I wanted to blog earlier...

But about the time I started was about the time that we had to leave, so I gave up on the idea.

SO, now I'm blogging, while uploading wedding snapshots onto Picasa and listening to Pandora and browsing Facebook....and wincing at the little girls "music" that they are singing... "Calvary's Blood" sung entirely in bloodcurdling falsetto. Yippeeee.

And just for fun, I thought you might be interested in seeing what Aaron and I look like when we're watching nuclear explosions on YouTube at midnight...




So, Yeah...that pretty much it. Sorry if you were expecting something dramatic...

...

Today was...weird. It felt like a Saturday, which made it mildly depressing because every time I corrected myself I had to remember that there was another day until Sunday... *sigh* It seems like an eternity since last Sunday. Mostly, I guess, because last Sunday was such a ... well ... uncool Sunday. I was really discouraged, and tired, and nothing worked out right, and it didn't feel like Sunday at all.

SO, in case you didn't notice, I'm *REALLY* wanting it to be Sunday again. :-) We actually get to have normal choir!!! YAY!! All this "skip 2nd Sunday" and "between putluck and nursing hom" bunk really gets on my nerves. For goodness sake, can't we just SING??


Word of God speak
Would You pour down like rain
Washing my eyes to see
Your majesty
To be still and know
That You're in this place
Please let me stay and rest
In Your holiness
Word of God speak


""""""""""""""""""""""

I'm officially a success with Ethan. I've succeeded in making him cry, making him cross-eyed, making him cry more, and...making him cry. heeee.

But I love him. :-) He's a super darling baby, and until he got a stuffy nose, was a super un-fussy baby. Now he's a super darling baby that fusses more than he used to and is more attached to his Mommy... which means I'm a bigger success than EVER!! lol.

Thankfully, I have a lot of years to win his little heart. Nothing like a new baby to make you want to be a better sister...and wish you had been better when your other siblings were littler. And again, thankfully, God is good enough to forgive our mistakes and let us carry on without living steeped in regret.

To quote Oswald Chambers: "Let the past sleep, but let it sleep on the bosom of Christ, and go out into the irresistible future with Him... Never let the sense of failure corrupt your next action. "

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So, Basically, In short: I'm looking forward to Sunday, Ethan has made me a success,
The Lord is amazing me perpetually by showing His everlasting mercy and grace in giving chance after chance, and forgiving mistake after mistake without ever growing weary of my pathetic attempts at usefulness. Ah, but here we are...we are of no use, but we can be used. Our own efforts, our own attempts, our own strength is of no use, but He can use HIS strength and power THROUGH us to make us an instrument that IS of use.

Abandon to Christ. Another Chambers concept of the week. Full surrender of all we are and all we posses, and a heart that is so in tune to the Love of God that everything we do is an outpouring of that Love. Full abandonment to Him...what an aspiration!! Yet, strangely enough, it cannot be accomplished through work...but through rest. Through feasting on His word, and drinking endlessly of His presence, and singing His praise, and living free of the cares and chains of the world in sin. Choosing life over death, and love over selfishness...it's rest and delight in it's fullest form...So why do we not? Because the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. Because the deceiver is perpetually whispering and accusing. Wrapping us in our own desperate sinful past, and tearing us from the perfect love and peace that is already ours.

So the work is not in drawing near to Christ, but in deadening our ears to the words of Death, and blinding our eyes to the gaudy filth of the world that begs to be tested. The work is in pouring MORE of Christ and LESS of the world into the battlefield of our soul.

Yes, Jesus is the truth, the way,
That leads you into rest;
Believe in Him without delay
And you are fully blessed.

Only trust Him, only trust Him,
Only trust Him now;
He will save you, He will save you,
He will save you now.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

And now I'm rambling. Horribly, I'm afraid. Sorry. This post has gotten long.

Just want to add:

The mountains are steep
And the valleys low
Already I'm weary
But I have so far to go
Oh, and sorrow holds my hand
And suffering sings me songs
But when I close my eyes
I know to whom I belong
Who makes me strong

I will be free
I will be free to run the mountains
I will be free
Free to drink from the living fountain
Oh, I'll never turn back
'Cause He waits for me
Oh, I will be free

A wise man, a rich man
In pauper's clothes
A shepherd to lead us
Through the land of woes
Though many battles I have lost
So many rivers yet to cross
But when my eyes behold the Son
Who bore my loss, who paid the cost

I will be free
I will be free to run the mountains
I will be free
Free to drink from the living fountain
Oh, I'll never turn back
'Cause He waits for me
Oh, I will be free

Oh, and I'll dance on silver moonlight
And I'll walk through velvet fields
Oh, and I'll run into the arms
The arms that set me free

I will be free
I will be free to run the mountains
I will be free
Free to drink from the living fountain
Oh, I'll never turn back
'Cause He waits....
I'll never turn back
Don't you ever turn back
Because someday, someday we're gonna see
We will be free ~Cindy Morgan


Blessings on each and everyone of you. May you rest in the Lord, moment by moment.

~Joanna

Time is a jet plane, it moves too fast
Oh, but what a shame if all we've shared can't last.
I can change, I swear, oh, oh,
See what you can do.
I can make it through,
You can make it too.