Well, it’s officially post-thanksgiving, which means it is the Christmas season. I officially listened to Christmas music for the first time today. I really like two Christmas CD’s in particular, because I worship to them more so than any other Christmas music I listen to. They are done in a very worship oriented style, and could easily be used in a weekend service.
They are “Christmas In the Vineyard” and “Humble King: Christmas Around the World”. I highly recommend them. The first one is out of print, but you can still find it online.
Hope you are beginning to enjoy the Christmas season. May our hearts be focused on Christ.
Ok, you have to read this book! Searching for God Knows What by Donald Miller. It’s great. I’m a little over halfway through it. Kind of a psychological explanation of the gospel. Taking it from formulas to something that can connect with your heart. It takes a look at people and our motives, and how God fits into the mix. It’s really kicking my tail about what I try to grasp for in life in my quest to find value. Really, you need to read this book. You’ll like it. Here is one quote:
“I began to slowly realize that the God of the Bible, not the God of formulas and bullet points that some have turned the Bible into, but the God of the actual Bible, the old one before we learned to read it like a self-help book, had a great deal to say to me. What I mean by this is the God of the Bible, for that matter the Bible itself, started making sense of my deepest emotions, quirks, and sense of brokeness.”
I could list a whole bunch more, but it’s a borrowed book, so I haven’t been marking in it. I think that quote stuck out to me, because it’s what this book is about - realizing that God can make sense of everything going on inside of us, and isn’t that a great thing to realize. That God can identify with all of that internal stuff!?
My women’s small group is going through the book “Walking by Faith: Lessons Learned in the Dark” by Jennifer Rothschild right now. It is a great study! God has been speaking to my heart so much through this study, lovingly prodding me to trust him more, even when things don’t make sense. I highly recommend it. Here are some quotes that I’ve underlined:
“Don’t ever bow to your feelings because you hold them in such high regard, instead make them bow to God.”
“In a frenzied, futile attempt to stay in control, I held in a death grip the only thing I felt I could control. Don’t we all do this?”
“Part of learning to follow is flying the white flag of surrender. We surrender to the position in which God has placed us, and we surrender our behavior in that position.”
“My problem on the backseat of a tandem bike wasn’t my lack of control; it was my unwillingness to yield my desire for control. “
These are just things that she’s said that resonated with me in my own faith journey right now. I try so hard to be in control, and I let my feelings dictate far too much. Really great study, go get it.
Lately, I have been a little prone to spilling. It’s kind of becoming a joke around the office with me. I’ve managed to get my lunch on me a lot since I’ve started my new job. I got to be the first to use Derek’s new tide pen. Today at lunch I managed to do it again. I think my coworkers are getting used to hearing the deflated huff like sigh, and know that it means I’ve dumped food on myself again. Tonight I took my klutziness to a whole new level. I went to dinner with a friend. We had wrapped up our meal, and she went to run to the restroom. I started digging around in my purse to find my phone so I could know what time it was. As I was digging, my elbow caught my glass, and from that point it was all slow motion. First, I thought maybe I could move fast enough to catch my glass, once I realized that wasn’t going to happen, I thought maybe I could move fast enough to avoid getting doused by the water in it. No such luck. My friend came out the the restroom to me, standing up at our table, trying to wring out my clothes, and a very nice bus boy wiping up the table, chair, and floor.
I had no choice but to laugh at myself.