Taste and See

As one of the leaders of the 7th grade youth girls at Christ Community I have been challenged to "Taste and See" the Lord in small sections of scripture. As each day holds a new truth, promise, nugget of gold I cannot help but repeat that phrase over and over again in my head. I want to taste and see that the Lord is good.
The word "taste" with all its enticements of rich flavors, and small portions of "just enough" to get one wanting - even desiring more lingers in my mind. Taste. If only we could just taste the Word of the Lord we would see that He is good and we would desire more! Taste. Just a little nibble, one or two verses and it wets our appetite. Taste. See that it is good. Not only do we get a small dose of some pretty rich stuff in the Bible, we get to "See" those words in a fresh new way. We see that the Lord is good.
I have been stuck on one word, through my tasting, one small bite of what is a BIG feast - Faith. Over and over again I have been reminded that faith is a process.... it is continuous ..... it hurts.....it is beautiful. In 2 Tim 4:7 Paul calls us to fight the GOOD fight of faith. It is going to agonizing at times. I have seen it all over the pages of scripture - you will struggle.

Isaiah 40 tells us that we will be weary but to wait on the Lord to renew our strength.
Joshua 1 tells us that we must be strong and courageous because times will be tough.
Romans 12 echoes the words of Paul "urging" us to present our bodies to be living sacrifices -
urging us because it does not come naturally. Don't conform to the world.
Psalm 119 David asks "How can a young man keep his way pure?" by living by the Word of the
Lord.
Matthew 7 tells us to be wise in our foundations. A foundation on the rock of Jesus prevents us
from a GREAT fall.
Hebrews 11 - here we get to the heart of the matter - the faith chapter of the Bible - one I love!
In verse 25 it says this about Moses " .... choosing rather to ENDURE ill treatment with
the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasure of sin...."

If I am living my life to enjoy the passing pleasure of sin, where will that lead? Am I willing to endure - to long suffer - to persevere in this good fight of faith and to throw away the passing - get that - passing - that means it will not last - pleasures of sin? I say that I am. Because I taste. I taste and see that the Lord is good.

Anne of Green Gables

As a little girl I loved to watch the story of Anne of Green Gables unfold before me on the TV screen. Anne, with her melodramatic charisma, captivated my attention. I recently found some quotes from such story and couldn't help but share them. May you delight in the melodramatic words of Anne, may you never fall into the depths of despair, and may you find a kindred spirit....

"I believe the nicest and sweetest days are not those on which anything very splendid or wonderful or exciting happens, but just those that bring simple little pleasures, following one another softly, like pearls slipping off a string."
— L.M. Montgomery

"I'd like to add some beauty to life," said Anne dreamily. "I don't exactly want to make people KNOW more... though I know that IS the noblest ambition... but I'd love to make them have a pleasanter time because of me... to have some little joy or happy thought that would never have existed if I hadn't been born."
— L.M. Montgomery (Anne's House of Dreams)

"Isn't it splendid to think of all the things there are to find out about? It just makes me feel glad to be alive--it's such an interesting world. It wouldn't be half so interesting if we know all about everything, would it? There'd be no scope for imagination then, would there?But am I talking too much? People are always telling me I do. Would you rather I didn't talk? If you say so I'll stop. I can STOP when I make up my mind to it, although it's difficult."
— L.M. Montgomery (Anne of Green Gables)

"Perhaps, after all, romance did not come into one’s life with pomp and blare, like a gay knight riding down; perhaps it crept to one’s side like an old friend through quiet ways; perhaps it revealed itself in seeming prose, until some sudden shaft of illumination flung athwart its pages betrayed the rhythm and the music; perhaps . . . perhaps . . . love unfolded naturally out of a beautiful friendship, as a golden-hearted rose slipping from its green sheath."
— L.M. Montgomery (Anne of Avonlea)

New Project

I haven't done so well in introducing people on Mondays. I am not giving up on that project, but the new project I have started is a bit more tangible. Inspired by the Adventure Book in the movie Up, I started a "Happy Book". I will one day make an Adventure Book, but for now I will record the things that make me happy.
Here is a peek at my book.....

Monday Meetings

The Lord has blessed me with some incredible people in my life. I only thought that the natural thing to do with this blessing of people is to share a little bit about them with you. I decided to make Mondays my day of introductions of those that I find special. Today, I will introduce you to my sister.
Meet Laura Marie Trauth Beech..........
Laura is a 25 year old, 6th grade history teacher, and wife to Connor Beech. But more importantly than all of those things is the fact that she is my little sister. If I could have somehow pre-ordered my siblings, picked out their personalities and designed their attitudes I would have still gotten it wrong. The Lord knew exactly what I needed in a sister and He created Laura Marie, or as some call her - Lou, and I have been forever grateful. Laura and I have not always gotten along. My mom used to get frustrated with our fighting, and would ever so kindly remind us that one day we would be best friends. I thought to myself "yeah, right." But I was so wrong. We did become best friends and I honestly don't know what I would do without her. Laura is one of the most merciful and compassionate people you will ever meet. She thinks of others before herself, she is kind, genuine, and fun to be around. Now, she will argue with you until you are blue in the face, but she just likes the debate. Laura cares for her students, she is an excellent wife, and more than anything she wants to glorify the Lord with her life. Laura has been my rock, my strength in hard times. She has been a source of not only encouragement but a source of wisdom and understanding. She has the great capacity to love not only in times of great joy, but in times when my face is swollen with tears, and my words unrecognizable with bitterness. To have Laura as a friend is lucky indeed.
She is also a woman of great talent in the area of craftiness. She sews with a naturalness that can only come from the genes she inherited from our grandmother. Her work is beautiful .... just like she her personality.
So, if you know her send her a little "Hello" and lift up a prayer for her this week.

You can follow her at www.fleur-de-lou.blogspot.com.

Broken Record....

I know I sound like a broken record when I say -- "It's cold in my house!"
So, I will post a picture so that you can see exactly how I cope.See the weird looking thing in the corner of the picture ....that is my space heater -- the greatest creation for cold winter days.
If you don't mind I will explain how I cope....
Step 1 - Dress in many layers, even when it is time for bed. This includes long-johns, sweatpants, a long sleeve shirt, a sweatshirt, and two layers of socks (preferably the ones used for camping - they are warmer). Beanies are optional.
Step 2 - Put a little fan next to your space heater. As strange as this may sound it actually circulates the heat. Close the door to your room so the heat won't get out.
Step 3 - Use the bathroom, get a snack, and do whatever else you need to do in the rest of the chilled house, because once you get in your bedroom you aren't going to leave.
Step 4 - When getting ready to sleep, grab extra blankets. My bed consists of layers - layer one - flannel sheets, layer two- my Louisiana Tech blanket, layer three- a thin quilt-like blanket, layer four - a thicker comforter, and layer five - a fleece blanket. Works like a charm.

On the occasion that you have to use the bathroom, or get a class of water, run like crazy and avoid sitting on the toilet seat it's frozen at this point. Be quick.
Now when it is time to get up and get ready for work you have to mentally prepare yourself to brace the cold- no worries, by the time you dress after your shower you'll be warm again.

That my friends is how to cope with a house that actually stays at 17 degrees inside, when it is 17 degrees outside. I've actually seen my breath once when I've opened the door to the spare bedroom that does not have a space heater.

Photobooth.....

So, this is what happens when I am bored, and have too much time on my hands. I give you the silly side of Dana! Ta Da -- a little photo strip for your entertainment. Enjoy!

Unexpected Adventure

It seems that the more I think about writing a new blog the more I actually avoid writing the said blog. Maybe it's the failure of having nothing to write, or the embarrassment of looking back on that blog with all it's typos and grammatical errors that confirms my subconscious thought that I should never have written it at all. The truth is that the less I write, the more rusty I get at writing. I blame my negligence on tiredness, busyness, or just pain boredom instead of just laying my fingertips on small letter buttons letting them take over. But today, though extremely tired as I am, I lay aside those fears and apprehensions to give you (my very few readers) a glimpse of a small adventure I had with a friend.
My dear friend Melanie kept talking about, and even praying that I might have an unexpected adventure in my life. Nothing big, just something out of the ordinary. Except, the thing about telling people that you want them to have an unexpected adventure is that they start thinking more and more about it and the expectation is too high for one to really happen. Thus, that is what happened to me. I kept looking for that said adventure that it became too expected, doomed never to appear. Then Wednesday came and things changed.
I was driving around downtown Ruston, talking to my sister on the phone, when I spotted two friends of mine walking down the street. Just wanting to say hi, with rapid effort not to lose them in the alleys of Trenton Street, I parked near a restaurant and set out on my search. I turned the corner to the street in which I saw them walking and really almost became disappointed when I saw they were nowhere in sight. I was about to turn around, when the driver of a white jeep saw my aimless staring and honked the horn at me. It was Aimee Howell, the very friend I saw on the street walking just a few moments earlier. I just wanted to say Hi, but found myself talking to Aimee, me on the sidewalk, her in the jeep stopped at a red light. What transpired then was a quick hop into her jeep and a ride to Tech farms where she was shooting Elizabeth Moore's senior pictures. The sun was setting, leaving us only a few precious minutes of available light in which poor Elizabeth, in her summer dress, shivered in the crisp air. But, despite the shivers she was a good sport. To make the day more interesting the three of us, decided to jump the fence at Tech farms in hopes of capturing some photos in front of the horses grazing in the pasture. The horses, then in the distance, looked at us strangely and curiously when we invaded their turf but stayed in the background, still grazing. One horse though, I think got a little too curious and began to walk toward us. It was at that moment that I felt a little fear, as if I didn't know what would happen if the horse suddenly turned unfriendly. To our relief, the horse, who I liked to call Rusty, just stood there and let us pet him. It's funny how much bigger horses look when they are standing right next to you and not just in the background. I think Elizabeth was a little frightened as well, but by the end of it all we made a new friend and eventually "Rusty" grew tired of us and walked away. With not much available light, and the increasingly cold air still lingering the three of us hopped back over the fence to call it a day, all the while still laughing at the horse incident. Aimee then had to bring me back to the parking lot the little adventure all started in with promises that we should do it again real soon.
I know it's not much, a lot of build up for a short little adventure, but it was unexpected, simple and purely fun. It's not everyday you hop into someone's car, hop a fence then come face to face with a very large animal. I think it's moments like this past Wednesday that make me cherish the simplicity that brings nothing but laughter to a weary soul. I have heard it said that "you never know when you're making a memory", how true those words were that day. I hope that I can have more days in which the agenda just flies out of the window leaving me staring aimlessly down the street, waiting for a friend in a car to pick me up at a red light.Aimee Howell Elizabeth Moore