2008 Resolutions

I have only two this year.

 1. Be happy

2. Read more (if that’s possible!)

I’m happiest when I’m reading and learning so I figure the two go hand in hand.   With my growing relationship with God I find myself more and more interested in books that can further my study in that area as well.  So – I’ve begun keeping my list of books read, with a small review of them on a separate page of this blog located here.  I have a very wide taste in books – some are pure fluff, but I love them anyway, others are serious and thought-provoking because.. c’mon, I’m 31 here, I should have my thoughts provoked!

But I need some recommendations on books to read to help further my religious study.  What are your recommendations?

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Knowing God

Last month I was playing piano for a women’s Christmas social at Dunwoody Baptist. The speaker spoke of how God works in our lives. How when her home was wrecked by Hurricane Ivan she heard people who had their homes spared talking about how blessed they were. And that got her thinking – about how we are not blessed by what happens in our lives, but rather how we respond to those happenings.

My family is struggling this year, and looking at those struggles I never would have thought in past years that I would be saying that I am blessed.

Through my situation I have come to know Christ in a very intimate way. He totally broke me then picked me up and let me know that everything that I had been trying to do, with juggling my finances, my personal life and trying to help my family, are things that He wants to do for me. I can’t change my families trials – but He can, and all I can do is encourage and pray and let Him handle those burdens – through me or through others. I can only count myself blessed that I have found peace in that knowledge and that my love for Him and for my family has grown in leaps and bounds – more than I ever thought could be.

One of my RMFO.net friends, Kari, posted the following poem on her blog:

This is the irrational season
When love blooms bright and wild.
Had Mary been filled with reason
There’d have been no room for the child.

- Madeleine L’Engle

And the quote at the top of my blog is:

“One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries.”

- A. A. Milne

I am a very disorderly and emotional person.. which leads to irrational behavior on my part. Were it not for that irrational behavior, God would not have been able to use me in the way he is right now. As a result of my haphazard life and inability (it seems) to settle down up to this point, I am able to discover God’s grace and love for me.

So I guess through all of this, God has been teaching me that I am, through all my faults, flaws and glimmers, exactly who He wants me to be right now – and that the refining process is something I look forward to very, very much.

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