I switched!
I switched over to the new version of blogger just now, and I can't tell much of a difference. Guess I'll have to play around with it a little bit.
I found an interesting quote the other day:
“ God shapes the world by prayers…The prayers of God’s saints are the capital stock of Heaven by which Christ carries on His great work on earth….Earth is changed, revolutionized, angels move on more powerful, more rapid wing, and God’s policy is shaped as the prayers are more numerous, more efficient….God’s conquering ways are when God’s saints have given themselves to mightiest prayer.” (E. M. Bounds)
I've been thinking a lot about prayer over the past couple years. Specifically, how feable I feel my own prayers are, and how inneffective they must be (this is what my own perception is). What is prayer? What is a "relationship with God?" That's the evangelical catch-phrase. How does one know one has a relationship with God? What is effective prayer?
It seems that our society has watered down Christianity, and I struggle with that. It's hard to live in the world and not be like the world. You think to yourself, "Oh, well, nobody else is doing all that much, so I guess I don't have to, either." But that's so not true.
I think about the E.M. Bounds quote, and it's encouraging. A lot of times I feel that prayer really doesn't change much or isn't worth it. Romans 8:34 states that Jesus is at the right hand of God "interceding for us." That's amazing. I guess that's proof that he is our high priest. Roman 8:26 states that the "Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express." What an interesting thought! The Spirit groans on our behalf! The last part of the sentence on Romans 8:27 states that the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will. That verse befuddles me. If God's will is what God's will is, then why does the Spirit have to intercede for us? Strange.
So, I think part of my, well, not really resolution for the New Year, but something along those lines anyway, is that I want to expand my prayer life. I have a book on praying the Scriptures which I find very intriguing that I might employ, and maybe I'll look into Mr. Bounds, as well, since he seems to have good things to say.
On another note, Chris and I went SALSA dancing on Wednesday night! It was great! It felt so good to get out and do something different! I can't say that we were great at it, but Chris said that he would rather swing dance, so I think we're going to start taking swing dance lessons next month. I actually believe I have found a new form of exercise that I can tolerate sweating for! My friend Erin invited me to the salsa dancing, and she happens to be a belly dancer...almost makes me want to give that a shot as well. I was surprised how un-loose I am. Let me explain what I mean. When we had a little group lesson at the salsa dancing night, the lady showed us how to move our hips, and I have to admit, it felt a little risque doing that! It was good for me, I think being in this stuffy Skandinavian country has made me become a little stuffy myself. No more! I must salsa!
It is 2:25 pm. I feel like I've been sitting at this desk for three years. Gah.
Tonight we are going to some friend's house for a bon voyage party for a couple in our small group - they are leaving for Africa! They are going to be gone for a month to Uganda and Rwanda. It's a trial run to see if they want to become full time missionaries. Becoming a missionary has never been one of the things on my list of things I'd like to try. Guess I'm just not made of that kind of material!
I am also going to experiment with some wild game this week. I'm going to make BBQ venison this week, which I actually really like (I don't care for venison usually), and I'm going to make Goose Fingers, which is just strips of floured, fried goose breast (Husband informed me that people call them Salamanders! YUCK!), and also some honey-fried pheasant. I figure, the meat is in the freezer, I better do something with it. I have a tendency to let it sit there, because I'm not much of a wild game fan, but it's a nice way to save some money on groceries.
My new camera is on it's way to me right now and I can hardly contain my excitement! I've researched digital cameras for the past several months, and finally found an acceptable camera in my price range. I had wanted something with a good zoom on it, but the zoom makes the price go up. I found a very nice Kodak Easy Share Z710 on Dell.com for $215.00. I got free shipping and with tax it came to about $228. I'm very pleased. This is $35.00 cheaper than I could have purchased it for at Target or Best Buy. I'm hoping it'll come today, but my guess is that it'll be Monday.
Well, I best be off. Must go fix something the silly postal service didn't like.
I found an interesting quote the other day:
“ God shapes the world by prayers…The prayers of God’s saints are the capital stock of Heaven by which Christ carries on His great work on earth….Earth is changed, revolutionized, angels move on more powerful, more rapid wing, and God’s policy is shaped as the prayers are more numerous, more efficient….God’s conquering ways are when God’s saints have given themselves to mightiest prayer.” (E. M. Bounds)
I've been thinking a lot about prayer over the past couple years. Specifically, how feable I feel my own prayers are, and how inneffective they must be (this is what my own perception is). What is prayer? What is a "relationship with God?" That's the evangelical catch-phrase. How does one know one has a relationship with God? What is effective prayer?
It seems that our society has watered down Christianity, and I struggle with that. It's hard to live in the world and not be like the world. You think to yourself, "Oh, well, nobody else is doing all that much, so I guess I don't have to, either." But that's so not true.
I think about the E.M. Bounds quote, and it's encouraging. A lot of times I feel that prayer really doesn't change much or isn't worth it. Romans 8:34 states that Jesus is at the right hand of God "interceding for us." That's amazing. I guess that's proof that he is our high priest. Roman 8:26 states that the "Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express." What an interesting thought! The Spirit groans on our behalf! The last part of the sentence on Romans 8:27 states that the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will. That verse befuddles me. If God's will is what God's will is, then why does the Spirit have to intercede for us? Strange.
So, I think part of my, well, not really resolution for the New Year, but something along those lines anyway, is that I want to expand my prayer life. I have a book on praying the Scriptures which I find very intriguing that I might employ, and maybe I'll look into Mr. Bounds, as well, since he seems to have good things to say.
On another note, Chris and I went SALSA dancing on Wednesday night! It was great! It felt so good to get out and do something different! I can't say that we were great at it, but Chris said that he would rather swing dance, so I think we're going to start taking swing dance lessons next month. I actually believe I have found a new form of exercise that I can tolerate sweating for! My friend Erin invited me to the salsa dancing, and she happens to be a belly dancer...almost makes me want to give that a shot as well. I was surprised how un-loose I am. Let me explain what I mean. When we had a little group lesson at the salsa dancing night, the lady showed us how to move our hips, and I have to admit, it felt a little risque doing that! It was good for me, I think being in this stuffy Skandinavian country has made me become a little stuffy myself. No more! I must salsa!
It is 2:25 pm. I feel like I've been sitting at this desk for three years. Gah.
Tonight we are going to some friend's house for a bon voyage party for a couple in our small group - they are leaving for Africa! They are going to be gone for a month to Uganda and Rwanda. It's a trial run to see if they want to become full time missionaries. Becoming a missionary has never been one of the things on my list of things I'd like to try. Guess I'm just not made of that kind of material!
I am also going to experiment with some wild game this week. I'm going to make BBQ venison this week, which I actually really like (I don't care for venison usually), and I'm going to make Goose Fingers, which is just strips of floured, fried goose breast (Husband informed me that people call them Salamanders! YUCK!), and also some honey-fried pheasant. I figure, the meat is in the freezer, I better do something with it. I have a tendency to let it sit there, because I'm not much of a wild game fan, but it's a nice way to save some money on groceries.
My new camera is on it's way to me right now and I can hardly contain my excitement! I've researched digital cameras for the past several months, and finally found an acceptable camera in my price range. I had wanted something with a good zoom on it, but the zoom makes the price go up. I found a very nice Kodak Easy Share Z710 on Dell.com for $215.00. I got free shipping and with tax it came to about $228. I'm very pleased. This is $35.00 cheaper than I could have purchased it for at Target or Best Buy. I'm hoping it'll come today, but my guess is that it'll be Monday.
Well, I best be off. Must go fix something the silly postal service didn't like.
posted by Heather | 11:22 AM
1 Comments:
I HATE the post offices here. They get on my very last nerve. But, I'll admit that it's nice to hear that it's not just me (although I wish you didn't have problems with them as well). I'm glad you found two new (hopefully) passions: dancing and prayer. Intriguing...
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