knol it!!

just found this... many know sooooo much! interesting to read and look around.. :-)

have a beauty saturday, sunday time!!!!!!!!!!

http://knol.google.com/k/

A knol is an authoritative article about a specific topic.

a unit of knowledge....

women vs. wild!

i bought 2 books on january 1 this year.. i wrote in the inside page, "for me; happy 1st day of 2009!!!"
i shared one of the books last week in a blog post, and now this book, 'wilderness skills for women; how to survive heartbreak and other full-blown meltdowns', by marion jordan (a houstonian who has insight for us girls, and shares her personal story beautifully...)

one of the parts i'd like to share here from her book: ch. 3, the wilderness of temptation, pg. 66....
'in the bible, worship is not primarily about singing songs or acts of devotion. it is about one thing: offering a sacrifice. something is placed on the altar and dies. when job, in the midst of his suffering, falls to the ground and worships, he offers god a sacrifice. what is this sacrifice? after carefully and prayerfully reading his story, i believe the sacrifice made by job that fateful day was this: the expectation to have life on his terms.'

marion writes with beauty about life and the real struggles, the ones that she's walked and heard and seen during her last 10 years of knowing christ..
i know of many women, all ages, that are going through a 'wilderness', and that need to choose, to decide, what survival skills to take, to receive.... i want to garner wisdom and be a part of the story of redemption that so many are in, including this young woman... glory is god's! woohoo!!

marion's website: http://www.redeemedgirl.org/
marion's blog: http://redeemedgirl.blogspot.com/
marion's vision: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_O56buH42c
youtube for the book: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFvh2Gvcq2Q

joy journey

mike mason, one of my favorite authors, wrote a simple book, or more like a personal devotional, about rediscovering god's gift of joy. 'champagne for the soul' is a 90 day joy journey. i started reading it while on a trip last week to tennessee. 2 page reading a day, and man! it fills you up, so to speak!! ;-)

my dear mom-in-law, ma, as i call her, would re-read the ones i had read, aloud, while i drove. as we started down the road to kentucky, to see her aunt evelyn, who i now call my aunt evelyn, ma would read, and we'd cry, say, "thank you father.." etc..

i so desire to express joy, but i first have to acquire, obtain, find, get, pursue, grab hold of....this precious, priceless gift. joy. so cheers!! to champagne for our souls, true joy!

(here's a 'day' that i loved reading; hehehe, i skipped around a bit! it's day 25! soooo good~and i may add my 'thoughts' in parenthesis's) oh! and the day i read this, was the day that we all went to the tennessee aquarium; the butterfly display, was a beautiful inside temp. controlled room, with butterflies EVERYWHERE! and they were gorgeous! and i kept looking for them, and looking for them, and it never got old, or boring! joy came...... indeedy it did!

STANDING OVATION

let them sacrifice thank offerings and tell of his works with songs of joy. PSALM 107:22

when it it a sacrifice to offer thanks? when i don't feel like it. this marks the difference between thanksgiving and gratitude. gratitude is an attitude of heart, whereas thanksgiving is an act. if the act of giving thanks is not performed, gratitude will not develop.

years ago, realizing i needed to develop gratitude, i began the practice of saying thanks to god for five things every night before bed. i still do this whenever i feel the least bit low. looking for reasons to be thankful, instead of focusing on worries or fears, is like putting on a new pair of glasses. life looks different through the lens of thanks. (i love that!!!!)

if you are so low that you have only one prayer to offer, let it be a prayer of thanks. it's the easiest way to pray and often the most powerful. moreover there's an intimate connection between thanksgiving and joy. in some circumstances thanksgiving, like forgiveness, is both the quickest and the only route to joy. prayers of thanks, offered from the heart, always draw one closer to the light and therefore to the fire of joy. (woop!!)

giving thanks is a way of gathering joy. imagine yourself in a meadow chasing butterflies with a net. though the meadow is full of spiders, you don't notice these; neither are you concerned with weeds or scraps of letter. you aren't collecting spiders or weeds or litter. you're collecting butterflies, and your sole focus is on capturing those brightly colored flecks of beauty.

joy requires single-mindedness. the world is full of reasons to be sad or distressed, but beauty and goodness also abound. which to look at? what you see is what you get. (man! that speaks!!)

now imagine yourself in a meadow gathering wildflowers-violets, let's say. there are other flowers in the meadow, but you have eyes only for the purple violets. when you're finished, do you have a fistful of stones or twigs or grasses? no, you have a bouquet of violets.

every day joy waits to be gathered. will you take the trouble to fine it, cherish it, be grateful? joy is like a stranger standing on you doorstep, and gratitude is the host who opens the door and says, "do come in and make yourself at home." without gratitude, joy stands forever just outside the heart, making gestures that go unnoticed. (i had to re-read that line, over and over..... )

a joyful experience isn't really ours until we call it to mind and give thanks for it. how many such experiences are lost on us every day because, living without reflection, we never take time to pray them through our door? (wowza!!)

is god less good to us on our bad days? no, he doesn't change. he's always awesome and loving. doesn't he deserve for for us to be happy? isn't he worth celebrating? he tips the sky like a goblet of light over our heads; he dresses the continents in the satiny robes of the seas. (beauty, and i'm tearing up!) if he'd done nothing else, wouldn't these feats alone be worth a continuous clap of joy?

joy glorifies god. when we fell good, god looks good. don't be half-hearted for god; give him a standing ovation every day. it's what he's waiting for. it's what you're waiting for too. your whole being waits to erupt into thunderous and unending praise. you won't be happy until you do. you won't be happy until your first waking thought is of the glory of being alive. you won't be happy until like a little child you can hardly wait to get out of bed and tiptoe downstairs to see what magic awaits you. you won't be happy until you forget your problems long enough to look up to heaven and be stunned into heartfelt thanks for a life overflowing with goodness. (amen!)

(pg. 49-50, champagne for the the soul; rediscovering god's gift of joy by mike mason)

to blog or not to blog!

hey! i was thinking in the shower this weekend about my blog.. why i have one, what i share, etc... :-)
friends/family may read this blog, but that's not why i'm writing on 17 diamonds, so just others can read or comment, or share.
it's a bit more needy on my part/i don't like to admit, maybe a lil' selfish, for me! :-D

blogging sort of reminds me... of a church, a place of truth, a place of finding, seeking, knowing, hoping. a 'safe' place, and a quiet place. doesn't matter the time or the day/i'm a night owl! 24/7; if i'm sick or not, with make-up, or not! come as you are~

so, as i was talking out loud and scrubbing my scalp, hehehehe, i said, "lord, this is a 'place' for me to share my thoughts, my ideas, my heart, my soul, sometimes intimate vulnerable places for me, songs, family pictures, friends/relationships, times with you, papa... i love sharing, and connecting; reading and seeing other friends/people share and connect and live, laugh and love!! ;-) that's my favorite part, lord.. just good ol' fashioned encouragement, and joy, and at times, crying with someone else, trying a new fabulous recipe/yum!!!, 'hearing' a heart, relating with a women in a 'going through', learning something new and different, remembering the past, living in the present and hoping for the future, reading about your hand, papa.... it humbles me, it lifts me, makes me smile, makes me want to reach out, reach in, fill up more with you, and be apart of your creation...

thank you, lord, for the blogworld! ha! bless the sharers and the ones that are in need today, and please allow your people, the fruit of YOUR spirit to go forth in them, to be multiplied in the readers, the listeners, the ones wanting to blog/to share and perhaps be healed, or begin the journey of your truth, today! for this is the day YOU have made! you designed it just for us, god.. your 'blog' is beautiful!! i love you.. "

yep.. it was a longer shower than usual, and i was cleansed in a really cool way, and that is all for now~ here's 2 links to 2 of jill phillips' songs, 'a lot like me'. really great tune, and i love the lyric. http://jillphillips.com/albums/good-things-2008/10/lot-me and 'nobody's got it all together' http://jillphillips.com/albums/nobody039s-got-it-all-together-2006/1/nobodys-got-it-all-together (thanks, jill!)

here is a christmas picture that makes me smile and feel really good!! i love my family~

may you receive the shunshine from the SON this beauty monday day~

love, lisi