Advent Day 18

From my daily advent reading:

Thank you, God, that even when I feel empty and dry, I know that the springs of joy are there, buried deep within me. I ask you to tap those springs now, release them, and carry me away on their fullness

Thank you, O God, for joy.
  Joy that overcomes all else.
    Joy that is more powerful than the darkest powers.
      Joy that is more abundant than the waters in the seas.
        Joy that is mine.

This spoke to me this morning.

And some random things I've learned and experienced lately.

Every night before going to sleep, I read a section of the Common English New Testament on my Kindle. I'm in ACTS. I've been reading about Paul's evangelism and how he made as many people mad enough to kill him as he brought to salvation.  Paul was concerned about the Jewish Christians who wanted Gentile Christians to obey all the old Hebrew Laws (like circumcision).  Paul and some buddies came up with the basic things Christians need to do; are you ready?

ACTS 15:28-29: The Holy Spirit has led us to the decision that no burden should be placed on you other than these essentials: refuse food offered to idols, blood, the meat from strangled animals, and sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid such things. Farewell.

That's a lot easier than the big ten, don't you think?

At the Beth Moore Bible Study I've been going to, I learned the power of the spoken word. Praying out loud has a spiritual power that doesn't exist in silent prayer. She quoted from these scriptures; I can't say which ones are actually relevant to the power of speech.  But if you want to look them up, here they are: Joshua 1:8, Proverbs 18:21, Numbers 13:31-32 & 14:1-4 & 14:20-23, John 15:7-8, Romans 10: 8-10, Matthew 17:19-20 and Psalms 18:19.

Meanwhile, back to joy... Yesterday was Elder Day of Homecoming Spirit Week.  Elder Day, really?  I went as myself but I wore pearls and put my hair up in a bun.

In my last class of the day, a boy asked me, "Mrs. Perry, are you trying to look old?"

"Well, I'm not really trying, but yeah."

"I don't think you look old.  You never look old.  Except for maybe the pearls."

He nailed it and showered on me both emotional and spiritual joy.

What Are Your Daily Reads?

My husband still reads the newspaper with his morning coffee. It's his routine. Then he tells me the important news.

Meanwhile, I'm at my computer checking email with my coffee. It's my routine. I see most of the big headlines when I open AOL. But it's the personal stuff I'm interested in. I read email from friends first then I go to my subscriptions. I share them with you here in hopes that one or more will be of interest and/or useful to you. I hope you'll share what you're reading with me.

Mystery Book Club You can sign up for just about any genre at Dear Reader. I read mysteries and it is great to start a new book every Monday morning. I read several chapters in my email during the week. If I want to finish it, I go to the library or bookstore to get it. It's somewhat of a social site too. You can leave comments about the book, send an email to the creator of Dear Reader (Suzanne Beecher), enter contests (once a year there's a writing contest) and click into subareas like authorbuzz.

CopyBlogger These emails are full of good writing tips. It is geared toward Business blogs but is applicable to any writing. It is usually funny and entertaining as well as informative.

HomeWord Devotionals HomeWord is a Christian family organization (with focus on teenagers and their youth leaders) started by my friend Jim Burns. Several people write the devotions which begin with a short scripture followed by an illuminating example and some comments. There are questions at the end for going deeper.

South Beach Diet Daily Dish is part of Everyday Health. You can sign up for a variety of health related daily emails from this link. Daily Dish provides information about foods (why eating fish is good for you), seasonal produce, recipes, etc. I lost 50 pounds following the South Beach diet. It's a no simple carb diet (sugar, refined flour) and very limited bad fat food. Extra Virgin Olive Oil is good, bacon is not.

A.Word.A.Day "The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug." --- Mark Twain A.Word.A.Day can help you learn that right word. The word comes with pronunciation, etymology, meaning and usage. There is also a daily quote, some are really good.

OK, it's your turn. What are your daily reads?

IN 15 WORDS, MY NOW IS

Originally found on MandyThompson.com, my daughter shared her list of 15 words that describe her now.

These 15 words describe my now, my right now, my in the moment and present now. It isn't as easy as you might think to make a list of 15 single words that describe now. But it's fun. Try it and leave the link to your blog post in a comment.

hot
summer
home
Indiahoma
coffee
computer
reading
writing
quiet
alone
AC
fans
blogs
email
content*

*When I wrote this word I meant with the meaning "satisfied with what one has" but it could also mean "subject matter" of this post.