:-)

:-)

NNB

The Prayer of a Contrite Heart

I love this prayer so much that for the past week and a half I’ve been reading it aloud every evening… sometimes even bid (twice daily) :-). David was such a poet! Thank GOD, God doesn’t measure our prayers by how “beautiful” they sound aloud! …. because clearly Psalm 51 is way more poetic than any of my prayers ever will be :-P.

Psalm 51

For the director of music. A psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.

¹ Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
² Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.

³ For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.
⁴ Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight;
so you are right in your verdict
and justified when you judge.
⁵ Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
⁶ Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb;
you taught me wisdom in that secret place.

⁷ Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
⁸ Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
⁹ Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity.

¹⁰ Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
¹¹ Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

¹³ Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
so that sinners will turn back to you.
¹⁴ Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,
you who are God my Savior,
and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.
¹⁵ Open my lips, Lord,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
¹⁶ You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
¹⁷ My sacrifice, O God, is^[b] a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart
you, God, will not despise.

¹⁸ May it please you to prosper Zion,
to build up the walls of Jerusalem.
¹⁹ Then you will delight in the sacrifices of the righteous,
in burnt offerings offered whole;
then bulls will be offered on your altar.

NNB

Getting Through Hard Times

Life is Hard: My notes from one of Pastor Erwin Lutzer of the Moody Church’s sermons; Chicago, IL.
-5 things for Christians to keep in mind to get through the hard times when having difficulty seeing God. (scriptures bolded)

1. Remember that you are even HERE in these situations by divine appointment
   1. Remember God took the Israelites into Egypt, into slavery, into genocide, and into the wilderness for generations BECAUSE He loved them…. He eventually ushered them into the promise land when it was time for them to walk in their anointing (Exodus 1, 2, 14)
2. Believe in God’s promise during this time.
   1. Exodus 6:6-9
3. You MUST cry out to God for divine help in this dark hour
   1. David did just this in 2nd Samuel 22, and attests that the Lord heard his cry in the day of trouble.
   2. Occasionally God may and will interrupt you during this cry as He did to Moses in Genesis 14:15 with specific instructions…. so it is important that your heart be open to hearing from Him, even if you may not want to do that which He tells you to do.
4. All things (especially deliverance) occur in divine timing… not YOUR timing. Learn to wait.
   1. Psalm 37:7
   2. keep in mind that not all of the Israelites saw the promise land. Some died in slavery and in the wilderness. Not all trials will be taken away from you. Some it may be your destiny in Christ to carry it as a cross as this will draw you nearer to God and cause others to see his goodness and mercy in you in the process… all things happen to His glory, not ours necessarily. Even Christ in John 12:27 asked for God to glorify Himself in him, not for God to save Him from the cross. As followers of Christ, we should learn to pray accordingly even in our suffering. It pleases our Father in Heaven.
   3. Spend your time while waiting looking up not looking around you at the chaos you find yourself in. Stop looking around or ahead like the world pressures us to do! LOOK UP. Search HIM, research HIM, spend your time with HIM not so-and-so and so-and-so. This may very well be exactly one of the reasons God allows for you to be where you are right now: to teach you to draw more closer to him.
   4. Pastor Lutzer said this and it very much resonated with me: “God prunes us with a knife into who He wants us to be…. and it hurts sometimes.”
   5. It is NOT necessary to see the big picture or understand the big picture for us as Christians to be able to trust and know that God will be glorified in our suffering in ways that we cannot and may not fully ever understand. Most of the time we will not see the big picture. So stop looking for it. Stop looking to know and “understand” all of the time and start trusting because you don’t “understand”.
5. If you don’t submit to God in this time of darkness, you may “miss” your trial.
   1. God wants to use this trial to grow you in him….. simultaneously the enemy is at work to try to steal your blessing and distract you from the straight and narrow road.

Further Encouragement: Psalm 139… He knows you better than you know yourself. He knows the number of the hairs on your head… so He knows EXACTLY what you are going through and more importantly where you are headed because of it. So trust him and endure…. even though you can’t see your hands right in front of you.

NNB

WorldPoints Mall wish list

What to do with 52,800 point… Leading thoughts?

1. Maui, Hawaii helicopter tour: 24,000 pts
   

   Maui, Hawaii helicopter tour

2. Aurora 10-sheet crosscut shredder with basket: 11,100 pts
   

   Aurora 10-sheet crosscut shredder

3. iLuv Armband Case for Iphone/Ipod touch: 25,000 pts
   

   iLuv Armband Case for Iphone/Ipod touch

4. Nintendo Wii bundle (system + 2 E-rated games): 52,700 pts
   

   Nintendo Wii bundle

5. Cuisineart Griddler Grill Centro (converts from grill to griddler): 19,650 pts
   

   Cuisineart Griddler Grill Centro

6. Paula Deen 12=piece porcelain-enameled cookware set: 17,850 pts
   

   Paula Deen 12 piece porcelain-enameled cookware set

7. Jack Lalanne Power Juicer deluxe: 16,050 pts
   

   Jack Lalanne Power Juicer deluxe

8. Kindle 3G reading device with case: 37,350 pts
   

   Kindle 3G reading device with case

9. Garmin nuvi 1260T 3.7″W thin GPS with real time traffic: 27,650 pts

   

   Garmin nuvi 1260T

Hmm… decisions, decisions…..

NNB

Just OKay’s not enough

Food for thought.

The Motions: by Matthew West

(Lyrics here. Song/video below!)

This might hurt, it’s not safe
But I know that I’ve gotta make a change
I don’t care if I break,
At least I’ll be feeling something
‘Cause just okay is not enough
Help me fight through the nothingness of life

I don’t wanna go through the motions
I don’t wanna go one more day
without Your all consuming passion inside of me
I don’t wanna spend my whole life asking,
“What if I had given everything,
instead of going through the motions?”

No regrets, not this time
I’m gonna let my heart defeat my mind
Let Your love make me whole
I think I’m finally feeling something
‘Cause just okay is not enough
Help me fight through the nothingness of this life

‘Cause I don’t wanna go through the motions
I don’t wanna go one more day
without Your all consuming passion inside of me
I don’t wanna spend my whole life asking,
“What if I had given everything,
instead of going through the motions?”

take me all the way (take me all the way)
take me all the way (’cause I don’t wanna go through the motions)
take me all the way (I know I’m finally feeling something real)
take me all the way

I don’t wanna go through the motions
I don’t wanna go one more day
without Your all consuming passion inside of me
I don’t wanna spend my whole life asking,
“What if I had given everything,
instead of going through the motions?”

I don’t wanna go through the motions
I don’t wanna go one more day
without Your all consuming passion inside of me
I don’t wanna spend my whole life asking,
“What if I had given everything,
instead of going through the motions?”

take me all the way (take me all the way)
take me all the way (I don’t wanna go, I don’t wanna go)
take me all the way (through the motions)
take me all the way

I don’t wanna go through the motions

NNB

Unashamed Love

Great song! Have a great day!

NNB

Stupid Quote of the Day

“Enter the characters in the image to verify you are human.”

So I’m trying to email a simple recipe for easy hot wings to my brother when the site refuses to do so demanding that I “Enter the characters in the image to verify [that I am] human”. Now, either I pissed the website off or I entered the missense lettering into the field incorrectly or both hahahaha. Either way, I totally know what they are getting at, but at that moment I also honestly didn’t know whether to laugh at how abrasive the automated sentence came off or be offended by the fact that the company could not choose a less abrasive manner to communicate the same message! I can say that I’ve never had my human-ity questioned…. in my entire life haha. And they didn’t even say please! LOLLLLLLLL.

NNB

My +1

Plus 1 to my reading list; Christmas present courtesy of my older brother. I hope to go through Galations again before the new year (there are only like 6 Chapters) then re-read the book alongside this commentary starting January 1st. It never ceases to amaze me how much there is to learn still about our inheritance as children of God even from re-reading and re-reading the Word. I’m excited to see what the Holy Spirit pours out to me! I invite (and encourage) any others wanting and eager to grow further in Christ in 2011 to join me :-D. Do I smell a book club ;-)?

NNB

Reading List

Complete coincidence that the authors share the same last name (minus an “s”) ;-).

So far I’m a bit lost in The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo as there is SO much detail on eastern European geography. It’s not really drawing me in at all… quite the opposite. But the suspense is to die for (no pun intended)…. Formal reviews later.

NNB

Michael Buble: Jazz’s boy-next-door

I’ve grown to appreciate and love Michael Buble’s talented replications of classic 1950s and 60s jazzy and swing oldies over the past year or so. Not to mention how charmingly he pulls of the whole “boy-next-door” persona ;-). I came across his music bio on Pandora today and thought I’d share:

Michael Bublé’s introduction to the music of the swing era came to him through his grandfather, who filled his grandson’s ears with the sounds of the Mills Brothers, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, and others. As Bublé eagerly absorbed the recordings, he began to realize that he wanted to be a singer and that this style of music, virtually foreign to his own generation, was what he wanted to perform. With his grandfather’s assistance, Bublé soon learned a whole catalog of tunes and gained experience and exposure by singing as a guest with several local bands. While still in his teen years, he won the Canadian Youth Talent Search, released several independent albums, and performed in a musical revue titled Swing that traveled across the U.S. It wasn’t long before Bublé was introduced to Grammy-winning producer David Foster and signed his first major recording contract with Reprise Records. 

The two Canadians began work on a debut album that would incorporate Bublé’s aptitude for pop standards into songs that spanned several decades. His self-titled debut disc was released in early 2003 and featured jazzy takes on old standards like “Fever” and “The Way You Look Tonight” as well as newer classics like Van Morrison‘s “Moondance” and the Bee Gees‘ “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart. ” Further exposure ensued with a world tour and appearances on several television programs like NBC’s Today Show, in which he sang a duet with host Katie Couric. He finished off 2003 with an EP of holiday material, Let It Snow, and began 2004 with the live CD/DVD set Come Fly with Me. In 2005, It’s Time was a number one hit in Canada, Japan, Italy, and Australia and made the Top Ten of both the U.K. and U.S. Later that year he released the live album Caught in the Act. The holiday-themed album Christmas followed in 2006, with the studio effort Call Me Irresponsible dropping in 2007. Bublé returned in 2009 with the live concert album/DVD Michael Bublé Meets Madison Square Garden, which documented the singer’s first ever performance at the storied New York City venue. The studio effort Crazy Love, featuring duets with Sharon Jones and Ron Sexsmith, followed in October 2009. In 2010, Buble returned with the six-song ep Special Delivery as well as the expanded Crazy Love: Hollywood Edition. ~ Aaron Latham, Rovi

NNB