I have a hard time naming these posts...

Ugh - I just get random materials to post now, but I can't get a good summarizing title... :P


[My comments in small purple print.]

Winston Churchill said:
Never give in--never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.

[I really need to work on my perseverance... always.] 

Jim Elliot said:
He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.

[I still have to think twice before I can understand that quote.] 

Excerpt from Do Hard Things - 
Alex and Brett Harris wrote:
A Navajo India tradition says that your conscience is like a small triangle inside your heart .  When you know something is wrong, it turns and pricks the flesh of your heart with one of its corners.  But when you harden your heart and ignore your conscience, it keeps turning, wearing down its corners in effort to get your attention.  Eventually, the triangle gets so worn down that it becomes smooth and circular, spinning around and around in your heart but to no use.  You can't even feel it anymore.

[This is scary in a way.  You won't even know how dull your conscience has become!  And how can you make the "triangle" sharp again?] 

Excerpt from Purpose Driven Life - 
Rick Warren wrote:
Paul said, "I die daily." There is a moment of surrender, the practice of surrender, which a moment-by-moment and lifelong. The problem with a living sacrifice is that it can crawl off the altar.  So you may have to resurrender your life 50 times a day.

[This one is helps me to understand why it's a "living" sacrifice.] 

9 ways (or types of people) to draw near to God [Sacred Pathways] -
Gary Thomas wrote:

1. Naturalists
2. Sensates
3. Traditionalists
4. Ascetics
5. Activists
6. Caregivers
7. Enthusiasts
8. Contemplatives
9. Intellectuals

[Which one(s) are you? :D]

Heart of Worship [song]
By Matt Redman
I'll bring You more than a song
For a song in itself
Is not what You have required
You search much deeper within
Through the way things appear
You're looking into my heart


Random: I got my Bible Bee materials in the mail today! WOOHOO!! :D  It's just, I've realized how much I have to memorize, and it wasn't a good idea to do it this year while I'm working on the Psalm 119 project :P .

Oh wow - that was a looooong post. :s

Some random stuff

Here are some things I remember or found or feel and thought worth sharing :) .


Bellybuttons
Eve and Adam
Never had'em.


[Don't remember where I got it from, but I thought it was funny :) ]



Hearty Renunciation
[...]We need only to recognize God intimately present with us, to address ourselves to Him every moment,that we may beg His assistance for knowing His will in things doubtful, and for rightly performing those which we plainly see He requires of us, offering them to Him before we do them, and giving Him thanks when we have done.
~Brother Lawrence~
From his book: The Practice of the Presence of God



Lastly, a somewhat public declaration that I am ever grateful to my mother for pushing me to practice piano and telling me my mistakes and blunders.  I hated it at the time, but if she had not done so, I would be worse at the piano than I am now and would not be able to enjoy the music I play, nor aim for perfection at all times.  Thank you, Ma Ma. And thank you Lord, for giving me my wonderful mother.

(Yes - I know, Mother's Day is past and Father's day is coming up. I'm working on his, now. ;) ).

~Victoria~

"The Call of the Natural Life"

When I said "soon", I meant same day - but as always, things pop up and I don't get to do something I want until later.  But, I'll be pulling one Devotional out of My Utmost for His Highest  by Oswald Chambers again...

The Call of the Natural Life

The call of God is not a call to serve Him in any particular way.  My contact with the nature of God will shape my understanding of His call and will help me realize what I truly desire to do for Him ... ... ... Service is the overflow which pours from a life filled with love and devotion.  But strictly speaking, there is no call to that.  Service is what I bring to the relationship and is the reflection of my identification with the nature of God ... ... ... Service to God is the deliberate love-gift of a nature that has heard the call of God.  Service is an expression of my nature, and God's call is an expression of His nature.  Therefore, when I receive His nature and hear His call, His divine voice resounds throughout His nature and mine and the two become one in service.

So - service is not something we are supposed to find a "perfect job description" for.  It will overflow from a loving God.  Just something to chew on...

...deggaT

The string of thoughts going through my mind:

Eerrhh... I was tagged... a long time ago by India ... forgot all about it until now ... and I don't think people even read my blog... :P ... but I'll do it anyway, since she did tag me... but I'm gonna have to break 66.667% of the rules... 

The only rule I'm gonna follow: List 8 stories or books you'd like to live in (for two weeks or so)
1) Bible - Probably the Garden of Eden
2) Return of the King (JRRTolkien)
3) The Last Battle (CSLewis)
4) Ishmael (EDENSouthworth)
5) Sign of the Beaver (EGSpeare)
6) Little House in the Woods (LIWilder)
7) The Tripods [4 books actually] (JohnChristoper / SYoud)
8) Wulf the Saxon (GAHenty)

Saddest thing - I can't remember all the good books, I've read. It took me forever to make up that list :( .

Expect another post... soon.