My Loves

Aren't my nieces the cutest kids ever?! I love them lots and lots!

New Obsession

I go through phases of obsession. I should just expect them to come. It's actually kind of fun!

Last month I was excited to create my own recipe book. I printed off recipes from different websites and placed them neatly into a 3-ring binder. My favorite website is www.marthastewart.com. Not only did I create a recipe book, but I'm also trying to make as many recipes as I can. So far it's going well.

Now that spring is here, my new obsession is gardening. It excites me to just think about it! Two days ago I took out the dead leaves from the existing garden in our backyard and it looks nicer. Now I am dreaming of what flowers I will plant in my new garden space. I love flowers!!! I think I'll probably take off a day in May to get it all set up. I also told my mom that I would go to her house and plant her a garden.

If you have any recommendations of what types of flowers you would like to see, just let me know!

Thy Face, O Lord, I shall seek

One of the areas I desire to grow in is prayer, and it has been a desire for a couple of years. Although the growth has been slow (sometimes painfully slow) I can see the Lord's work and I am thankful for the people/ resources he has put in my life throughout these years.

Currently one of the most helpful resources in my life is going through the study Becoming a Woman of Prayer with my mentor Ruth. It is a good reminder of how necessary prayer is and a helpful guide in how to make me intentional about spending time in prayer. O. Hallesby said,

"To pray is to let Jesus come into our hearts. This teaches us, in the first place, that it is not our prayer which moves the Lord Jesus. It is Jesus who moves us to pray. He knocks. Thereby He makes known His desire to come in to us. Our prayers are always a result of Jesus' knocking at our hearts' doors."

I'm so glad that he knocks.

One of the most amazing things to me about prayer is that God himself invites us in! He invites us to bring our prayers and petitions to him, and tells us in Hebrews to "draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." In Matthew 7 he reminds us that he is our Father and that he desires to give good things to his children. But the key is that we have to ask.

However, prayer is ineffective if it is not done in the Spirit and without us being in the Word. I like what R.A. Torrey said,

"Indeed the whole secret of prayer is found in these three words, in the Spirit. It is the prayer that God the Holy Spirit inspires that God the Father answers...The one who would pray in the Spirit must meditate much upon the Word, that the Holy Spirit may have something through which He can work. The Holy Spirit works His prayers in us through the Word, and neglect of the Word makes praying in the Holy Spirit an impossibility. If we would feed the fire of our prayers with the fuel of God's Word, all our difficulties in prayer would disappear."

My increased desire is that I would know God more and that I would read his word and that I would pray more. The Lord is pleased when we come to him. When we do, we are putting our dependence on him instead of trying to do things on our own. I want to pray like Asaph in Psalm 73: 25-26:

"Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.

The Count of Monte Cristo

The last three years I have been content in only watching the movie version of The Count of Monte Cristo, but I kept hearing about how good the book was. So, last summer I bought my own copy of the 500 paged abridged version and decided to read it...eventually.
In January I made a list of all the books I wanted to read during 2008 and gave myself a maximum of 3 weeks to read each one. Last week, I was able to start The Count.
I was at first very surprised that the the movie was not closely related to the book! It made me not like the book because I couldn't predict what was going to happen. However, I got over it quickly because the storylines are so amusing. I'm glad that this long book is a page-turner because I don't think I would be able to finish it otherwise!

I am now 60 pages from ending and I wish I didn't have to work today!

Psalm 62: 5-8

For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence,
for my hope is from him.
He only is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be shaken,
On God rests my salvation and my glory;
my mighty rock, my refuge is God.

Trust in him at all times, O people,
pour out your heart before him;
God is a refuge for us.
Selah

In the Secret of His Presence

I love music. I love how it can minister to my soul, and I love how it can tell how I feel better than I can. This song has been a blessing to me and a good rememberence of how sweet Jesus is.

In the secret of His presence how my soul delights to hide!
Oh, how precious are the lessons which I learn at Jesus’ side!
Earthly cares can never vex me, neither trials lay me low;
For when Satan comes to tempt me,
to the secret place I go,To the secret place I go.

When my soul is faint and thirsty, ’neath the shadow of His wing
There is cool and pleasant shelter, and a fresh and crystal spring;
And my Savior rests beside me, as we hold communion sweet:
If I tried, I could not utter what He says when thus we meet,
What He says when thus we meet.

Only this I know: I tell Him all my doubts, my griefs and fears;
Oh, how patiently He listens! and my sorrowing soul He cheers:
Do you think He ne’er reproves me? What a false Friend He would be,
If He never, never told me of the sins which He must see,
Of the sins which He must see.

Would you like to know the sweetness of the secret of the Lord?
Go and hide beneath His shadow: this shall then be your reward;
And whene’er you leave the silence of that happy meeting place,
You must mind and bear the image of the Master in your face,
Of the Master in your face.

The Lord uses what he will

I was really glad for Jon Bloom's post on the DG blog, Hopeful Post-Christmas Melancholy . He said, "as long as the beautiful gifts remain unopened around the tree and the events are still ahead of us, they can appear to be the hope we are waiting for. But when the tree is empty and events are past, we realize we are longing for a lasting hope"

This described how I felt on Christmas Day. I had nothing to do. We had celebrated our Christmas the night before, so now there were no presents to open, no stockings to unstuff and no friends to be around. I was bored out of my mind and was longing for more celebration, but it was over and all the anticipation that I had for Christmas was gone and I felt horrible. I was once again left unfulfilled. As I was sitting on the couch not doing anything, I realized that Jesus is my ONLY hope. Nothing else can satisfy me the way that he is able to. He is the one that I pray would be the "strength of my heart and my portion forever". I know that holidays, family, friends and presents are not going to give me the lasting satisfaction that Christ promises. Therefore I can thank the Lord for them and pray that I will focus on and love the Giver of all these things more than the gift itself.

Friends, may we press onward and remember the lasting hope that the Lord promises is greater than all the gifts in the world!