Gratefully 26

So, you know all those blog photo challenges? I've decided to do one of my own. No rules, really-- because rules are no fun :P-- just a challenge to take a photo each day of some element of my day.

Day 1: This is a photo encapsulating the relaxed feeling of my perfect birthday morning...

Morning bible study on the book of Daniel, teamed with a pretty morning coffee. Simple delights!

And another, simply because I couldn't choose :)

This month is a special one because, as of yesterday, I began 4 weeks of house-sitting for some friends of mine-- the pastor of our church-plant and his family. I have been amazed at how blessed and bolstered my spirit has been in the less than 24 hours since I've been here! I have discovered that in sharing housing with people, I tend to try to make myself as small as possible-- take up as little metaphorical space as can be. Being here, in this gorgeous, white, tidy and beautiful flat by myself, I feel so deliciously liberated. I can walk around in my nightie, sing as loud as I like, bake any time day or night, take a bath with the door open so I can hear my music playing from the living room, just breathe and be. Hehe! I have been overwhelmed by the simple pleasures. And my spirit is a bundle of thankfulness to the Giver of every good gift...

So, in traditional birthday fashion, I'd like to compose a list of 26 things I'm grateful for today on my 26th birthday :)

Gratefully 26:

1. This verse in my bible study this morning: "But in the end, the holy people of the Most High will be given the kingdom, and they will rule forever and ever" (Dan. 7:18). It was a heavy dissection of some of Daniel's prophecy today and that one verse shone out like a gem in the midst of it.

2. The relaxation of waking up, not having to worry about being at work, and just sitting down in this beautiful flat to myself in the morning light with my cup of warm coffee sweetened with honey and cinnamon, and opening my beautiful bible... Mmmmmm!

3. Webcam Skype chats with my sister and the kids. They delight my heart to no end! Yes, Abby, I can't wait to read the books you are writing :) And Emmy, thank you for sharing your secret with me!! 

4. Being an auntie! My 4 little treasures-- Abby, Emmy, Tucker, and Kenan-- make my life so rich, even when our time together is so little. And soon it will be more than 4!!

5. My handsome man. I love him so. We have so much to learn and so much to discover but there is no one I would rather do so with! So so so many hopes...

6. This house-sitting month! I am blessed to the core to have this lovely place to myself for a whole month!

7. Music and what it draws out of my soul.

8. Literature & Poetry

9. The excellent memoir I'm reading: "Surprised by Oxford" by Carolyn Weber

10. My adorable cousins and aunties and uncles. And my fabulous grandparents. I adore you! You all make my life so rich!

11. My darling godchildren. It blesses my heart to be trusted with praying for you all your lives long...

12. The way scripture is alive and the same old verse can hit me in new ways each time I read it!

13. That His ways are higher than mine. That I can trust that He's always looking out for my good, as well as His glory. That I needn't let anything trouble me (Oh, if only I could learn this by heart!) because He's got it all in hand...

14. Having a balcony for a month :)

15. sugar-snap peas. Yum. 

16. The sun coming out for my birthday :) :) :)

17. That He accepts my praise as a gift fit for a King. What?!

18. Grace so amazing, so divine, that it demands my soul, my life, my all...

19. Having a bike to use for the summer! And how well-laid-out bike paths are in Gothenburg :)

20. My parents and how well they've provided for and loved me through life.

21. Thai Curry!!! Honestly, why is nothing else as good? :)

22. Acoustic guitar and it's incredible power to transform any moment :)

23. Hope. 

24. Years that carry life-enhancing wisdom in their grasps...

25. Bubble baths-- the simple pleasures!

26. God's love and the way He wraps me up in it, pours it through me and around me and over me and under me. So complete. So everlasting. So amazing...

Here's to the next 26 years. May God continue to teach me to trust Him, to follow Him into anything, and to somehow use me to bless those He loves all around me...

Now, to head out on a walk and explore!

Confession: I Hate Sermons (But Love Bible Study Lessons)

I've never been much of a sermon kinda girl, I'm afraid. I was the child composing stories in her head and using the offering envelopes to scribble fanciful drawings on. And I have no doubt that I actually slept through a fair few sermons... Even as I grew up, it's just never been my best way to engage with God or His Word-- though, thankfully, my attention-span has improved :)

But today I need to tell you about the bible teaching podcasts from oneplace.com that you can listen to for free from Living Proof with Beth Moore because they are blessing me so.

I grew up the daughter of a Bible-studying mama. And I was probably only just a very young teen when she began attending women's group bible studies by a lovely lady called Beth Moore. My parents are both mega-drivers as they run their businesses and we were often on a car trip long into the night. To stay awake, my non-coffee-drinking Mom would munch on crunchy carrots and blare the radio loud. But it wasn't music she was listening to, it was this lady called Beth teaching bible studies with more passion than I had ever heard and in her prolific southern accent. She would be addressing event centres full of thousands of women, and a few brave men, and yet even in the dark of those long car rides, it felt like she was speaking straight to me as again and again God brought up concepts I needed to give some attention to, or scriptures I'd never studied that in depth before. Beth (because we're on a first-name-basis, naturally :P) would give charming anecdotes about her husband Keith and daughters Amanda and Melissa, and their bird dogs, until it honestly felt like they might have been cousins of mine. The Lord has taught me a great deal about vulnerability through seeing Beth live out loud, a great deal about honesty, humility, obedience, and the love of Christ. And do you know, to this day no other bible study teacher/writer can quite hold my attention like Beth does when she teaches. It's kinda like our hearts speak the same language. I don't wanna praise this woman-- she would hate that! I don't think she's the only one who can write a good bible study :) But something about her writing and her speaking and her personality and heart just really gets along with something about my personality and heart. I have supplemented my bible reading with her bible study workbooks for years now and there is nothing like a cup of coffee in the morning with my bible and bible study workbook spread out before me. No matter where I am in the world, in that posture, I am home.

So to steal a Beth phrase, it has just blessed my little heart to find entire series of bible study teachings by Beth on oneplace.com! I've just finished listening to "Measureless Love" and, woah. Another great series of podcasts is "When Godly People do Ungodly Things". You can download them for $2.00 or simply listen to them online for free! Some days when I'm in the studio on my own, I just listen to one lesson after another all day long as my hands busily work on the order on the cutting table before me. Let me tell you, it is a BATTLE to keep our minds fixed on heaven in such a way that we live purposefully here. These little podcast lessons keep my perspective set where it needs to be, like little Sunday sermons all throughout the week (but to me, they have a punch that I don't often find in a Sunday sermon).

So, whether you are familiar with Living Proof Ministries or have no idea who this Beth chica is, check them out and be encouraged! You can look through the years of podcast series here. Or read Beth's blog, where her two daughters, now grown women serving the Lord themselves, often post too. It's just fun :)

And now-- to leave you with one of my favourite of the stories Beth has told me over the years :) 

Friends, let's set our eyes on His face. Let's seek Him in whatever way we can every single day of our lives. Let's be intentional about studying His Word! And about knowing His heart so we can live His heart out for the world...

I have been so touched by every Beth Moore bible study workbook I've gone through, but I think my favourite thus far might be "The Patriarchs". If you've done some of the these particular bible studies, which have been your favourite?