My Monday Musing…
This is the week for the Feet to My Faith challenge, so I wanted to post something that would encourage you to embrace that challenge. I know I will be doing my best to look for opportunities to share my personal source of hope, strength & life this week and want it to be just a beginning of a renewed focus on sharing my faith. I hope and pray you will do the same. (If you want more info, click on the Feet to My Faith graphic in the sidebar, or contact me.)
I happened to find a post from someone who said it better than I could today, so I’m providing a link to her blog post. Yes, there seems to be a theme lately – we’re related – but it’s just a God-incidence (can’t call it merely a coincidence). Embrace the challenge ladies, and share your results. You can do this, you ARE women of WORTH – because you “belong to the truth” (1 John 3:19) – Jesus!!
Have a blessed week!
No explanation could do it justice…Priscilla Shirer & Beth Moore at recent Deeper Still Event. Mark your calendars for December 4-5, 2009 in Oklahoma City!
My Monday Musing…
Actually, here’s something for you to “muse” over. This is the drawing that just won my niece, Abigail Kraft (15), a 1st Place ribbon at the Kansas State Fair (*beaming aunt*). Our family all agrees that viewing it immediately evokes emotion. Tell me what you think!
Simplify Your Holidays by Marcia Ramsland
I saw this book at Perfect Peace today (and I heard it’s also at Sam’s). It looks like it might be “just the thing” for someone looking to organize their hectic holiday schedule. I have 2 of Marcia Ramsland’s books, Simplify Your Space and Simplify Your Time. I also subscribe to her email newsletter. She has lots of helpful & practical advice for simplifying and organizing your life.
“The book that will get (and keep) you organized for the busiest time of the year, Simplify Your Holidays! This hardcover, three-ring binder is the most beautiful book/notebook combination that is sure to inspire and organize you from now on. No more back of the envelope lists dashing off to the mall, or late night wrapping marathons before Christmas. You’re going to be ready and relaxed this year!”
My Monday Musing…
First, I’m changing the name. Who was I kidding any way – that I would consistently post something every Monday morning? I’ll do my best for some time Monday J.
I have enjoyed the holiday weekend, and now head to the courthouse tomorrow for Jury Duty. As a patriot and perpetual student I actually find it quite interesting and like to experience new things. I face this week with a little trepidation, however. I served on a jury 8 or 9 years ago and found it a stressful experience.
My trial was a robbery case, and was pretty cut-and-dried. The defendant was guilty and basically admitted to everything he’d been charged with, but still pled “not guilty”. The trial only lasted two days, but resulted in a hung jury. We had one juror, who had admittedly been in trouble with the law before, who did not want to convict unless he saw concrete evidence that the defendant had masterminded the entire job. He refused to see that our role was to decide whether he had participated in the robbery, which he had fully & admittedly. But that’s not what frustrated me.
The issue that irked me was that the other jurors wanted to consider ourselves hung after only 15 minutes of deliberation. Most had their minds on wherever else they wanted – or needed – to be, and decided that we didn’t need to follow our jury instructions to the letter. We were not to consider ourselves hung unless we had made every effort to reach a unanimous verdict. (I’m not sure of the exact wording this many years later, but it was something similar to that). Call me crazy, but I didn’t think the other 11 of us could have made ‘every effort’ to convince the 12th juror in 15 minutes! I convinced them (amidst exasperated sighs and rolling eyes) to try for 15 or 20 minutes more, and did my best to argue one-on-one with the 12th juror. I was not able to change the outcome, but at least felt that I had done my civic duty – whether it was the popular choice or not.
Colossians 3:22-25 (from The Message) tells us, “Servants, do what you’re told by your earthly masters. And don’t just do the minimum that will get you by. Do your best. Work from the heart for your real Master, for God, confident that you’ll get paid in full when you come into your inheritance. Keep in mind always that the ultimate Master you’re serving is Christ. The sullen servant who does shoddy work will be held responsible. Being Christian doesn’t cover up bad work.” I’ll be remembering my past experience and praying this week to ‘do my best’ and not to be a ’sullen servant’.
Have a blessed week!
Many of you prayed & comforted us through the passing of my niece, Anna, a few years ago. My sister, Lynnette, has had to surrender 3 of her 9 children to heaven – and now has written a book sharing the lessons the Lord has taught her through her trials. She hopes it will serve as an encouragement to others who also face heartache.
Here is a video trailer that Anna’s oldest brother and sister, Jared & Abigail, worked together to produce (Jared also composes music). So, shameless plug here from a proud Big Sis & Aunt!
There will soon be a link to Lynnette’s Web Site in the “What We’re Reading” widget.
Sorry, but I don’t have a picture of this one. For those of you on Weight Watchers, serves 4 @ 4 points each.
4 skinless boneless chicken breasts
1 cup catsup
12 oz can diet cola (I use Coke)
Put chicken in a non-stick skillet. Pour catsup and diet cola over the top. Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and cook for 45 minutes. Uncover, turn up the heat and continue to cook until the sauce becomes thicker and adheres to the chicken. It turns into the most incredible BBQ sauce!
My Monday Mmm… Musing…
Haven’t had much time for “musing” today, and definitely not enough to get this posted this morning! I have, however, been spending some time trying to add some varied content to this blog. So check out the new blogs I’ve posted under “Links” and the RSS feeds I’ve added with articles on some different subjects that should appeal to you WOW Women!
We really do want to make this a community spot with a little something for everyone.
Remember – click the “Submit a Recipe” button to send a recipe to Linda, our Recipe Lady any time. She’s been a busy grandma lately…and I’m sure she wouldn’t mind a little helpJ.
Have a blessed week!
The 2008 Wonderful Weekend for Women has not yet taken place, and I’m already getting excited for 2009, too! Registration for the 2008 Wonderful Weekend for Women has closed, but if you are going (or you’re just curious) you can check out our speaker’s web site: www.dianenix.com
Our speaker for 2009 is Kelly Minter. I think she will appeal to all ages of women. The dates are September 11-12, 2009 at Webster Conference Center in Salina, Kansas. To watch for updates about next year’s conference, keep your eyes on our Women of Worth website.
To hear a song from one of Kelly Minter’s albums, check our “How Deep the Father’s Love” in our Orange Box in the right column. Also, check out Kelly’s Website.
My Monday Morning Musing…
PATIENCE…do you feel like you have enough? I know I can use a lot more. With all my graphics, fonts and general creative “playing” on the computer, I managed to almost fill up my hard drive space. So, I have been transferring files to cd’s. When you click to send the files to the cd burner you get that little pop-up window that tells you how long it’s going to take. Yesterday mine said, “823 days and 22 hours remaining…” Whoa, what??
In this drive-thru, microwave, text-messaging, digital world of ours we’ve come to expect everything NOW. The time remaining for my file transfer quickly changed to a more realistic figure, but it got me thinking about prayer and waiting on the Lord. We’ve heard it said there are 3 answers to prayer – yes, no & wait. Because we are used to everything happening at warp-speed, can we even imagine waiting 823 days (or much more)? Yet sometimes God does make us wait, for our own good or for the good of His kingdom. And doesn’t He daily have to wait for us…first to accept Christ’s gift of salvation, then to recognize His glory, to come to Him in prayer, to share His love with another? Hebrews 10:12-13 gives us a good perspective: “But this Man (Christ), after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool.” (emphases mine).
The Savior of the world, after making the ultimate sacrifice, has been waiting over 2000 years for us to spread His love and message…maybe I can learn to wait a little more patiently. Here’s some more good scripture to encourage us as we wait: Psalm 37:7-8; Psalm 40:1-3; Isaiah 40:31.
Have a blessed week!
