Belated Delurking Day 2011

As I was reading through my favorite daily blogs, including Seeking Love First (formerly One Day at a Time with Leigh) I learned that yesterday was Delurking Day 2011. Delurking Day was created as a time for silent followers of blogs to reveal themselves to the blogs they follow  (You can read a whole article on it here, at BlogHer). Sounds kinda creepy I know (and the logo is just about the definition of creepy).  Everybody does the silent follower thing including bloggers themselves. We have a list of blogs we click through quickly and never think to respond to. Then we go have conversations with other bloggers about how we wish our readers would interact more with the blog through commenting.   We want to know our readers. I want to know who follows me, where you are from, what you like to do, how you found my blog, what you would like to see me write about etc. etc. But I can't know any of these things if you don't comment. Like my friend Leigh said, it does not freak me out I don't know you, don't know you well or didn't know you followed and I am sure other bloggers agree. So take a few minutes to introduce yourselves to your favorite blogs today!

Psalm 7:17 Friday

I will give to the Lord the thanks due to his righteousness, and I will sing praise to the name of the Lord, the Most High.
-Psalm 7:17

Things I am Thankful for This Week

-4 snow days useful for lots of relaxing and reading.
-Teacher workdays where I can grade, plan, and semi watch Jessica's provided entertainment for the day on her smartboard.
-A fantastic boyfriend who is helpful when it comes to fixing my computer and driving in the snow/ice ( and making me laugh in the process).
-A cozy, warm bed to sleep in at night or any other time of the day.
-The Bible, God's word given to me that I may know him and glorify him.
-The super awesome group of women that I get to study the word with each week!
-Trader Joe's Spicy Chai Latte Mix! YUM!

Check out Jessica's Psalm 7:17 post for today!

What are you thankful for?

If you blog feel free to link our posts and have your own Psalm 7:17 Friday!

Reading Wednesday

At school on Wednesdays our students use their academy time to read. Some of them enjoy it, while others find absolutely every excuse possible not to. I decided Wednesday's on the blog would be reading days for us as well. Some weeks it will be a blog, others a website, occasionally a book review/post and every now and then it will be online magazines like Lonny.

Let me introduce you to Lonny. I am not sure which decorating blog introduced me to Lonny, but it was love at first sight. Lonny is an online decorating and design magazine/website that is entirely too fantastic. Once I finish drooling over the most current issue I can never wait for the next one to be posted.

So on your snowy Wednesday t enjoy flipping through Lonny. I promise you will love her.

Stir Crazy Snow Days

If you don't live in the Southeast (and you don't watch the news, read the news, or hear the news...we need to talk) you might be unaware that we had quite the snow/ice storm for our area over the past couple of days. I understand that our amount of snow/ice is nothing compared to just about anywhere else in the US, but for us it was a good bit. It was even enough to cancel school for not just 1 day, or  2 days, but 3 full days (who knows what will happen on Thursday).  Needless to say most of us, teachers and students, were pretty excited about our snow day on Monday. I am also sure the students were pumped for the snow day today and even more excited about the snow day tomorrow, but I (and many others) are becoming a little stir crazy! I can only do so many loads of laundry, read so many books, watch so much tv/movies, and be on facebook so long.

Recently I was talking texting with my fabulous friend Jessica about how stir crazy we were both becoming not being at school (we are both teachers). We were discussing all the things we had already done and what we were possibly going to find to do with our day tomorrow. As we were texting I was also reading her latest post on her blog "Single in love: My Year of Me"  ( You should all read her blog. You will love her!). As usual her post challenged me to think about my stir crazy snow days in a different light.

In her post Jessica writes about how last Wednesday the Lord answered her prayer for desiring him by giving her this overwhelming sense of joy and "head over heels giddiness" in her time with him. She mentions how she didn't want to have to go to school, not because of her "talkative or unmotivated students", but because she couldn't wait to spend more time with Jesus. And that my friends, is when it hit me.

Why am I not relishing the fact that I have extra time to spend with the Lord? I have been able to catch up on my Bible reading (hopefully getting ahead soon), finish the book Radical by: David Platt (posts to come soon on the impact it is having on my life),  and have extended non rushed time in the word and prayer. Looking back on it, its been FANTASTIC!

I have been desiring this extra time to eat up God's word and his revelations to me since school started and yet I was blinded by my boredom and lack of ability to travel to the blessing God had given me in snow.

Thank you Jesus for giving me friends like Jessica to remind me to look in the little things for your blessings to be found. Thank you for giving me this precious extra time to spend with you. Continue to open my eyes to the time wasted when I could be spending it with you. Thank you for reminding me in your gift of snow that in your scripture it says that I will be purified with hyssop and washed whiter than snow. ( Psalm 51:7)


PS. Be on the look out for a combo post between Jessica and I this Friday.

Praise Jesus!

Passion 2011 went down in Atlanta, Georgia earlier this week. I was unable to attend this year, but was able to watch the main sessions online. Boy were they powerful! Oddly enough I was also experiencing great amounts of anxiety from an unknown cause. I slept horrible, woke up sick, and cried all the way to work many times this week.

The first night Chris Tomlin led a song with a lyric, "All my fountains are in you". This single line kept rolling over and over in my head during my times of anxiety. I clung to the fact that everything I am is in him, glorifying him is my joy, and fear/anxiety is not a product of Christ.
  

As the week progressed the anxiety eased up and then today was a day of complete joy! I could not stop smiling and meditating on how blessed I truly am in the Lord. He has given me everything I could ever need or want. He created me to glorify him and when I am my joy is complete!

It's amazing how when we focus on Christ and do not dwell on our emotions or circumstances we are set free!

Thank you Jesus for freedom from anxiety! Thank you for holding me in times of fear! You are my rock and my foundation, my joy is in you!