For the past few weeks my reading and attention have been consistently drawn to the words of Psalm 23. In a previous post I wrote about a guest preacher and his sermon entitled "Renaming Your Valley." Since then I have been led to this exact passage of scripture by friends, family, other guest preachers and now my sign language choir has voted to sign to the song Psalm 23 by the Indiana Bible College choir.
I have had this verse memorized since the third grade. Even though I did not grow up in church I attended a Bible study actually given at a public school when I was young, and memorizing this verse was part of our curriculum. I have had it down pat and have kept the words with me for all of these years, but I never truly understood the meaning of this passage until I began studying the Bible myself in more recent years. I have come to understand this passage and because it's meaning is so deep and significant I have grown to love this verse...and not just because I can recite it word for word!
I'm beginning to realize that God is trying to tell me something. There is something about this particular verse that God wants me to see and it has something to do with 'walking through the valley.' I don't pretend to know what God is saying to me at this point, but I do know that He is trying to reveal something to me through His word. I have prayed for guidance in this, and I will continue to pray until I understand and grasp the true meaning of this scripture and how God is using it in my life.
The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures
He leadeth me beside still waters
He restoreth my soul
He leads me in paths of righteousness
For His name's sake
Yea though I walk
Through the valley of the shadow of death
I shall fear no evil
For Thou art with me
Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me
Thou preparest a table before me
In the presence of mine enemies
Thou anointest my head with oil,
and my cup runneth over
Surely goodness and mercy
Shall follow me all of the days of my life
And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever
Amen and Amen
2/21/2008
2/19/2008
Wow! What a week!
Last week may have been the most hectic week I have had since school started. Thanksgiving and Christmas were hectic last year, but this past week for some reason was so stressful and I am exhausted! Mid terms were last week and I spent most of my time studying like a good little student. By the time Friday rolled around I was prepared to take my last final in my online Psychology class, and as soon as I was finished with it Friday morning I felt so much relief!
My stress started all over, however, when I realized I had not even started cleaning my house for a party we were having on Saturday. Our care ministry group is huge and our house is pretty big so Mike and I were designated as hosts for our care ministry gathering. I truly enjoy hosting parties so I had no problem doing so, but my house was pretty much trashed and it was driving me insane!
I love my husband, and I adore my kids, as you all know, but they are not the most helpful people when it comes to cleaning the house or keeping it clean, so I am responsible for keeping a 3200 square foot home clean all on my own! I cleaned literally all day Friday, stopped to make dinner and then planned to mop floors, dust and clean bathrooms Friday evening...but my husband made plans for us that I was not aware of. The party started at 1:00 on Saturday, so Saturday morning I woke up in cardiac arrest. I had serious sinus issues and the only thing that clears my sinuses is a good sweaty workout! I did about 2 hours of workouts and, of course, then I felt great!
Luckily my mother in law came early and saved the day, as usual. By the time she got here the cleaning was done, because I apparently was stressing for nothing and had it all under control. Once the cleaning was done, however, I realized that I had NO food prepared! The party was a pitch in, thank goodness, but as the hostess of the party....I figured I should probably prepare something. My mother in law put my veggie tray together for me and got the food prepared, so I could finally take a shower. I didn't want to be sweaty for my guests!
The party was wonderful, and everyone loved the house. We had probably 25 people show up, with all of their kids! It turned out that even our house wasn't really big enough, that's a lot of people!
What a great weekend we had, though, we had so much fun. Sunday was Hannah's birthday and she wanted desperately to be baptized (for months now) so we thought her birthday would be the perfect day for that. Hannah's dad came to see her get baptized and my mother came to church! After church some family members came to the house for pizza and cake and gave Hannah presents (all Hannah Montana related, of course!) A friend of mine gave us some books by Ruth Rieder, the King's Kids series that teaches young girls how to be modest, and why we dress the way we do and why we don't cut our hair, etc. I began reading these to Hannah before bed on Sunday night and she absolutely loves them.
Monday we chose to go to the Children's Museum in Indianapolis since the kids had President's Day off of school. We arrived around noon and were greeted by MOBS of people, I don't think I've ever seen the museum as busy as it was yesterday. It was almost impossible to move in there. Mike had called in sick to go with us, but then wound up actually being sick. He pulled a muscle and had a huge knot in his neck and and he didn't think he would be good company so he stayed home. Carson chose to stay with Mike; he doesn't do much without daddy. (I was disappointed, but he just didn't want to leave Mike for anything!) We didn't get home from the museum until 6:00 and we were exhausted!
While the weekend was eventful and full of family and friends, it was so tiring and I will be glad to have next weekend to recouperate, I am going to need it! I am still worn out!
My stress started all over, however, when I realized I had not even started cleaning my house for a party we were having on Saturday. Our care ministry group is huge and our house is pretty big so Mike and I were designated as hosts for our care ministry gathering. I truly enjoy hosting parties so I had no problem doing so, but my house was pretty much trashed and it was driving me insane!
I love my husband, and I adore my kids, as you all know, but they are not the most helpful people when it comes to cleaning the house or keeping it clean, so I am responsible for keeping a 3200 square foot home clean all on my own! I cleaned literally all day Friday, stopped to make dinner and then planned to mop floors, dust and clean bathrooms Friday evening...but my husband made plans for us that I was not aware of. The party started at 1:00 on Saturday, so Saturday morning I woke up in cardiac arrest. I had serious sinus issues and the only thing that clears my sinuses is a good sweaty workout! I did about 2 hours of workouts and, of course, then I felt great!
Luckily my mother in law came early and saved the day, as usual. By the time she got here the cleaning was done, because I apparently was stressing for nothing and had it all under control. Once the cleaning was done, however, I realized that I had NO food prepared! The party was a pitch in, thank goodness, but as the hostess of the party....I figured I should probably prepare something. My mother in law put my veggie tray together for me and got the food prepared, so I could finally take a shower. I didn't want to be sweaty for my guests!
The party was wonderful, and everyone loved the house. We had probably 25 people show up, with all of their kids! It turned out that even our house wasn't really big enough, that's a lot of people!
What a great weekend we had, though, we had so much fun. Sunday was Hannah's birthday and she wanted desperately to be baptized (for months now) so we thought her birthday would be the perfect day for that. Hannah's dad came to see her get baptized and my mother came to church! After church some family members came to the house for pizza and cake and gave Hannah presents (all Hannah Montana related, of course!) A friend of mine gave us some books by Ruth Rieder, the King's Kids series that teaches young girls how to be modest, and why we dress the way we do and why we don't cut our hair, etc. I began reading these to Hannah before bed on Sunday night and she absolutely loves them.
Monday we chose to go to the Children's Museum in Indianapolis since the kids had President's Day off of school. We arrived around noon and were greeted by MOBS of people, I don't think I've ever seen the museum as busy as it was yesterday. It was almost impossible to move in there. Mike had called in sick to go with us, but then wound up actually being sick. He pulled a muscle and had a huge knot in his neck and and he didn't think he would be good company so he stayed home. Carson chose to stay with Mike; he doesn't do much without daddy. (I was disappointed, but he just didn't want to leave Mike for anything!) We didn't get home from the museum until 6:00 and we were exhausted!
While the weekend was eventful and full of family and friends, it was so tiring and I will be glad to have next weekend to recouperate, I am going to need it! I am still worn out!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
