The Confessing Lunatic

If you read the entire chapter of Isaiah 12, you will see Isaiah make reference to God being our salvation. We discussed in Sunday School the context of this chapter. It appears that in the chapters leading up to this point, Isaiah is referring to a time when Israel will be redeemed. If we take Israel's redemption into consideration when reading the chapter in context to our redemption, it finds a deeper meaning: "In that day you will say" is said both in verse 1 and verse 4. The Israelites REACTION to their REDEMPTION on the day of their redemption was to proclaim God's salvation. It was also to proclaim the LORD as their strength and song. It was also to give thanks to the Lord and to MAKE HIS NAME FAMOUS. When WE are redeemed, the natural cry of our heart should be to proclaim God's salvation and all that it brings. We should be so filled with joy that we have but one goal, one purpose in life...to make His Name famous. The theme for our church this year is th...

I am so thrilled! I will be on annual leave until 2 January 2008. I am desperately in need of this break since work has been so stressful and I haven't had much time with my family. When I told Jaden that I would be off almost the entire time he was on break, he was so happy. His reaction made me realize that I shouldn't feel guilty about taking time away from work so I can spend it with my family. God has blessed me with incredible children and a wonderful husband. I count my blessings for them...which reminds me of one of my favorite songs from my favorite Christmas movie, White Christmas." And so, I will leave you all with that... "Blessings" When I’m worried and I can't sleep, I count my blessings instead of sheep and I fall asleep counting my blessings. When my bankroll is getting small I think of when I had none at all and I fall asleep counting my blessings. I think about a nursery, and I picture curly heads, and one by one I count them as they slumber...

I confess...I couldn't help myself, I had to do just one more quiz. I'm not sure why but this whole idea of taking a quiz to discover something about myself has me hooked. So, this quiz is the "What is your Personality Cluster." Your Personality Cluster is Introverted Sensing You are: Responsible, ethical, and trustworthy Loyal, with a sense of roots in your community Someone who treasures and remembers the past Adverse to surprises and the unknown What's Your Personality Cluster? Now, I realize that I could come up with a totally different answer depending on how I answer the questions; however I tried to be as honest with myself as possible. It's pretty on target, if I do say so myself. What then does this really say about me? I'm neurotic? I'm inflexible? I'm what? Hmmmm. This will be something I must think on for a while. So, what's your personality cluster? Okay, I confess...I'm really hooked. I thought after the last quiz I w...

I confess...since I am too tired to think of anything profound to say, I thought I would take another quiz so I could post something tonight. Dumb, I know but I just couldn't help myself. So here goes. I'm kind of a nit-pick when it comes to simple grammar mistakes. So I took the It's, Its, There, They're, Their, quiz on Blogthings. Here's how I scored: You Scored an A You got 10/10 questions correct. It's pretty obvious that you don't make basic grammatical errors. If anything, you're annoyed when people make simple mistakes on their blogs. As far as people with bad grammar go, you know they're only human. And it's humanity and its current condition that truly disturb you sometimes. The It's Its There Their They're Quiz Cool, huh? Mind you I realize that I have a lot to learn about grammar but it's the simple mistakes that just drive me crazy. Is there anyone like me?

Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. Psalm 36:5 I STILL have a headache. I stayed home from work today because I hurt so bad. But when it really comes down to it, I must confess...I was feeling sorry for myself. I am frustrated at the situation I'm in at work; I was feeling restless yet in my arrogance, refused to rely on God. I even wrote about finding rest in God but last night when it was time to go to sleep, the rest didn't come. I am concerned and discouraged over the state of a couple of things in my personal life. This too, I failed to give over to God. As I was showering to get ready to go meet at church for the annual Christmas caroling, I fully surrendered to God. I couldn't take the pain anymore and I couldn't do anything more than surrender. This headache had knocked me to my knees and I would like to be able to say when I fully surrendered to God, that the headache went away. But it didn't. When we got to the...

Have you ever had a day where you've been restless? Today is my day for being restless. Yesterday I felt though my work has been difficult I could take on the world and would be able to do so without missing a beat. Today was a different story. For the first time in my career I actually have vacation time that I must take or will lose. I need to be in the office to manage this issue but yet the office is the LAST place I wanted to be today or the rest of this week. I know that I have a week and a half coming where I won't have to answer an email, think about work, or even talk work if I don't want to and I'm just restless. I had difficulty concentrating at work; the day has labored on with my inability to shake a headache despite taking medication; I'm overwhelmed knowing that the entire program I'm working on is unraveling and to top it off....I'm struggling with several things in my personal life. It's interesting though...I was stumbling and came ...

The last couple of days at work have been very trying. For the past year and a half I have been working on a major program that has impact to the Army's construction program. Now, due to issues beyond my control this whole program has been derailed. With this in mind, let me share a quote that I saw in my building. It said, " Life is not about holding good cards but playing the cards you hold well " (Josh Billings). As much as I have tried to make this program go well, I cannot control everything that happens. I can, however, continue to do my best despite the circumstances. So, bring it on. I'm ready.

I confess...I am hooked on The Amazing Race. If you're not familiar with this TV show, you can find it here . There are so many, many comparisons to life in this reality show that I don't really know where to start. Jim and I watch this together and talk about how we would run the race and not fight. We're convinced we could win because we wouldn't make the same mistakes the other teams have made. The object of the game is to work in two person teams to navigate through towns/cities/rural areas to find clues. There are times when the team has to work together to complete a task or other times when one member of the team must complete a task on their own. We have had so much fun watching this together. The people on this show say some of the funniest things...hence the title of this post. One team is a Goth couple, Kynt and Vxysin, that pride themselves on being different. In this last episode, the Goth team was performing a task where each had scale the side of a...

I read my friend Jennifer's blog today and she had taken a quiz on which Sesame Street character she was. I decided to take the quiz too. I came up as the Cookie Monster. I'm not sure why because that's not who I would have picked. I confess...I've taken four or five quizzes now (hence the previous quiz about what year I should have been born in). I'm not really sure why because I certainly have better things to do, laundry, cleaning, sleeping...so in honor of my time wasting, I will post another quiz - "What Color Should My Blog Be." Other than the color, I'm not sure this describes me. Tell me what you think. Your Blog Should Be Purple You're an expressive, offbeat blogger who tends to write about anything and everything. You tend to set blogging trends, and you're the most likely to write your own meme or survey. You are a bit distant though. Your blog is all about you - not what anyone else has to say. What Color Should Your Blog or J...

My mother always told me I was old for my age. I've always felt like I was born in the wrong year. Guess what...it's true. You Belong in 1958 You're fun loving, romantic, and more than a little innocent. See you at the drive in! What Year Do You Belong In? Blogthings: Our Quizzes Weren't Written By Bored 12 Year Olds

I confess...Jim and I are hooked on this show about Everest. It chronicles the the lives of people who are avid climbers and some who have already attempted to summit Everest. At a cost of $42K and a time investment of 8 weeks, it makes little sense to me. I can understand the desire to conquer the mountain but what I cannot understand is the desire to conquer the mountain at the risk of losing your life. Perhaps there is a lesson in this ... Jesus loved us so much that to ensure our victory, he willing went to the cross. He conquered the proverbial mountain (death) and rose again. What a story indeed.

God created us in His image (Genesis 1:26). God knew us before we were born (Psalm 139:15-16). God gave us the gift of His son (Ephesians 2:8-9). John Eldredge puts it so eloquently when he says, "God endowed you with a glory when he created you, a glory so deep and mythic that all creation pales in comparison. A glory unique to you, just as your fingerprints are unique to you, just as the way you laugh is unique to you. Somewhere down deep inside we’ve been looking for that glory ever since." (Waking the Dead) There is an indescribable joy in knowing that God created me in His image. And to know that I have been created with a specific purpose in mind is unimaginable. God's Glory in the form of Jesus Christ is utterly amazing. What a wonderful God I serve.

Enough said? I have much I want to say on this topic yet I can't figure out where to start because the end of the topic is the title of this post. God is God. Perhaps that is all that needs to be said.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28 How often do we wonder what God's plans are? How often do we think that He is not paying attention to the "trivialities" in our lives? I confess ... I am confident in the message of Romans 8 but yet I am weak and doubt time and time again. God, help my unbelief. Infuse me with your Spirit; grant me confidence each day.

Have you heard the phrase when two opposing sides are having difficulty and one party is told, "You have to be the bigger man?" I confess...I've probably even said something to that effect myself but it really is a hard pill to swallow when you're hearing. I confess...last night when replying to email I had a knee-jerk reaction to a couple of emails and lost my cool to a person and copied a number of people in my reply. I got a phone call from my 2nd line supervisor and while he didn't tell me he was mad or upset me, he did tell me in so many words that I was the senior leader and I needed to be the bigger person. After crying about it, getting angry about it, I realized he was right. But more importantly, I realized that I have an example of the "Bigger Man" in our Savior, Jesus Christ. His love led Him to leave His home to dwell among us, to the cross willing, and to bear sins he did not own. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We...

I have had WONDERFUL weekend! My friend Ginger and I went to Richmond to visit her cousin and family. I love Ginger and had no doubt that I would enjoy being with her family but had no idea I would love them so much. Ginger's cousin's name is Lisa, too so that was an added bonus! Lisa is married and has two children, Nathan (3) and Abigail (2 next month). Both her children are the same size as my two younger children (ages 5 and 3). I wasn't sure if they would warm up to me but no sooner had I sat down on the floor with them were they very eager to share mine and Ginger's attention. I was so homesick for my own children that I longed to hold one or both of them. Before too long, I got my wish. Nathan, very quickly told me all about himself - including the fact that his real name was Gene Autry, that he was a cowboy and he had a horse named "Chance." He giddy-upped all over the house, which I got such a kick out of. I was curious...I'd heard of Ge...