He Has Done Great Things!

Bang on Truths from Spurgeon this morning:
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The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad.
-Psalms 126:3
Some Christians are sadly prone to look on the dark side of everything, and to dwell more upon what they have gone through than upon what God has done for them. Ask for their impression of the Christian life, and they will describe their continual conflicts, their deep afflictions, their sad adversities, and the sinfulness of their hearts, yet with scarcely any allusion to the mercy and help which God has vouchsafed them.

But a Christian whose soul is in a healthy state, will come forward joyously, and say, I will speak, not about myself, but to the honor of my God. He hath brought me up out of an horrible pit, and out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings: and he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God. The Lord hath done great things for me, whereof I am glad. Such an abstract of experience as this is the very best that any child of God can present. It is true that we endure trials, but it is just as true that we are delivered out of them. It is true that we have our corruptions, and mournfully do we know this, but it is quite as true that we have an all-sufficient Saviour, who overcomes these corruptions, and delivers us from their dominion.

In looking back, it would be wrong to deny that we have been in the Slough of Despond, and have crept along the Valley of Humiliation, but it would be equally wicked to forget that we have been through them safely and profitably; we have not remained in them, thanks to our Almighty Helper and Leader, who has brought us out into a wealthy place. The deeper our troubles, the louder our thanks to God, who has led us through all, and preserved us until now. Our griefs cannot mar the melody of our praise, we reckon them to be the bass part of our life's song, 'He hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad.' -Charles Spurgeon

~ I read this on someone's facebook the other day and it struck me too, that if I truly do believe that God is my Master, Creator and King, and that He is overseeing every aspect of my life, doesn't it follow that when I point out all my woes I'm dishonoring Him, as opposed to if I'm looking instead on what He's doing for me?  I don't think I could remember the last time I consciously made an effort to honor God with what I said about myself, because maybe I was thinking too much about myself to realize that my testimony has a direct connection to His honor, but I'm sure thinking about it now, and I'm excited about the goodness that I do and will see! 

  

"...I will praise you with joyful lips when I meditate on you in the night..." and, "to him that orders his conversation aright, will I show the goodness of God." 

 

For the Birds

 Birds on the wire -such a timeless idea.

It's what you see when you look up.  
It's what leaves evidence of wild life here in the city.  
It's what you don't stand under...  
It's what you listen to when there's no music playing or people talking.  
It might inspire you to use fireworks out of season... 
What might wake you up in the morning, or lull you into a nap in the middle of the day.  
It's the object of a Pixar cartoon.  
It's just birds... on the wire.  -and other stuff.    

That moment when it hurts to let go, but you know that it will hurt more later if you don't now.  

That moment when your heart cries in desperation to find true thankfulness in what God has put before you.  

That moment when you grasp for the joy you can't see now by voicing the words, 'thank you' in hope of being able to see it all in real thankfulness later.  

That moment when your efforts seem fruitless and it seems an eternity this step your trying to make.

That moment when the sun breaks through the clouds and you feel the warmth of One looking down on you.

That moment when you know the tender comfort of the One who sees and feels all you've seen or felt.  

That moment when your soul is touched by the unseen hand that held you and led you to where you are.

That moment when you know the voice of the One who says, 'well done'. 

Sunset over Palos Verdes

   

 You have searched me and known me.  You understand my thoughts far off... there is not a word in my mouth that you don't already know.  Where should I go from your spirit?  Or where could I go from your presence? ...If I dwell in the middle of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, and your right hand will hold me...

The Evolution Of My Cyber Dumpster - Why Most People Shouldn't Have A Blog

I was never the best student.  Being the fifth born in a family of 14, all of whom were to be home schooled by Mom, you can't expect every one of us to get straight A's though.  Grammar, writing and spelling were probably my hardest subjects, (maybe due to the fact that I didn't like to read).  Curiously enough, when it became a trend to have a blog in our house back in 2005, that became the thing I dreamed to keep.  It was a few years before I eventually set one up.  The only problem -I didn't have anything to write.  That blog sat until I completely forgot the address, log in and password and it disappeared into cyberspace.  

My mind told me I should just practice writing in my journal.  Sadly enough, I repeated the whole process twice.
 
  Time passed and web logs made it part way into history as they went out for a while and social networks took their place.  I figured out that I could keep a facebook without really having to write anything on it and for the first time, I felt internetly sophisticated.

  More time.  The history books close again for web logs and one day finds me with a sister and a computer.  A handy search engine and a sentimental journey into the near past shows that blogs are still alive in our family under the 'very original' titles, 1of14, 2of14, 3of14, 4of14... we look up 5of14 to see if, by some mistake it exists and, yes it does!  But it's not me.  Seeing that a 7of14 and a 9of14 also exist though, we search until we find one of my old blogs, and even though it's been dormant for over a year, we give it a proper title, "fiveof14".

  At this point, some kind of faulty intelligence tells me that, if I have such a hard time finding my own blog, other people will have a harder time, and I begin to post random things on my page of internet. (Nothing worth having my name or face attached to.)  This brings us to the present.

  It's early and I'd rather be asleep.  I half pay attention to a discussion about blogging.  How some are good, and "some people shouldn't write".  I'm slightly intrigued and my mind starts to wounder what it really is that makes a writing worth while, (since I've definitely not found it yet).

  "some people write well but portray themselves as -amazing, not-who-they-really-are.  I get comments about every other day from people telling me how they just love Margie's blog and about what an amazing person she is."
  -"Now Annie, on the other hand," (that would be me!) "she's just now coming to the realization that people can actually SEE her blog!.."

  I'm awake now.  

  They think it's funny that I react and so they expound on it and accuse me of writing on the internet what was only meant for a private journal.  This makes me smile and so I join in the fun poking with, "Yeah, I just call it my 'Cyber Dumpster'.  It's where I dump everything that I don't want anymore. -You mean you READ that stuff?"    
 
  Why did I just say that?  I don't know.  But this turned the conversation to cheesy and I began to think:

  It's true, I'm one of those people who shouldn't have a blog.  It's also true that Margie is a good writer, even if she's not exactly who she writes about.  Hey, who ever said a writer couldn't have a separate identity?

  It's true that people do have 'Cyber Dumpsters' (code name 'facebook, twitter, blog spot...'), and unfortunately for them, they're probably gonna regret it some day when they realize that they've written out their whole struggle through love and rejection, hate and their enemies, and giving the dog a bath, on line for the world to see.  

 And it's true that none of us really care about what you're eating, or where you're sitting, because we'd really all rather read about ourselves.  Needless to say, I will be cleaning out my blog and putting the trash into the Real 'Cyber Dumpster' -the one on my desktop labeled 'Recycle Bin', soon.  And here is where I begin to come to my conclusions about what makes a good blogger.

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  A good blogger can write about themselves under the disguise of writing about you in first person, and bring you to believe that they're right beside you in the struggles of life, big or small.  Everyone likes to overcome a good struggle in a cool way.  This is why you love them even though they're a little more awesome when they write than you could ever be in real life.  

  They are also profoundly grateful, extra cynical, and they have a knack for thinking up the perfect things to say at the perfect moments, (the things that we all wish we'd of thought up on the spot, but failed to be brilliant with until an hour after the fact).  Of course our blogger is gracious enough to keep these
thoughts all to themselves so as not to offend the person they wished to insult at the moment.

  A good blogger can keep it short, because we don't think we really have time to read these days.  This is where they spare the details that you never needed to know.

  And last, a good blogger will leave you with some worth while information, weather it's a piece of history, a bit of advice, or a word of wisdom, because everyone likes to have something to show for their time.


  That is the information I'd like to leave with you now, and I will also leave it up to you to decide whether it's information worth keeping or not.   

  After all, this is me, writing from my Cyber Dumpster.  

88 Miles An Hour

...It's the speed that my mind goes sometimes. :)

 ~I like when people remind me to have a good day...

  

 Yep, someone reminded me today.  In good time too.  God is good like that. 

"Taste and see that the Lord is good."  ~'Cause He is!  SO good!