of trivia just like I collect quotes. OK, moving on now... :D
Hmm...life these days. Well, we got the Gaither Vocal Band Reunion DVDs in the mail yesterday. We watched Volume One last night, and it's great!!! I can hardly wait to watch the other one. All of the guys are so incredibly talented--at one point, they pulled together 4 of the guys who had never sung together before (Buddy Mullins, Marsh Hall, David Phelps, and Lee Young) and had them sing "He Touched Me". They were amazing!! And I'm loving the interviews and stories and such, too. All the behind-the-scenes stuff adds so much to the videos! It helps make the artists seem, um, more real and all. Dad was giving me and Mom a hard time last night, because at one point you see Ernie whisper to Doug (oh, yeah--Signature Sound was there, as part of the audience!) and we wanted to know what they said!! We're just odd that way, I guess.
The rest of life just keeps humming along. Time is flying by WAY too fast! I can't believe it's already so close to the end of January. My "little" brother Caleb turned 20 on Saturday. Now that is scary... :D We weren't able to get together actually on his birthday (he lives in San Angelo), but he and Amber are coming here in February so we'll celebrate his birthday (and my parents' 25th anniversary) then.
The other really exciting thing in my life right now deserves its very own blog post, which I'm going to work on tonight and will hopefully get posted tomorrow. So be watching for my latest "this HAS to be God!" story!! :D
OK, factual events aside, let's see if I can kind of summarize what God is doing in my life (besides the "this HAS to be God!" story) so this post doesn't end up being epistle-length. :D
For Christmas, I got a little devotional book called "Jesus Calling" by Sarah Young. The devotions in it are very short and are written as if it were Jesus talking. It seems like every day there is a sentence or phrase or thought in the day's devotion that is just perfect for me that day. Here are a couple of the ones that have really made me stop and think:
*It is through problems and failure, weakness and neediness that you learn to rely on Me...Thus begins your journey of profound reliance on Me...This is not a path of continual success but of multiple failures.
*Though I have all power in heaven and on earth, I am infinitely tender with you. The weaker you are, the more gently I approach you. Let your weakness be a door to My Presence.
*The more you trust Me, the more I empower you to do so.
*Do not be ashamed of your emptiness. Instead, view it as the optimal condition for being filled with My Peace...I see straight through you, into the depths of your being. There is no place for pretense in your relationship with Me. Rejoice in the relief of being fully understood.
And then today's:
*I want you to be all Mine...Depending on Me may feel like walking on a tightrope, but there is a safety net underneath: the everlasting arms. So don't be afraid of falling.
Well, so much for summarizing... :D I just want to point out the common thread running through all of those bits and pieces: don't be afraid of falling or being weak or needy. God's grace abounds when I am weak, but I want so much to appear strong, so I pretend. I pretend like I have it all together and under control. I'm "fine". You know what "fine" stands for, right? Freaked out, Insecure, Neurotic, and Emotional. :D
I'm learning--slowly--that there is nothing wrong with being weak. There is nothing wrong with failure, nothing wrong with falling down--as long as I fall into His ever-so-strong arms. He will always catch me and carry me through. His grace is always enough. And when I am weak, He is allowed to be strong in my life. When I let my brokenness show, His perfectness shines through. When I am real, failures and all, He can be seen as real to those I come in contact with. I'll finish with one more quote I heard recently:
"Don't waste your life trying to look good. Spend your life making God look good." --John Piper
Comments