renewed

this morning i was kind of frustrated over some things and i decided to go to my prayer room (took my long enough to get there over the last few weeks). and it was so wonderful to simply be still before the Lord. and to simply rest in His presence and to simply BE. i miss out on it so much but it's so important! and it was so great and refreshing to simply spend time at His feet. I forget too that I can be in this place throughout my whole day.

It's interesting, because over and over again I work I find it so hard to be mindful of God. I kind of go to work, forget about God altogether and then remember Him afterwards. but I know my days at work would be SO much better if I included Him. something to work on remembering for sure!

Off to bed as i have to work in eight hours. and i get to go to the canucks game tomorrow night! yay!! Go Canucks go!

refreshing

So I slept for a few hours and I feel way better now. Just thinking through some stuff and refocusing. I've just been busy with guests from out of town plus working a lot and then getting now sleep. Not a good combination! Tomorrow I work for ten hours between the two jobs, but it should be good and I'm looking forward to it!

I've been thinking about the verse "Whatever is true, whatever is pure, whatever is holy, fix your thoughts on these things." okay, that might not be the exact wording, but the idea. I often think of these verses as me needing to set my mind on these things throughout my day, which is true. What I've never thought about though is setting my thoughts on these things where other people are concerned.. After a while I tend to focus on the negative and will pick it out in people and dwell on it and that just makes me unhappy. But I need to be focusing on the things that are true, pure and holy in others and praising God for those things and praising Him also because I can see Him through those things in other people. Different mindset and it will lead to transformed thinking.

exhausted

Right now I continually wonder why I always bring myself to this point in my life: the place of exhaustion and burning out! Argh! It's this vicious cycle I"m stuck in and I don't want to drop everything and run right now. Maybe it's my lack of focus, who knows.

I just got off work this morning and I think I'm going to go sleep. perhaps things will improve from there on in...

first day of spring!

Today was the first day of spring! And as I sat looking out my window, I was in awe at our amazing Creator and how He is the ultimate lifegiver! Just looking around at creation as everything springs to life is amazing! And the sunset tonight was awesome! There were dark gray clouds, but on the horizon it was all bright yellow/orange contrasted with the clouds. it was absolutely beautiful. so often we get caught up in the beauty of the things around us rather than the beauty of the one who created it for us to enjoy. what an amazing God we serve!

following

Well, the weekend has been good so far! Worked my first opening shift at 4:15am this morning! That was fun times to be sure! And tomorrow my friend Judith from Germany is coming to visit for a few days, so I'm really excited to see her!

Tonight at church the sermon was of following Christ. The thought that struck me was what/who am I following? Am I truly following Christ and making Him my destination or am I following something I've made up in my head to appear really close to being like seeking God? It's been really good to refocus of late and just look at what I'm focusing on day to day through everything.

And the winner is....

Brittany!! She wins the fish naming competition. Thank-you to everyone who joined in the competition-it was fun to hear all the different ideas and suggestions. Thanks for your help in naming my fish, because I'm not so sure I would have been able to name them all myself. Following I will list the fish, their new names and the people who contributed them!

The Big Black Fish: Ebony (Debbie)
The Big Gray Fish: Jerry (Carrie)
The Big Brown Fish: Coco (My mom)
The Red Capped Oranda: Gabby (Brittany)
The little black one with a gold stomach: Deek (Brittany)
The little black one: Oswald (Amy)
Bubble-eyed orange one: Yoko (Brittany)
Bubble-eyed, black finned orange one: Wanda (Dan)
Little red one: Oscar (Kaylen)
Big red/gold one: Pinky (Jon-his middle name is the brain!)
The orange, red and blue spotted oranda: Leslie (Leslie)
The spotted, smaller oranda: Kaia (Chrystal)

So thanks for your contributions! And Brittanie, if you want to get my email from either Amy or Leslie, I will mail you your prize!!

Have a great evening everyone!

mindlessly working

So I've really been enjoying work. I love the customers and the environment I work in. I foresee some thing that might start to bug me after a while, but as long as I can foresee them and keep surrendering them to the Lord, it's all good.

One thing I've noticed while at work is that I'm busy. I'm always doing something. At the end of my day when I suddenly realize that my eight hour shift is over, I realize that I have not thought about God much during those eight hours. It was as though i stepped to the side, did my work and came back. Rather than consciously allowing God to work in and through me, it's as though this is "my thing" and I don't include Him. My desire is to be more mindful of God during work and to have it so that everything in me, from my thoughts to my actions will reflect the glory of God as I am in constant communion with Him. This is my desire, yet my actions are so far from it. But I know that I can't try harder, because that won't be good. I just need to keep surrendering it to Him.

On a completely different note, sorry for the delay with the fish names. I will announce them on monday. Although I know there are many people who look at my blog who have not yet put in a suggestion! (or at least i'd like to think in my own head that more people look at my blog.. usually when people suddenly know random things from my blog and tell me them when they see me, I would just assume... maybe i'm wrong!). Anyway, put in your last guesses!! Remember you can put in up to 11 names!! Because there are eleven fish to be named (my mom named the 12th one which she bought for me through my adopt a fish program... having pet fish vicariously through me-I thought it was an incredible idea..). Anyway, guess away and I will announce the names and the winner on monday!!!

Fish and Lack of Sleep

I bought six more fish! So I now have twelve! The water seems a bit cloud on the tank though and some are just sitting not moving much. Perhaps they're sleeping...

God is continually so good to me. I realize so much though that I always look to the blessings and not the one who provides it all. It's been something I've been reminded of over and over again... When I'm not feeling good, I cry out to God to make me feel better, but when I am, I don't thank Him. If I have car trouble, I aks God for help, but once I arrive somewhere safely, I don't thank Him for being faithful and providing for me. When I'm in a troublesome relationship, I ask God to fix it, but don't thank Him when it's totally repaired. Do I love God because of the blessings He gives me or do I love Him because He is God? He loved me first. Do I return that love?

Help!

Today I bought six fish to put in my big 40 gallon fish tank. But they need names! I decided I would make a competition for whoever can think of the best names for them! So I've posted pictures of the fish (the pictures with two represents two different fish). And so there's six names in total, I'd love to hear some suggestions. Whoever has the best suggestions, will win a prize that I will mail to you! So please everybody participate, even if it's only to suggest a name for one of the fish! These pictures aren't actually of my fish, because I'm too lazy to take some. But I will post photos soon enough! I think the filter sound is going to keep me up all night! :)

Velvet Elvis

Upon reading a post about this book (Velveet Elvis by Rob Bell) by a fellow blogger, i decided to pick the book up and read it as well. It was a wonderful read and I was challenged in many ways and it certainly set me to thinking. A lot of good poitns and good reminders of things I have long forgotten.

And so, being true to what I said before, as I finish books, I will share a bit about what I've been learning with them. This one I could share something from every chapter, but I will leave you with one quote. Basically he's talking about how if you're a Christian, it will overflow into evey area of your life and everything becomes sacred.

"My understanding is that to be Christian is to do whatever it is that you do with great passion and devotion. We throw ourselves into our work because everything is sacred. I love how Paul put it in Colossians: 'Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus.' He is teaching people to live as Christians, and then whatever they do will be sacred, holy work....This is why it is impossible for a Christian to have a secular job. If you follow Jesus and you are doing what you do in his name, then it is no longer seculr work; it's sacred. You are there; God is there. The difference is our awareness."

shucks

I had something amazing to write on my blog and it was revolutionary and interesting. But alas I have forgotten it (must have been that good, eh?) I've been sick and I hear constant thumping in my head. My nose is scabbed and cut because I've been blowing it so much and my throat isn't doing so well. I think I might have a sinus infection because it hurts to breathe through my nose. oh, and i have an eye infection like pink eye I guess and have a lot of stuff flowing from my eye (it's glued shut every morning.) And no, this wasn't the amazingly interesting and fascinating stuff I was going to tell you.... this is just for your information. haha. Have an awesome weekend!

character conflict

There's a relationship in my life that is sometimes awkward and i have often wondered why i can't freely talk to this person... Tonight I realized that I think it's because they don't "get" my sense of humor or my silliness perhaps. And that is largely a part of how I express myself, so if people don't react to it, or receive it I become someone else I guess. It was interesting for me to see this. The next question then is, 'do i hide behind humor?' I don't think so, but maybe. Does anybody reading this think I do? don't be afraid to be honest here. I'd appreciate it.. Hmm.. I will think further on this. (By the way the person this concerns wouldn't be reading this, so no worries-it's not you!)

oh the joys of starbucks!

So I had my first day of work at Starbucks today and loved it! it was a lot of reading and so on, and it's a lot of info, but I"m really excited to work there and yah.. Getting three drinks while I worked was quite nice as well!! i got to make two drinks today as practise and that was also quite enjoyable. I'm looking forward to being able to get in there and know everything. :)

One of Starbucks mission statements is to create enthusiastically satisfied customers. I think I saw those words like fifty times today in my training manual. But anyway, I love how much they want you to connect with the customers and how that's one of their main values. It's exciting to work somewhere that really encourages something I love doing!!

So yay for Starbucks!! I have always wondered where their logo comes from and what it symbolizes.. Interesting. Does anybody know or care to guess?

commenting

I enjoy getting all your comments and so thank you for them. I realize though that a lot of my readers aren't part of blogger and most probably think they can't comment on my blog, but you can!! When commenting you just need to click on anonymous or other and then it will let you comment without being a part of blogger! So then, happy commenting! I look forward to hearing from you!

Through Painted Deserts

I've decided that since I'm on 'Operation: Read all my books', that I would write out a few of my thoughts about each one once I finish reading them.

I just finished reading 'Through Painted Deserts' by Donald Miller and thorougly enjoyed it. It's written on a road trip that was taken across the States. It was enjoyable to read about the adventures they had during the travel but also the thoughts that were thought and lessons that were learned about the simplicity of life and enjoying it. I want to write out a quote that really made me think-let me know what you think about it.

"Life is not a story about me, but it is being told to me, and I can be glad of that. I think that is the why of life and, in fact, the why of this ancient faith I am caught up in: to enjoy God. The stars were created to dazzle us, like a love letter...Relationships between men and women indicate something of the nauture of God-that he is relational, that He feels love and loss. It's all metaphor, and the story is about us; it's about all of us who God made, and God Himself, just enjoying each other. It strikes me how far the commercials are from this reality, how deadly they are perhaps. Months ago I would have told you life was about doing, about jumping through religious hoops, about impressing other people, and my actiosn would have told you this is done by buying possessions or keeping a good image or going to church. I don't believe that anymore. I think we are supposed to stand in deserts and marvel at how the sun rises. I think we are supposed to sleep in meadows and watch stars dart across space and time. I think we are supposed to love our friends and introduce people to the story, to the peaceful, calming why of life. I think life is spirituality."

So there you have it. A thought from the book I just read. About the simplicity of life and enjoying God our Creator rather than getting caught up in the rat race of this world.