On My Mind

Psalm 40:1-5

I waited patiently for the LORD;
he turned to me and heard my cry.
He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand.
He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD.

Blessed is the man who makes the LORD his trust,
who does not look to the proud,
to those who turn aside to false gods.
Many, O LORD my God,
are the wonders you have done.
The things you planned for us
no one can recount to you;
were I to speak and tell of them,
they would be too many to declare.

What an encouragement! I often envision that I am stuck way down deep in some gooey, muddy pit and cannot possibly crawl out on my own accord. But by grace He's there, ready to lift me out. Trusting in what God has planned for me can be so difficult at times. But knowing that He has planned "wonders" for my life--"too many to declare"--brings much comfort. But thankfully David provides words for those of us who are often too impatient to wait on God in verse 17b:

You are my help and my deliverer; O my God, DO NOT DELAY!!
(All emphasis, caps and exclamation points are mine.)

It seems kind of silly at the moment, as if God is unaware of our pleading and desperate cries. But I'll take it because it's often the way feel.

Just keepin' it real.

My Jam

Don't you love when God answers your plea prayer almost instantly? That totally happened today. I've been wrestling with some things and today after I dipped into Pity Party Land, I was ready to be at peace. The only problem is that peace doesn't usually come easily for me. Dithering back and forth between trying to work everything out in my head and throwing my hands up and giving it to the Lord, I hopped in the car. After all, a girl still has things to do. I cranked up the only Christian radio station available, immediately feeling energized.

After listening to a string of old-school songs (I still love Jars oh so much!), I was hoping to hear a particular song that has become my most recent jam. Yep, I rock out in my car to worship songs. Anyway, I told God, "This is it. I'm almost to my destination. I really, really, really need to hear this song and I only have time for one more song." As soon as I finished my demanding request, the next song started playing. I was happily shocked. God is so faithful!

You've probably heard this song quite a bit lately if you listen to CCM. Here's the song--it's not really a video, just a graphic with the music underneath.




Anyway, hope you have a song right now that makes you bounce in your seat and bang on your steering wheel in praise of Jesus! :)




PS- If I used the word dither incorrectly above, it's only because once a word gets in my head, I have a hard time shaking it. I'm not ashamed.

Catch up time

Since it has been a month since I last posted--because I often don't care to make the time, if I'm being honest--I figured I'll write a post just highlighting what the heck has been keeping me away. And I'm not just not writing blog posts. I'm not reading them either, as my Google Reader currently has 401 unread items. If you saw the pile of receipts, bills and papers on my bedroom floor, you'd realize that I'm pretty okay with loose ends and unfinished business and leaving this until "later." Okay, maybe I shouldn't advertise that about myself. Any hooter, here's a quick rundown of what's been happenin':

-I went home in April and saw this little booger.

She snuggled down for about 45 seconds to watch the baseball game on TV. Atta girl.

Looks like she's enjoying herself, but do you notice the white-knuckled death grip?

-Can you guess where we went on a whim one weekend in May?

Okay, so that was pretty easy. We'd never been to San Diego, even though it's only two hours away. We hit up Sea World (total rip-off, btw, since Disneyworld is about the same price but with loads more to see and do), checked out the beach and saw a Dodgers/Padres game. We never go anywhere unexpectedly, so it was a refreshing change of scenery.

-I am frequently reminded how many weirdos are in LA. Example numero uno: I was driving home from work/the Metro station where my car was parked and was stopped at a light. I looked in my review mirror and couldn't believe what I saw. Some dude was playing his trumpet! The driver of the car, who was alone, was practicing in his car. Good grief. And people are worried about talking on a cell phone? How about a guy with a large instrument obstructing his view?!

-I recently made Pioneer Woman's cinnamon rolls for the second time and I can honestly say I have never had a better sweet in my life. And that's saying something. If you love buttery, sugary, cinnamony goodness and have little regard for a jiggle in your middle, please make these soon. Saturday would work, too. A word to the wise, though. Halving the recipe will still yield about 30 average sized rolls. You've been warned. Oh and another word. I used a half & half/1% milk mixture for the dough and straight half & half instead of milk for the icing and ohmygosh. So good. So so good. Oh, one more thing. Sorry. I do this a lot. I used vanilla extract for the icing instead of maple flavoring and coffee. Actually, I sort of winged the icing, but made sure to add the melted butter (which I'd never heard of before), which made a huge difference, I think.

I think I'll end on a delicious note before I write any more run-on sentences.

Until next time...