Incandescence

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the realization of just how skewed my prayers can get in light of my desires. In that vein, I challenged myself to make some changes. One of these was to consciously NOT pray about a specific subject for 30 days. Not because I was discouraged, or because I have given up hope that the Lord will answer, but because I want to show Him that I trust Him. I trust Him enough to stop praying, to live my life and not have it be constantly on my mind. I trust Him enough to let go of it for now. To work at being content with His answer, which is to wait. Maybe even indefinitely. There have been a few times that I have almost forgotten and prayed about it, and I probably would have just started the 30 days over again. In the meantime, it's helped me see other things that I can be praying for as well. Also, I don't know about you, but I love finding new music to listen to. This song by Shane and Shane (Psalm 46) was the perfect reminder this week that...

I've put off writing this blog post for the last few days because its painful to admit my shortcomings here for anyone to read. I usually plug in my headphones and tune out during my walks, but lately I've been challenging myself to use this time intentionally for prayer and reflection, and I've realized something--I'm not very thankful. As I walked, I prayed about some of my unanswered prayers and listed, as a 'reminder', the desires He has not fulfilled, and the dissatisfaction that that lack of response has caused. But before I could wallow too long in my self-pity, I remembered something. Most (ok, all) of my complaints are not important in light of eternity. How often do I contemplate the unimaginable--of Christ dying on the cross for me--for my sins? Not enough. So often, I don't see the sin that binds me and keeps my thoughts centered on the wrong things. I use God as a sounding board for my complaints because it's easier than facing ...

I've struggled some in the past to figure out the direction of my blog. Lately it's been running more in the vein of life lessons and faith, but right now my life is calm, quiet even. It's nice to have a time of rest and recovery after months of stress. For the first time in almost a year, I'm not worrying about doctors bills or whether I'll feel good enough to make it to work, and I've realized there are a lot of areas of my life that have been put on 'hold', for lack of a better word. My health is more of a priority to me now. Not that I ever wanted or was trying to be unhealthy, but I've realized just how important it is to my overall well-being. I'm kind of obsessed with apple cider vinegar (with the mother, of course). I like to make a drink with lemon juice and honey to help cut the flavor a little. It's supposed to have all sorts of health benefits. I'm also looking at labels on everything from makeup and shampoo to food and...