braving the Beauty through prayer for colleges

Thursday Feb 25th is the collegiate day of prayer, a day set aside for focused prayer for our university & college campuses, for reawakening of the God-honoring foundations many of our colleges were established upon. That's flowery language for: colleges-liked God in the beginning, now not so much, let's get there again!

For more info on what the heck this is about, visit www.collegiatedayofprayer.org. Register to let them know you're praying.

Will you join me in braving the Beauty by praying too?

Thanks for reading!

spiritual gifts

Ever take one of those spiritual gift assessments? I took one last week & was a little surprised by the results. The three gifts I scored highest on were, in order:
1) teaching (with fifteen points)
2) word of knowledge (with thirteen points)
3) faith (with twelve points)
Teaching, my highest? I come from a family of teachers. Three aunts, two sisters, both my parents...and I sort of hoped my tendency to break the mold in the family (not necessarily accurate, but by that I mean I was the only girl who wasn't a band kid, the only girl who stayed home a year after college...unless Moriah changes that, and other little things like that) would disqualify me for teaching. But I find myself more pleasantly surprised that I scored so high in this area & it makes me think. Jesus, how would you like me to put this gift to use?
Also, interestingly, I scored a 6 in intercession. My disciplines don't match my lofty ideas of my prayer life. Room for improvement.

Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Valentine's Day! By trying to get in the habit of celebrating holidays, I've been cutting out lots of red hearts & finding things to do with them.


Poor Andrew finally drew the line when I taped some hearts to the bathroom mirror, saying he needed a sanctuary away from the hearts! Poor guy has a crazy wife... He's humored me this week, though & kindly watched a few chick flicks with me. (I'd recommend Leap Year but not Last of the Mohichans.) Must make it up to him!

Leave you with this loving thought: "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment and whoever fears has not been perfected in love." That comes from 1 John 4:18. May you be free from fear, perfected in love!

Happy Valentines Day!

No Regrets: Honeymoon in the Black Hills

For no particular reason, today I remembered our honeymoon & that I loved it. Andrew & I were married in the Black Hills & spent a few nights there, then worked our way back west for the rest of the week long honeymoon. Simple, budgeted, with a couple of splurges & glorious sunny (!?!) November weather for a post wedding road trip. I'm thankful for it & can't think of a better way I'd want it to be. Here are some photos leading up to the wedding & of scenes from our honeymoon travels.

We took communion together the night before the wedding, something my mom & dad also did before they got married.
The morning of the wedding, inside the cabin where we were married.The view out the window the morning of the wedding. It snowed very briefly that morning.
Also the morning of the wedding. We had "church" with some of our friends before setting up the cabin for the wedding.

First full day of being man & wife, we stopped off Highway 395 at Pactola Lake & took some pictures.

Playing with the color settings...

On the road trip home, we spent a night here, in the McFarland room. Ironically, my maiden name is McFarland!
Hope you enjoyed my reflection down memory lane...thanks for reading!

write, right (in my best British accent)

Saturday was infused with influence from Britain. Made scones. Made loose leaf Lady Brit tea. Watched Jamie Oliver make tiramisu. Wore Andrew's London hat on an excursion where I pored through a Jamie Oliver cookbook (recommended by a friend). Andrew & I then went home to eat our version of banger & mash (sausage & potatoes) & mushrooms, and capped off the evening watching Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World.

I like our interests, unintentionally themed days.

a live coal in the sea

Reading a book by Madeleine L'Engle called A Live Coal in the Sea. The title comes from a quote from William Langland. (Anyone know who he is? First time I've come upon his name.) It was written by him around fourteen hundred:

"But all the wickedness in the world which man may do or think is no more to the mercy of God than a live coal dropped in the sea."

That's needed for me lately. Pride/jealousy/resentment/unhealthy comparisons have been rearing their ugly heads in my life (I've been allowing them) at a time when I feel a stirring, when I feel messages of assurance being dropped into my spirit that this time in our lives is good, that God has good in store & if I can just abide, I'll be in the sweet spot. Living life to the fullest, the Jesus way. But it's hard, impossible. But with God all things are possible.

appreciation

Today I'm appreciating. God's provision for my sister's new job, seeing a huge rainbow over the city as I was on my way outside to do laundry, having lunch & an afternoon with my husband, Coralie's apple butter, the wondrous effect of dryer sheets softening our clothing, being productive in my profession, the stuff you missed in history class podcast...these little things.