Take up Your Cross

Once again Spurgeon gets me with his words. Here is what I read today.
Be blessed!

"Take up the cross, and follow Me."-Mark 10:21
You have not the making of your own cross, although unbelief is a master carpenter at cross-making; neither are you permitted to choose your own cross, although self-will would fain be lord and master; but your cross is prepared and appointed for you by divine love, and you are cheerfully to accept it; you are to take up the cross as your chosen badge and burden, and not to stand cavilling at it. This night Jesus bids you submit your shoulder to His easy yoke. Do not kick at it in petulance, or trample on it in vain-glory, or fall under it in despair, or run away from it in fear, but take it up like a true follower of Jesus. Jesus was a cross-bearer; He leads the way in the path of sorrow. Surely you could not desire a better guide! And if He carried a cross, what nobler burden would you desire? The Via Crucis is the way of safety; fear not to tread its thorny paths. Beloved, the cross is not made of feathers, or lined with velvet, it is heavy and galling to disobedient shoulders; but it is not an iron cross, though your fears have painted it with iron colours, it is a wooden cross, and a man can carry it, for the Man of sorrows tried the load. Take up your cross, and by the power of the Spirit of God you will soon be so in love with it, that like Moses, you would not exchange the reproach of Christ for all the treasure of Egypt. Remember that Jesus carried it, and it will smell sweetly; remember that it will soon be followed by the crown, and the though of the coming weigh of glory will greatly lighten the present heaviness of trouble. The Lord help you to bow your spirit in submission to the divine will ere you fall asleep this night, that waking with tomorrow's sun, you may go forth to the day's cross with the holy and submissive spirit which becomes a follower of the Crucified."

I Heart Austin

I'm sorry Iowa family, but I have to blog about this.
Today was BEAUTIFUL!!!!! 80 degrees. Borderline hot.
Tonight Hilary and I were doing laundry and we walked outside to go to the laundry room and was taken by the beauty of this night. It's 71 degrees with a slight breeze. It sort of feels like I'm on the coast. Have I mentioned that I LOVE Austin!?!

Marriage Series

I'm serious when I say that you all need to go to the Austin Stone website or on the Podcasts on itunes and download the messages from the current series we are doing on Marriage. Seriously. It is good stuff. I'm so thankful that I am learning this stuff while I am still single.
GO NOW!
Austin Stone Website
itunes podcast

I would LOVE for you to let me know who listens to it and what you think about it.

Some Notes

Tonight I was reading over some notes that I had taken back in August, shortly after I moved to Austin. It was from a message that I listened to by Beth Moore entitled "Living Beyond Yourself."
It just so happened that it was all stuff that I needed to hear tonight and thought that I would share with y'all.

"God is still happening!"

"We have the Holy Spirit in us when we accept Jesus. We have the same Holy Spirit that the disciples had in them!"

"Christ in us guarantees life in heaven, but also having Christ in us grants the astounding invitation to live beyond ourselves on earth."

John 14:1, 15-17 "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father and he will give you another counselor to be with you forever-the spirit of Truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him for he lives with you and will be in you."

"Holy Spirit never comes without power."

"Holy Spirit-counselor forever-Spirit of Truth."

"God calls us to live far beyond what we are able. In Christ we can do what we can't. Holy Spirit comes and lives-filling us completely and so that we bear fruit."

"Being filled with the Spirit won't just change my life it will change my day."

"We have the privilege to be different."

"He can change our immediate needs. It will not be just an eternal thing."
Psalm 27:13 "We have confidence in knowing that we will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living."

"We are called to exclamation mark living!!!!!"

"In Christ we are different, we are not stuck with any personality flaw we may think we have."

"My purpose is beyond me. Your purpose is not in your comfort zone."

Galatians 5:22-23 "But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law."

John 10:10 "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life and have it to the full."

"Press on, strain towards what is ahead. My seasonal circumstances are often beyond me. My unrelenting daily demands are beyond me."

1 Corinthians 2:9-10 "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him but God has revealed it to us by the Spirit. The Spirit searches all things even the deep things of God."

Colossians 1:29 "To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy which so powerfully works in me."

"By the Spirit I will do the things I couldn't, Feel the things I didn't, and Know the things I wouldn't"

"Be incapable of doing what you can't than you will know that God is God."

"A powerful masquerading misery-maker, is living inside ourselves-Come out! Exclamation mark living!! Come out of the tomb of self."

Isaiah 40:31 "But those who wait for the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope in him] shall change and renew their strength and power, they shall lift their wings and mount up [close to God] as eagles [mount up to the sun] they shall run and not be weary they shall walk and not faint or become tired."

Quote of the Night...

I just got home from babysitting and I had to share a precious quote from the little boy that I was watching...he's 7.

"Um, pardon me for asking, but how was your report card?"
"I don't have a report card, I'm not in school anymore."
"Well, if you did, I would give you an A+ because you are so nice."

precious!

C'mon People who are from the 80's...

Ok. So nobody seems to know anything about the movie "Teen Witch" that I was talking about in a previous post. Anyone know what I'm talking about?! Check out this website and let me know if it triggers any memories! (you'll have to scroll down to find the movie on the left hand side, check out some of the other 80's movies too, what's your favorite 80's movie?)

Amazing Grace

Today only on Yahoo Music they are showing a music video by Chris Tomlin for the song Amazing Grace which will be in the upcoming movie that is going to be released this weekend.
Check it out here. Pray over this! What an awesome opportunity.
Check out this movie, it looks incredible. God is doing something huge with this, it's so exciting!!
OH, that HE would be glorified!!!!

"I'm hot...and You're Not"

Tonight we ran upstairs to our neighbors, Matt and Erin, and we dropped off some guacamole that Dianna had made. We walked in to them listening to this song! It's from the 80's movie "Teen Witch". I was so into this movie back in the day and I had completely forgotten about it until I heard this song, and then it all came back to me! I even had this song memorized and the dance. wow.
Why was this ever cool?!?

My Future's So Bright...

These sunglasses are hot...

Half-Marathon

We have a special friend visiting us from Iowa, Dianna Geiger. She came to run the half marathon with Hilary. It has been great having her here. She amazes me. She is 61 and she just ran a half marathon today. Amazing. It was a beautiful day, the high was 67 degrees and sunny.
Here are some pictures...It was fun to cheer them on. They did such a good job. I'm so proud of them! They finished in 2 hours and 35 minutes. Here is a picture of them with their medals!
I tried to go to several different spots to cheer them on and only saw them at one point. When I got to the finish line I had already missed them go through, but as I was watching people go through I sort of got teary-eyed. There is something about seeing people cross the finish line, persevering to the end, enduring the pain but finishing strong, that touched me. It also may have been that they were playing "Time after Time" on the overhead speakers! I seriously had tears in my eyes!
So since the race is over Dianna and Hilary decided that they could splurge on eating, so we went to Rudy's Barbecue and Amy's Ice Cream. It was great!
Our upstairs neighbors Matt and Erin ran the marathon today and they did really well. We also have a new friend Desiree that finished 2nd in the marathon! She is qualified for the Olympic training. It was exciting to hear that news!
All of this marathon talk is sort of making me want to run in a race. I'll let you know if that ever happens. I think I said that after the last race I was involved in. Maybe someday.

My Valentine's Day

I had a great Valentine's Day this year. Sometimes it's a hard day, and can be for many people who are single, but this year was beautiful. I remain single and that's cool with me. I'm waiting on the Lord and He sustains me and I am complete in Him.
I was reminded this V-day of love. I was reminded of friendships, old and new. I was reminded of family and I was reminded of Jesus.
In the morning I woke up and came out into the kitchen to this...
Hilary had gotten me flowers! They are beautiful and they are purple! I love them!
I went to work and during my lunch break I ran some errands which included stopping by Hilary's school to leave a rose on her car! Since I didn't have much time for lunch I had called in an order at Thundercloud Subs and when I picked up my sandwich they asked my my name and I told them and pretty soon this guy started making up a song with my name! It was really fun!
When I got back to work the delivery guy came to the door with a box and said that it was for me! I didn't really think he meant me, since I wasn't expecting anything and I didn't have anyone that would be getting me flowers. But it really was for me! So of course my face got red and everyone was asking me who they were from and I didn't know!
I opened them up and they were from my brother-in-law Joe. He had gotten me flowers last year when I was still in Iowa, and dropped them off on his lunch break. (I think he just feels bad that I didn't have a "special Valentine"!) So anyway, here was the card...
He's funny.
Here are the flowers, BEAUTIFUL!:

Then one of my co-workers during his lunch break went to the Pinata Party Palace and got a heart pinata and filled it with Mexican candy. So at the end of the day we hung it over the balcony in the foyer and took turns hitting it. I was the 4th or 5th person to go and I knocked it open!!! Everyone was bummed after that. It's not like I ruined the party...that's how it works...you hit it and knock it open! It was really funny!!
My boss' kids that I babysit for came to the office and dropped off Godiva chocolates for me. It was very sweet!
Then I got home and got the mail and got a really funny card from my sister Laura that I am not going post because it wouldn't be very appropriate :) and Valentines from the kids...
Can you guess which one is from which kid?! Noah, Lily and Jack.
Noah...this is for you....His Valentine came with a really cool Cars tattoo. He told me to put it on my hand and take a picture of it and put it on the computer. Thanks Noah!
My mom had told me that she sent me a package but I wasn't able to get it until the day after Valentine's Day because the Post Office had already closed before I was able to go and pick it up. So the next day I picked it up and there were some surprises in there that I am not going to mention because it wouldn't be very appropriate--(if you are a girl and one of my good friends you can ask me about it...it's pretty funny!) :) But I can talk about the cute little heart that she made and the cute little coin purse that she sent me. Here are some pictures.
I love her!
Another highlight of the evening was the chocolate covered strawberries that I got Hilary. They are supposedly the BEST chocolate covered strawberries in Austin. Lammes Chocolate Covered Strawberries.












Sinfully delicious indeed.
Hilary and I had a date with a 10 year old, a 9 year old and 4 year old. George and Denise went out on a date and we watched the kids for them. It was a great way to spend Valentine's Day!
One the way to the Stephens house I passed the famous landscaping place that have flamingos, penguins, and other random things out on the corner, here's what they do for V-day:
Last weekend a friend invited me to go to dinner with a group of her friends that are single and they have a tradition of getting together every year for Valentines day. We went to dinner at PF Changs and then went to a movie afterwards. It was really fun and I will post pictures soon. It was fun meeting some new people, they were really cool!

I felt overwhelmed by God's love that He pours out through His people. It would be so easy to dwell on being single and how "depressing" it is. But it really isn't. Being satisfied in Jesus is much better than being unsatisfied in singleness. I do desire to be in a relationship and to be married and to have a family someday. But that won't satisfy me either and I want it in God's timing and with who HE wants for me. I don't want to settle for anything less.

I hope that you all had a great day too.

Stinker.

Quotes of the Day

Quotes of the day:

"I was going to work out but I ate a whole thing of Milk Duds."--Me to Rebecca when she asked me if I worked out last week.

"I really thought he was a homeless guy coming off the streets with his suitcase."-- My co-worker talking about the IKON copier guy that came to service our copy machine.

"Mommy, you have a baby in your heart."-- Sam, my nephew age 3, in response to my sister, Jill, when she told him that she was going to have a baby!

Check it...

I got this email today:

The Children’s Hospital of Iowa is competing for a Fun Center (mobile entertainment unit equipped with flat screen monitor, DVD player and Nintendo Game System) through the Starlight Starbright Children’s Foundation and Colgate-Palmolive. If you would like to vote for CHI, click on the link below and vote by March 31. Please feel free to pass this along to anyone who may be interested.
Click Here

Identify

Tonight was the first night of a class that I am taking at church called "Identify". It's a class for women and we will be talking about identifying a woman's identity, a woman's worth, a woman's role, a woman's contentment in singleness/purity in dating, a woman's leadership, a woman's bridegroom and a woman's community. There are two incredible women who are leading this study and tonight they shared their testimonies. It was amazing to hear about their life and I'm thankful and humbled to be taught by them this semester. I will try to update each week with what I am learning.
A couple of things that hit me tonight from their testimonies, I was overwhelmed and brought to tears when I think about walking down the aisle to my Groom who is my Lord and Savior. If that is the only aisle that I walk down, and that I walk down to HIM and meet HIM face to face and to see HIS eyes filled with so much love and passion for me, than that is fine with me!
I can't help but be SO in love with Jesus when I think about what He has saved me from and how He has redeemed me and continues to redeem me over and over and over again. He has taken me through a lot and He has lifted me out of many pits and it has all brought me to a position of humbleness, on my face before Him in awe of His love that continues to be perfect and complete.
I feel like since I have been in Austin I have had such a huge growth spurt in my relationship with Jesus.
It has been cool to see God's faithfulness in my obedience to follow Him and step out into "the unknown"--Austin. It's exciting to think about the future and know that there will not be a day when God stops working and refining me by taking me through more stuff and getting me out of more pits and how He will use those things to move me closer to Him. Oh...He is good!

Mawiage...

Austin Stone is doing a four week series on Marriage. Tonight was the first week. You all need to go online and check it out. It is great. About 50% of the people who attend Austin Stone are not married and it's exciting to think about all of us single people who are getting educated about marriage while we are still single, so that, Lord willing:), when that day comes we'll have a better picture of how God has chosen and designed marriage to be a physical picture of a spiritual reality about our relationship with Jesus. It's a beautiful thing. You can check out the messages on the Austin Stone website.

Blue Suede Shoes...not really.

My purchase today at Target for $2. I LOVE them.

Sweet Lily Margaret

I had a dream about Lily last night. We were hanging out. Like friends do. But this is not your average friendship. She is one and I am twenty five. We have different interests, but there seems to be a connection. Her beauty shines through her little eyes and through her smile. I can't get enough of her and being away from her hurts my heart. I think about the day when we will talk about girl stuff, about boys, about clothes, about being in love with Jesus and about life. She is my lovely and she is my friend.

live

King Cake

Today at work we had a "King Cake". This was all new to me, I had never heard of this. I guess it is a Mardi Gras tradition. A client that we work with sent one to us FedEx! So today we opened it up and it's a round pastry looking thing that is decorated with all different colors. And inside the cake is a little plastic baby. So the tradition is that whoever is served the piece with the baby in it, hosts the next party. The tradition that they have at work is, whoever has the baby has to serve the cake next year. They all forgot who got the baby last year so they made me serve up the cake, and wear the beads. I did not get the piece with the baby in it. It was so random. If you want to read more about it go here.

Rodents...

I still haven't found the possum and Hilary still hasn't found the rat. If you are wondering what I mean by this, see previous post.

Diet Coke Update...

I have cut back to at the most 1 can of Diet Coke a day. It has been ok, except for the MAJOR headaches. The headaches have been HORRIBLE. I have been drinking lots of water which means frequent trips to the bathroom. That gets a little old. But for the most part I think I'm on my way to breaking the habit.

The Smell of Barbecue

The other day I was driving through Austin with the windows down, enjoying the 70 degree weather (sorry I had to say it!) And I realized one more thing that I love about Austin...the smell of barbecue. I LOVE it! Driving down the street with the windows down in Austin you will smell barbecue.
that's all I have to say about that.
(my cousin gets on my case when I take "blog breaks", it leaves her bored at work...so here is my attempt to do random blogging.)

Genesis

Here are some cool quotes that I have found as I am studying Genesis...

"One day, students in one of Albert Einstein’s classes were saying they had decided there was no God. Einstein asked them how much of all the knowledge in the world they had among themselves collectively, as a class. The students discussed it for a while and decided they had 5% of all human knowledge among themselves. Einstein thought their estimate was a little generous, but he replied: “Is it possible God exists in the 95% you don’t know?”"

"It is true that Genesis was not written primarily as a scientific document. But if God gave us a truly scientific, detailed account of creation, written in scientific language, there would be no one who could understand it and no end to the length of such an account. Even if it were written in simple, 20th-century scientific language, it would have made no sense to all previous generations and no sense to future generations either."

"It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter (Proverbs 25:2). Scientific inquiry is the glory of man; yet it must all be done with utmost humility, realizing God conceals these matters for man to search out."

Tuesday Night

The community group that I am in with my church meets every Tuesday night and the first Tuesday of the month we break down into smaller groups so that we can get to know people better. This Tuesday we met at Dominican Joe's to play games. We were joined by our pastor and his wife who were out on a date and they decided to join us for a game! It was really fun!

Super Bowl or Rose Bowl?!

Here are some pictures from the super bowl party I went to Sunday night. I mostly socialized. I didn't watch much of the game, just the halftime show. Which, by the way, ROCKED! I thought Prince did a great job.

Jesus IS better than Diet Coke

In my attempts to lose all of the weight that I gained since Thanksgiving, I have decided to cut back on my Diet Coke and any Diet Pop intake. (Notice I said "pop", they don't say that in TX, everything is a "Coke" no matter what the actual name is. They'll ask you what kind of "coke" do you want. weird.)
Anyway, I have also come to realize that I am addicted to it!
So confession: 3-4 cans everyday. Not good. It's like my coffee. It's hard when at work there is a whole refrigerator of free pop. Including Diet Coke. This week it got to the point where I would just grab a can when I got to work at 8:00am. I was starting that early!
I really don't drink water a whole lot. Just pop and milk. How horrible is that!? So I have decided that in my attempts to treat my body well, I have taken up drinking water.
Today is my first day of no Diet Coke. So far so good. I have a little bit of a headache. But I have already gone through one bottle of water and on my second! I do think this will be a good thing. I am limiting myself to no more than one can a day, if at all.
I'll keep you updated!
Any of you other Diet Pop addicts let me know if you want to start a support group! HA! j/k