Lord, I don't understand
Why I'm suffering in Your Plan
Why I struggle through trials day by day
Though I may not see how this will end
How You'll bring out Your perfect plan
Yet still I'll sing glory to Your name

Great is my Lord
Merciful to me
Holy is my God
Ever loving me
Pure is my King
Cleansing and washing me
Thank You Father for saving me

Isaiah 30:18
18 Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you;
he rises to show you compassion.
For the LORD is a God of justice.
Blessed are all who wait for him!

I have been much in need of this verse lately. I have needed the Lords active compassion and He has given it just as this verse promises.

Currently ReadingCommon Grounds: Conversations About the Things That Matter Most
By Ben Young, Glenn Luckesee related

I'm over due for a book review.
I was given this book from the author himself. It is a very different sort of book and I learned alot from reading it.
The story line is three friends who have know eachother from college go out for coffee about once a week. They all have different religous beliefs. Two of them are christians, but belong to very different denominations. The third is an atheist. One of them hears a pastor who comes and preaches at his church. He is captivated by what the pastor says and it gives him a whole new insite to his faith. He invites the pastor to the coffee meetings with his friends. They discuss a lot of thoelogical matters that the three friends have questions about. The questions are not easy ones and I love the way that the story uses so much scripture. It is an awsome book that has deepened my faith and understanding of God.

"We are called to do good works and to do good work."

My friend Mike said this one day and it really stuck with me. We were discussing music and whether it was okay to listen to secular music. I said that it was and that I do. I'm just careful with what I listen to. He said that he was really disappointed with some Christian artist because they didn't seem to do good work.
He gave the example of Marlene Manson. Marlene Manson may not do good works, but he does good work. He is a very effective artist in that he is able to make you feel the emotions he wants you to through his music.
Now I don't listen and hopefully never will listen to Marlene Manson, but my friend Mike does have a point and it applies to my life. I may do good works, but am I doing them well? Am I doing everything in a way that would please, serve, and worship my Savior? Am I doing everything to the fullest? No, I'm not.

Father, I pray that You would work through me and not only do good works, but good work as well. May I be a testimony of Your greatness. Make me more and more like You. Amen.

We went to Frostburg to go see my sister for her birthday this weekend.... or so I thought. I was not happy about this trip. I had made plans for this weekend I couldn't believe that my parents made a last minute to go see Annalee for her birthday. I had made sure to tell them I had plans, but they decided to go anyway.

We met my sister and her boyfriend, Eric, at Burger King for dinner on Friday. We sat down to eat and I noticed my mom was doing something funny with her hands. Shaking them in a weird way. I looked at her and she nodded towards my older sister. I looked at my older sister and then I looked at her a hands. I saw that she had gotten a nice pretty new ring. A NICE PRETTY NEW RING!

She saw my glance and then she told us that Eric had proposed to her! She told us how her proposed and we all agreed that we will send our boyfriends to him for lessons on how to propose.

He had a project for his astronomy class and he did a presentation on the stars. At the end he asked my sister how it went. He then said he had some questions for her and asked her several questions about stars and such. He then said," I have one final question." Then he got down on one knee and asked her to marry him. She said yes. They called my parents and told them, but asked them to not tell us girls because Annalee wanted to tell us in person.

Isn't that totally AWESOME! I have done a lot of shouting in this post, but the I am just so happy. Hugs and kisses to you all and great is our God who has the perfect plan.

How blessed our we to have a Father who shows us such favor when we are in need of it.

3"Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
5Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
7Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
8Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
9Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.
10Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

There is so much I want to do for the ministry of Christ, but only so little I can do. I am really struggling with which ministry do I want to be a part of. I would love to quite school and just spend all my time working on the different ministry I'm interested in, but I need some schooling before I can do that. So for know some of that work is put on hold. My heart cries to do it now, but God is saying wait. So I'll wait.

Psalm 27:14
14 Wait for the LORD;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the LORD.