Peter's Prayer

"I need Thee, O Lord, for a curb on my tongue; when I am tempted to making carping criticisms and cruel judgments, keep me from speaking barbed words that hurt, and in which I find perverted satisfaction. Keep me from unkind words and from unkind silences. Restrain my judgments. Make my criticisms kind, generous, and constructive. Make me sweet inside, that I may be gentle with other people, gentle in the things I say, kind in what I do. Create in me that warmth of mercy that shall enable others to find Thy strength for their weakness, Thy peace for their strife, Thy joy for their sorrow, Thy love for their hatred, Thy compassion for their weakness. In thine own strong name, I pray. Amen."
~Peter Marshall

"A Man Called Peter" is my favorite novel. It is based on the life story of Peter Marshall, written by his wife, Catherine.
Most people are familiar with Catherine Marshall's books, "Christy" and "Julie" but I hope that more people will read "A Man Called Peter". Peter Marshall was a Scottish immigrant who traveled to America because he felt the Lord wanted him to spread his message there. It took him awhile, but eventually, he saved enough money and he earned his Seminary degree. He preached at a few churches in Georgia before receiving a call to preach at "The Church of the Presidents" or better known as "New York Avenue Presbyterian Church". His influence in Washington was phenomenal and he went on to become the chaplain for the US Senate. The prayer above is one that is taken out of a book of prayers that Catherine compiled after his untimely death.

If you don't want to read the book, I would suggest watching the movie at least. It is a very inspirational story that will give you another view of how great the Lord's work is in the lives of His people.

My Backyard

One thing I love about living near Lake Hefner are the beautiful sunsets that I get to enjoy. I took this on August 10 while I was on a walk. Occasionally I go for walks with my camera and I am so glad that this particular evening that was my agenda. Sunsets are one my favorite things. They remind me of God's faithfulness, majesty, beauty, grace, mercy, power, sovereignty, love, etc.

I'm amazed that people in every part of the world see the same sun setting that I see and it reminds me that His love extends much further than my own little world. I love so many other things about sunsets. I love sharing my love of sunsets with others. I hope that the next time that great ball of fire in yonder west is cascading its light upon you that you will see a bit of the Creator and your love for Him will grow even more.

Our "Thorn"

The following is from Grace Gems, a daily devotional I receive.

Our "Thorn"
(J. R. Miller, "The Building of Character" 1894)

"Lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure." 2 Corinthians 12:7

Paul tells us that his "thorn" was given to him--to keep him humble, and save him from spiritual peril. Without it, he would have been exalted above measure and would have lost his spirituality. We do not know how much of his deep insight into the things of God, and his power in service for his Master--Paul owed to this torturing "thorn". It seemed to hinder him, and it caused him incessant suffering--but it detained him in the low valley of humility, made him ever conscious of his own weakness and insufficiency, and thus kept him near to Christ whose home is with the humble.

There are few people who have not
some "thorn" rankling in their flesh--
In one it is an infirmity of speech;
in another an infirmity of sight;
in another an infirmity of hearing.
Or it may be lameness;
or a slow but incurable disease;
or constitutional timidity,
or excessive nervousness;
or a disfiguring bodily deformity;
or an infirmity of temper.
Or it may be in one's home--which
is cold, unloving, and uncongenial;
or it may be some moral failure;
or it may be a bitter personal disappointment
through untrue friendship or unrequited love.

Who has not his "thorn"?

We should never forget that in one sense, our "thorn" is a "messenger of Satan," who desires by it--to hurt our life, to mar our peace, to spoil the divine beauty in us, and to break our communion with Christ.

On the other hand, however, Christ Himself has a loving design in our "thorn." He wants it to be a blessing to us. He would have it keep us humble--and save us from becoming vain. Or He means it to soften our hearts--and make us more gentle. He would have the uncongenial things in our environment to discipline us into heavenly-mindedness, give us greater self-control, and help us to keep our hearts loving and sweet--amid harshness and unlovingness. He would have our pain teach us endurance and patience; and our sorrow and loss teach us faith.

Thus, our "thorn" may either be a choice blessing to us--or it may do us irreparable harm. If we allow it to fret us; if we chafe, resist, and complain; if we lose faith and lose heart--it will spoil our life! But if we accept it in the faith that in its ugly burden--it has a blessing for us; if we endure it patiently, submissively, unmurmuringly; if we seek grace to keep our heart gentle and true amid all the trial, temptation, and suffering it causes--it will work good for us, and out of its bitterness--will come sweet fruit!

My Guy

I was washing dishes last night singing that old familiar Mary Wells song, My guy. "Nothing you could say could tear me away from my guy..."
As I was blissfully enjoying this moment I was struck with how blessed I am to have a guy in my life as wonderful as Todd.
Last night he surprised with the most wonderful date. We had planned on going on a scooter date, and that was exciting enough for me...but oh, I had no idea of the excitement that would come. =)
I went home at lunch and got clothes to change into so that I could leave as soon as I got off of work and get to his apartment...I was a little excited about seeing him, just a little. ;) When I got there he was waiting on me and already ready to go out for a ride. I was a little surprised that we were leaving so quickly, but I didn't think anything of it. He did, however, make me go up to his apartment and take a look around. (the reason would be found out later) We went to WalMart to see what time their nail salon closed, and then we drove around for a little while. It was a little strange that while we were out, Nate (Todd's best friend) called and was "called into work" so he couldn't get pedicures with us (another fun thing about Todd is that he gets pedicures). According to Todd, "occasionally they will call you in on your night off, and you just have to go." All of this should have clued me in, but I was just so excited to be with him with no time restraints, that I didn't think much of it.
After driving around for a few minutes, and another call from Nate, we started to head back to Todd's place. I was thinking, "wow, that was fast", but I didn't really care. When we pulled up I noticed that his car was gone and I mentioned it to him...still clueless...but I was worried that someone had stolen it. He said that there was a car just like his and sometimes they park there and that his car was down the way. He wasn't worried, so I figured I shouldn't be. We went upstairs and I heard music coming out of the door, and I said, "hey, did you leave your music on?" still totally clueless...and then I walked all the way in, turned around and saw a candlelit dinner, some flowers, a card on his kitchen table.
Todd, being the amazing actor that he is, (or shall we say, cheese-ball?)began to play the part. "Oh my goodness! Someone must've broken into my apartment! They must want us to have a candlelit dinner! Oh my goodness. This is crazy! How did they know that we would be coming back? Wow, someone has really got some explaining to do. Cray! (with his hands in the air)" He went on and on...All I could do was smile and laugh. It was so sweet and wonderful.
I won't go into detail on how delicious and AMAZING the food was (thanks Nate!), because that would take up three pages, but it was incredible.
When I went to get my silverware, wrapped in a cloth napkin, there was a piece of paper that was a cine-ticket that he had printed off of the internet for a movie that we were going to watch. Todd again, "What?! Someone wants us to watch a movie that is already in my dvd player? I'm starting to get a little freaked out here." He continued in his role throughout dinner and so I just played along.
It was so cute. He was so cute. I felt so special.

The entire evening was amazing. We had a wonderful time and I think this is the first time in my life when I have felt this way. I have to go because I am meeting someone at 5:15, but I will probably share more about "my guy" later. :)

Love,
D.


Continuing the story...After we ate dinner, we went to get Nate and celebrate their victorious surprise with pedicures. Yes, we all three got pedicures! We then watched Everyone's Hero (an animated baseball movie-awesome!) and ate Dove ice cream. They pulled it off and I think they were as excited about doing this for me as I was about receiving it. Maybe even more, "for it is far better to give than to receive".
I was telling my dad this story and I could tell in his voice that he was beaming. "Finally," he said, "someone who is treating you the way that I want you to be treated, and the way that you deserve." I don't really know about that, but it means a lot to me to know that my dad approves. :) I'm excited to see where the Lord leads us!

I'm Back!

For the longest time I couldn't remember my login ID for this blog...funny thing was, it was the most basic thing it could've been, the same that I use for everything else, but I just knew that I did something different for this and never even tried the norm.

As I was thinking about this it made me wonder how many other things in life I try and try to find an answer to when I know the right answer all along. And after some consideration, I decided that there are about 12 million.

The reason why is because in most every situation in life that I try to 'figure out' the answer to, the answer is usually as simple as "Trust in the Lord". If I trusted in Him with all of my worries and stopped trying to figure things out on my own, I would sure save a lot of worry. It is so easy to try to take things into my own hands, when I should just let it go.

My resolution for today is to simply do that. Let it go. Trust in the Lord with all My heart. My heart is His anyway...why wouldn't I want him to handle it?
Not only does he already know the results, He has ordained them!

How can something so simple be so difficult? Foolish foolish girl that I am!


O my God, in you I trust;
let me not be put to shame;
let not my enemies exult over me.
Psalm 25:2


The Lord is my strength and my shield;
in him my heart trusts, and I am helped;
my heart exults,
and with my song I give thanks to him.
Psalm 28:7


Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him, and he will act.
Psalm 37:5


Trust in him at all times,
O people;
pour out your heart before him;
God is a refuge for us.
Psalm 62:8

Thoughts from Jeremiah

"My identity does not begin when I begin to understand myself. There is something previous to what I think about myself, and it is what God thinks of me. That means that everything I think and feel is by nature a response, and the one to whom I respond is God. I never speak the first word. I never make the first move."
Eugene Peterson

I'm reading a book about Jeremiah and this was my favorite quote of the night, so I thought I would share it.

Another section I liked:

Once there was a man who understood the danger of the prophet's(Jeremiah's) commission and the comfort of God's presence. He was an evangelist God used to bring renewal to the Columbian church during the 1980s and 1990s. Since he was an enemy of the drug cartels, his life was in constant danger, until he was finally gunned down by assassins. Yet shortly before he died, he said, "I know that I am absolutely immortal until I have finished the work that God intends for me to do". God's servants are indeed immortal until they have completed their service.
Philip Ryken

Here Ryken was referring to the struggle that Jeremiah faced that was similar to Moses', which was doubt and fear that he could accomplish the job that the Lord had chosen for him. The book goes on to tell of how the Lord placed his words in Jeremiah's mouth. I higly reccommend this commentary if you're interested in reading the Old Testament. It's called: Jeremiah and Lamentations, From Sorrow to Hope. It's excellent reading, I assure you.

My Inner European is Italian

Your Inner European is Italian!

Passionate and colorful. You show the world what culture really is.

Who's Your Inner European?

Relient K - Let It All Out

This song just gets me every time.