Comfort and Joy

L.s.R

A Slice of Heaven

Family: loving. comforting. closeness. meaningful. right.

Colorado: beautiful. parades. homey. peaceful. vera bradley. happy. starbucks. content. hot-air balloon ornaments. refreshing. trendz. clean. lovely. 5k turkey trot.

Thanksgiving: Family. Colorado.



L.s.R

Take Two

Started the night with dinner. I love my family. Period. I also like brats, sauerkraut and black and tan. I also enjoy banana cream pie at the Purple Bar in Nonna's.

Yes, we are sisters. Believe it.

Ended the night with a concert. Emotional, beautiful, heart-felt Celtic music.

L.s.R.

More Than Fingers-Crossed

We went to a concert on Friday night. Heard 3 wonderful artists. Had a little issues with our seats...but I won't go into that. It always seems something of that nature happens to us and then we end up sitting next to weird people.

I am not gritting my teeth in the above pic...I promise. And I only turned around and glared at the talkative couple once (okay, twice)....but I couldn't help it. Gabby couples, hick-billies and children are all in the same category to me....well, not in normal life, but at concerts, in restaurants and at weddings they are. They are annoying. Okay, I like children. The well-behaved kind.

But in all seriousness, we really did have a good time!

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"And Mary said, "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. For He has regarded the lowly state of his maidservant....." Luke 1:46-48

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I have been meditating on these verses for about two weeks.

I want to have the spirit of Mary. Just a little while before she sang this song to the Lord, this single girl of around 13 years was told that she would be the mother of the Savior of the world.

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I am sure she saw her dreams of being married to Joseph come crashing down.

I am sure she thought of what her family would say to her; how the neighbors would gossip.

I am sure she thought of being labeled a whore for the rest of her life.

But instead, this girl of 13 praised Christ for blessing her.

For choosing her.

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Whatever doubts and fears she had, they could not compare to her joy that she had in her Lord. That is where she found her freedom. God chose Mary because she had faith like a trusting child. Mary knew her Father would take care of the 'little details' in her life.

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I so want to be like Mary. Even-keeled and not given to emotion.

I want to be constant in Christ.

'In whatever state I am in,' I want to praise God.

I want to bless Christ with my spirit. With my attitude. With my outlook on life.

L.s.R

Oh, Happiness!

Scent of crushed cedar. Old couple walking their Yorkies together. Autumn sky with no clouds. Running on an 'Indian Summer' day. Quiet time. My slippers. Avocados and cream-cheese. An answered prayer. The love of my family. Folding laundry. The sound and feeling of the ceiling fan this a.m. A mom and daughter dressed-up in Dalmatian costumes. Gaining an extra hour. Ironing my clothes. Reading Nehemiah--He was a wise, brave man. Hugs and kisses from my dogs. Leaves on the ground. My purple ipod. Mars Hill Church. Church Music by DCB (you have to smile when 'Oh, Happiness' comes on). Late night talks with friends. Hope. Prayer. My orchid (even though it is not blooming, I have hope in you, little plant of mine). Chubby babies. My marathon bumper sticker. Listening to Rush Limbaugh. Songs with a beat, that make you want to dance. Songs that are simple but deep, that make you cry. Singing very loud with the windows down. Plans for traveling. Blizzard in Colorado. Fire in a fireplace. Candles burning. Jeans, flannel shirts and cowboy boots. Apple Cider. My little cubbies in Awanas. Preppy, green jettas. Reading Pioneer Woman's blog. Cooking and cleaning. A tall, skinny, vanilla latte from Starbucks. Training for another marathon.

All these things bring me happiness.

"Faith by its very nature must be tried, and the real trial of faith is not that we find it difficult to trust God, but that God's character has to be cleared in our own minds. Faith in its actual working out has to go through spells of unsyllabled isolation. Never confound the trial of faith with the ordinary discipline of life, much that we call the trial of faith is the inevitable result of being alive. Faith in the Bible is faith in God and against everything that contradicts Him--I will remain true to God's character whatever He may do. " Oswald Chamber's October 31st devotion.

"Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength." Nehemiah 8:10

L.s.R

Worshiping Thru The Mundane

I read this from John Piper's BLOG this morning...I really needed to be reminded of this when my alarm went off this A.M.

'"Mark Driscoll has a great word in his book The Radical Reformission: Reaching Out Without Selling Out, "Every day, people eat, sleep, work, play, love, and hate, but they do not know why. Not knowing where they come from or to whom they are going, they lack the ability to make their lives meaningful. Consequently, our culture is filled with "successful" people who are mired in anxiety and confusion because they do not know the point of all their toil. But the gospel reveals Jesus as Lord over all of life, who infuses even mundane tasks such as dishwashing with meaning as acts of worship."

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This also makes me think of Stephen Curtis Chapman's song "A Moment Made for Worshiping." When you first hear the title of that song, you think he's talking about a mountain top experience or miracle moment where everything is going so right that you can't help but worship.
But instead, the first line of the song is: 6:30 Monday morning.
In other words, the ordinary moments of the everyday are the moments made for worshiping. Everything we do can and should be done as an act of worship. This infuses even the most mundane activities with meaning.

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And, ironically, it rescues the more amazing moments from futility as well, for it turns out that even those moments derive their meaning not from themselves, but from God.
"So then, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31).
"Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him" (Colossians 3:17)."' ~Pat Perman

L.s.R

.With Quiet Words.

Emotive, unstable, you're like an unwinding cable car.

Listening for voices, but it's the choices that make us who we are.

Go your own way.

Even seasons have changed

just burn those new leaves over.

So self-absorbed you've seemed to ignore

the prayers that have already come about.

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This is the correlation of salvation and love .

Don't drop your arms, I'll guard your heart.

With quiet words I'll lead you in.

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Backing away from the problem of pain you never had a home.

You've been misguided,

you're hiding in shadows for so very long.

Don't you believe, that you've been deceived,

that you're no better than...

The hair in your eyes, it never disguised

what you're really thinking of.

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This is the correlation of salvation and love.

Don't drop your arms, I'll guard your heart.

With quiet words I'll lead you in.

This is the correlation of salvation and love.

Don't drop your arms, I'll guard your heart.

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With quiet words I'll lead you in.

You're so brilliant, don't soon forget.

You're so brilliant, grace marked your heart.

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Between salvation and love, don't drop your arms.

You're so brilliant.

I'll guard your heart. Grace marked your heart.

With quiet words I'll lead you in and out of the dark.

Don't drop your arms. With quiet words I'll lead you in.

~Anberlin

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"Soft words make hard people.

But hard words make soft people."

Mark Driscoll

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"Lead me to the Rock,

Who is higher than I."

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"Happiness is a beautiful thing.

Joy is indescribable."

*****

"How He loves."

L.s.R