Tag: jesus

Wonderful Life

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Evening, friends. And…Merry-almost-Christmas!!!!! It’s 18 minutes away and I really should be asleep by now!! But I can’t help it – must write a few words, especially as I haven’t posted anything this whole holiday thus far!! I could write so much about how delightfully relaxing this past week has been, here with the family…but I shall refrain. Just know it’s been lovely. And tonight – oh what a perfect Christmas Eve night. Begun by a perfect dinner(Mom’s fettucine alfredo, salad, shrimp, and red wine….), after doing dishes, we(Mom, Dad, Maryanne and I – oh how I miss Laura, but she and Caisson are with his family…) continued by opening a few gifts and then reading the story of Christmas – God becoming man.. for us!!! Truly the most wonderful story ever told. We then proceeded on our annual Christmas walk. Went outside, and walked around the block and looked at all the Christmas lights and gazed up at the stars shining bright in the night sky. It was beautiful. Soon enough, we made it back to our house and we got down to watching another episode of Jack(…I mean, 24!! We’re continuing our grand tradition of watching 24 over Christmas break…season 6 currently) along with cherry pie. Once that was done(the episode and the pie!), we watched the end of It’s A Wonderful Life together and I just soaked in the beauty of the moment….

And so – yes, I have described much of the fun things we did tonight(and the food we enjoyed!!!), but the best part was just talking and laughing and discussing life and love and God Himself with my dear, dear family. Oh how deeply am I blessed. All my thanksgiving and praise to God most high. Forever and always.

Merry Christmas Eve, my most loved friends. Tonight, rest in the arms of our Lord Jesus Christ and be full of joy and peace as you think on the mercies of God. Oh! How good it is to be near God.

Constellations

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Morning, friends!! I am quite sleepy this morning…really, I felt like going back to bed as soon as I woke up. But I did not. Made my tea, read a few words(Psalms + Proverbs + Song of Solomon!) and then traversed the busy highways to my work place, where I am now sitting. About to officially start work, but wanted to share a few words that always comfort me during times like this…(And coincidentally enough…been able to hear these same words as I’ve been listening to the Messiah recently on my commute!)

Come to Me, all who who are
weary and heavy-laden,
and I will give you rest.
Take My yoke upon you
and learn from Me,
for I am gentle and humble in heart,
and you will find rest
for your souls.
For my yoke is easy and My burden
is light.
-Jesus Christ

Trembling

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And so shall I post once more?? Thought it was best that I let the last two song-heavy updates stand on their own. I also should probably zoom off soon, since I’ve spent quite long enough here at Starbucks! But I still have a little coffee in my cup, so I shall write a little more. Pardon the spaciness of my thoughts…I’m in an intriguingly odd mood lately. Odd as in I’ve spent time in several different countries in the last few days…and this time has left me abundantly encouraged and oh so thankful and I really do not think I can quite put my thoughts to page. But…I shall try, at least a little bit. This morning, me and Julie went to Dish Society for breakfast…because I was craving their food partially, but really so Julie and I could catch up and I could tell her a least a bit of my last week in Scotland. Despite all my many tangents, I think she got a good overview of my adventures! Can I capture that here? Maybe.

Anyways. Today is my first full day back in America for over a week. Yesterday afternoon, my plane touched down in Houston and I was once again in my home country. And how was I feeling? Bittersweet. For truly, it is good to be back here and be able to call Dad and family again on phone and see all my Houston friends again(Reliant K and Switchfoot concert tonight with Peter, et al!). But after such a beautiful week with my friends in Scotland…I must admit to a bit of sadness after leaving them (again!).

Oh this is a nightmare – I have no idea how to properly chronicle this past week…and I may admit defeat and try again tomorrow or Monday. I think I shall just thank the Lord my God for giving me this holiday and blessing it in such a way that I had prayed for but wasn’t quite sure would happen. Being with my dear friends again(Chris, Jo, Joel, Laura, John, Ruth, Jackie, Graham, Tineke, Mark, Rosemary…and more!!) was amazing and I realized I am blessed far beyond I deserve with such good and precious friends. Even after being gone three years, I can still talk and laugh and deeply connect with them. But more than just the fun times with friends(and it was indeed fun!!), I relished the chance to commune with my God. I set aside particular times to get alone with my Father God and these times were blessed be Him, of this I testify! As I walked the cliff side path south of Stonehaven on Monday afternoon and felt the sea spray on my face and looked out and watched the sea meet the sky in a beautiful embrace of grey and blue and white and saw the grass dance in the cold sweet breezes and as I sat upon a rock on the seashore and gazed upon the horizon and thought upon the fact that God has called me His true son and placed His hand upon me in perfect love and as I closed my eyes and prayed to Him, I felt at peace. There are so many things in our lives that we feel ill equipped to handle and so many futures we desire were our own and so many trials and tribulations we wish were not our own! And so to realise that God knows us, heart and soul and eyes brimming with tears and passions…this is gloriously precious. And to remember that God loves us His children with an unending and all encompassing love…this is beautifully divine. And so as I sit here in Starbucks, recalling this past week, how God blessed me with such a time of communion with my God…I rejoice. I sing. My meditations this day are full of the glories of the Lord. My heart this day is a-tremble with the thoughts of my Father. My eyes this day are bright with the passions of my God. Let us pour out our souls before the Lord our God, all ye nations -let us rejoice and sing to Him this day He has made! Amen and amen.

O For a Thousand Tongues

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Hello friends and happy Saturday!!!

I am currently at Starbucks(in Houston again!) and have been having a relaxing last couple of hours here. I recently have been putting together (another!) quality mix CD, purchasing various songs from hither and yon(er, or…from the wild Amazon) and now I’m at the point where I really need to listen to them together to judge the flow, etc. But I’m also rather silly and am refusing to do that since I’m currently listening to my Hymn playlist…and it is so joyous and marvelous and simply amazingly God-glorifying that I can’t listen to anything else just now. So thought I’d update this instead. Yay? And because I haven’t posted these track-lists yet, thought I’d record for posterity the last several mixes I’ve made…I rather enjoy them, but your tastes may(and will!) differ.

Firstly, the playlist I’m listening to now – HymnSing. I’ve long desired to have a proper CD with all my favourite hymns. During the course of making this, discovered that I have too many favourites for one CD. Oops? Anyways, I put this together and…it is rather wonderful. It may or may not have drawn tears during my first listen-through in my car one beautiful morning. Since these are all sung by various groups, not going to put the artists, just the title. Many of them are live recordings of simply amazing congregational and choir singing praises to our great God…who has forgiven us…everything. If you want a copy of this CD – message me on your preferred media and give me your address and I’ll send you a copy. Behold our God.

HymnSing:
1. Praise to the Lord, the Almighty
2. My Hope is Built on Nothing Less
3. Grace Greater Than All Our Sin
4. And Can It Be That I Should Gain
5. How Firm A Foundation
6. There Is A Fountain Filled With Blood
7. Before The Throne Of God Above
8. Behold Our God
9. Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing
10. O The Deep, Deep Love Of Jesus
11. Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken
12. Jesus Paid It All
13. It Is Well With My Soul
14. Holy, Holy, Holy
15. O, For A Thousand Tongues To Sing
16. All Hail The Power Of Jesus’ Name
17. Worthy Is The Lamb That Was Slain
18. Amen

Tears of Joy

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Hello friends – and a happy Tuesday to you all!! I am going to write a quick update here before work begins…because this weekend has been quite a whirlwind, not at all the “free and relaxing” weekend I thought it was going to be! Well, it was a beautiful three day weekend but somehow I found a way to cram many many things into it. Hmm. Not one quiet night, what has become of me!!? Anyways! Friday night, had a fun time going to Torchy’s with Angela and John and having some good catch-up time with them(and delicious tacos, natch!) Saturday morning…somehow I got the brilliant idea that I needed to run since it’d been a while. So I got up uber early(to beat the heat, etc. Oh Houston) and ran my long run(10 mi). After I was halfway through, body was feeling great and so I was thinking I might push it to 13…but sadly my lack of hydration caught up with me about the 8 mile mark and so I most struggled those last couple miles. I decided not to be foolish and just finished my normal run. Anyway, once I hydrated, I felt great(albeit quite sore rest of day. And day after. And day after…) and I got to enjoy a nice coffee and reading morning at home. Eventually I went out, did various errands that needed doing(and buying books for people in Aberdeen, hurrah! I shall not name them here, just in case they’re reading this. Which is probably doubtful). Then I popped over to Starbucks for some online and writing time(which was very unsuccessful – I’m struggling with current story sadly). At this point, it was about 2pm and I realised I was very faint and dizzy and getting a headache. I wondered why. And then I remembered that I had sort of forgotten to eat anything all day. Even after my run. Oops? So I went to Trader Joe’s, got some hatch chile mac’n’cheese(which was quite good!) and then ate that at home while watching college football(which has returned! Houston beat Oklahoma and Texas A&M beat UCLA and Texas beat ND…so all is well in the state of Texas today).

And wow, this entry is a bit ridiculous – I am rambling overmuch and I would apologise, but I’m not done yet. I shall try to quicken the pace though, as I do need to start work soon. So where was I? Saturday? Oh yes. Right. So, after watching a bit of college football, I had plans with Jared to hang out and watch a movie at my place. Sadly, he had to cancel because of some family plans that came up…but since I have awesome friends that invited me to something else(thanks Lea and Marianna!), my evening did not go wasted. Went to the Miller Outdoor Theatre and enjoyed some quality baroque music and some even more quality conversation with the aforementioned Lea and Marianna. I got home at some point and promptly fell into bed. Sunday! Sunday was the day of days. Church(which was marvelous and encouraging and God exalting!), then missions prayer time, then had some good sushi with Jonathan and Julian for lunch. Afterwards when I was back at my place, invited Julie over for tea and reading time, but sadly(not really!) we got no reading done and just had a great time talking and talking and talking instead. She is such an encouraging and dear friend! After that…Jared came over and we had some dinner and watched the Texas-ND game(instead of movie, because who needs a movie when you have football?). And unsurprisingly, while we watched the game, the best part was just talking about life. And thus ended my Sunday, in which I got approximately one hour to myself. And I am not complaining one bit.

And…er, I really need to cut this off here, even though I haven’t even talked about yesterday(Labor Day) yet. Oh well – just know that it was good and God blessed. As always. I must simply praise my God for always blessing me oh so much. Of course, there are some parts of life that are sorrowful and so we must grieve. But when I am enjoying life, I must recognize that it is God my Father who has blessed me so – and I thank Him and Him alone.

This morning, I heartily enjoyed listening to my newest mix CD…it is maybe my best yet. It is all hymns(do not laugh!) and it is beautiful. It is very unoriginally entitled HymnSing and it contains pretty much all my favourite hymns. Singing them in the car this morning as I thought about the love of God…oh what tears, oh what joy. When someday God grants that I may return to Him(oh come that day!), I do hope that some of these songs are sung. Oh how wondrous it is, to think that the blood of Jesus has paid for all my sins. That is my theme, my song. I will at some point post the track-list, but now I shall simply end this very very long entry(my apologies, dear friends) and leave you with this…

Soul, then know thy full salvation
Rise o’er sin and fear and care
Joy to find in every station,
Something still to do or bear.
Think what Spirit dwells within thee,
Think what Father’s smiles are thine,
Think that Jesus died to win thee,
Child of heaven, canst thou repine?

Neon Haze

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Morning, all!! Quick update time. It’s a wonderfully sticky Monday morning here in Houston and as the day slowly lightens, thought I’d let you know what I’ve been up to lately as I sip on my peppermint mocha…

In actuality, this weekend was a nice and calm one, which I appreciated much. Friday night, went with Sammy to a random church’s young adult group meeting, where he was engaged to preach. He was much blessed by God and preached mightily on 2 Samuel 11 and the effects sin has on us. Powerful, convicting and encouraging – God be praised! Saturday, I got many random errands done, then went to Natalie and Andrew’s engagement/wedding party in the afternoon, where it was awesome to celebrate their soon marriage!! Sunday was church and afterwards, I went straight home and did various household chores before finally sitting down and having my dinner of leftover lasagna and a tomato salad. And…with my dinner, watched Return of the King. It’d been far too long. And even more fun was me and Maryanne watched it in sync, so we got to text each other random comments back and forth as we watched. Fun times…just wished we lived closer so we could watch in person!!! Alas. Oh! I also was much engaged in writing yesterday afternoon…got a powerful urge to put a story to paper, even though I am now doubting my literary powers and ability to do the themes of this story justice. I’m about 2200 words in and halfway done, but it is most rough so far and I am unsure whether it will get to where it needs to be. We shall see. I need to fly now, but shall leave you the opening…sorry to be such a tease. Love you all, my friends!!

A window stained, spattered with raindrops and grim in both general aura and appearance. Thunder rumbled in the far off distance and the harsh neon lights glared into the window, through the rain streaked plastic and into the cramped room. The room, mean in appearance and dim lit with a single lamp beside the bed, had a singularly utilitarian appearance. A bed, a sink and a mirror. Nothing more, nothing less. Nothing more was needed. Nothing less was used.

A Note

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Hello friends…and happy Monday!! I don’t have time to write long, but thought I should dash down a few words here, even though I can’t properly chronicle the weekend! Alas. Still, a good one was had(even though I was busy every night and didn’t quite get in a relaxing rest night like I had planned!) Still, I can only thank and bless my God for all His goodness, for all His love. I was able to sing praises to my God in a hymn-sing that John put on, Friday night…oh so joyous!! And then dinner and good chat with new friends(plus John!). Saturday involved a quality coffee morning and many more conversations at the Maresh’s, followed by watching the new Jason Bourne movie with Julie(it was a good movie…but definitely not up to the standards of the previous three. Oh well. Still awesome seeing Matt Damon be amazing on the big screen!!) Then I had a craving for lasagna so of course…had to go home and make that for dinner!! Julie came over to help me eat it and we watched so many good Olympics events(and had some good chat interspersed!). Saturday night was an excellent Olympics night…Mo Farah taking the gold(again!!) in the 10k – so thrilling, especially as I remembered watching it from my Calsayseat flat four years ago!! – then Michael Phelps dominating in the pool one last time…Sunday, many more fun things happened, but I simply don’t have the time to write about them now!! Sorry for this poorly constructed, somewhat rambling entry, but just wanted to write these things down so that I always point back to them and…remember the goodness of the Lord. Be well, my friends – take courage and live today for the glory of our God and Father!!

Drums in the Deep

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Morning, all! Happy Friday from sunny Houston! I am about to kick off this working day, but just wanted to type a few words. I actually wanted to try and write a quick poem, but alas – I spent too long looking at all the news post-British referendum(the UK voted yesterday, in a surprising result, to leave the EU. I stayed up far too late last night watching the BBC report on results as they rolled in…). This is truly an interesting time to be alive and I am very intrigued(not to mention a small bit worried) to see the fallout of this. The right of a nation to freedom, democracy and self-determination is a grand thing, but…the loss of unity and cohesion in Europe is also deeply disturbing. The flags of nationalism are being jubilantly waved across the land and Europe is in turmoil. God preserve us. And yet, as I can too easily at times imagine the negative consequences of events, I can also be comforted by the fact that God is sovereign and that He holds this world in His hands. Jesus is the same today, tomorrow and forever.

Melchizedek

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I forgot how much I love reading Hebrews. I really did mean to post a proper entry today as I sip on my extra-chocolatey mocha, but alas, my time has run out and I need to start on work momentarily. And so I’ll just post a small portion of what encouraged me today…

For, on the one hand, there is a setting aside of a former
commandment because of its weakness and uselessness(for
the Law made nothing perfect), and on the other hand there is a
bringing in of a much better hope, through which we draw near to God.
And inasmuch as it was not without an oath(for they indeed
became priests without an oath, but He with an oath through the
One who said to Him,
“The Lord has sworn
And will not change His mind,
‘You are a Priest forever'”);
so much the more also Jesus has become the guarantee of a
better covenant.
The former priests, on the one hand, existed in greater
numbers because they were prevented by death from continuing,
but Jesus, on the other hand, because He continues forever,
holds His priesthood permanently. Therefore He is able also to
save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He
always lives to make intercession for them.
For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy,
innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the
heavens; who does not need daily, like those high priests, to
offer up sacrifices, first for his own sins and then for the sins of
the people, because this He did once for all when He offered up
Himself.

For the Law appoints men as high priests who are
weak, but the word of the oath, which came after the Law,
appoints a Son, made perfect forever. – Hebrews 7:18-28

Peace and love, my friends – have a most wonderful Monday!

So Let It Be Done

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I love this passage so much…have faith, my friends, and believe.

So when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the
doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and
stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” And when He had
had said this, He showed them both His hands and His side. The disciples then
rejoiced when they saw the Lord. So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with
you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” And when He had said this,
He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you
forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the
sins of any, they have been retained.”

But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when
Jesus came. So the other disciples were saying to him, “We have seen the
Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails,
and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I
will not believe.”

After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them.
Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said,
“Peace be with you.” Then He said to Thomas, “Reach here with your finger,
and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do
not be unbelieving, but believing.”

Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”

Jesus said to Him, “Because you have seen Me, have you
believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.”