Prayer Buddy Reveal

I had the blessing of praying for Rebecca at Shoved To Them this Advent!

I felt especially honored to be able to pray for you, Rebecca, and I hope God used my prayers to bless you this season.

The following was an Advent prayer I found online (it was supposed to be for the first week of Advent, but I used it the entire time!  I thought it was beautiful, and I adapted it just for my prayer buddy by inserting her name for "me". 

Advent Week 1 Prayer

Come, long-expected Jesus.
Excite in me a wonder at the wisdom and power of Your
Father and ours.
Receive my prayer as part of my service of the Lord
who enlists me in God's own work for justice.

Come, long-expected Jesus.
Excite in me a hunger for peace: peace in the world,
peace in my home, peace in myself.

Come, long-expected Jesus.
Excite in me a joy responsive to the Father's joy.
I seek His will so I can serve with gladness, singing and love.

Come, long-expected Jesus.
Excite in me the joy and love and peace
it is right to bring to the manger of my Lord.
Raise in me, too,
sober reverence for the God who acted there,
hearty gratitude for the life begun there,
and spirited resolution to serve the Father and Son.

I pray in the name of Jesus Christ,
whose advent I hail.

Amen. 

Thank you for sharing your blog Rebecca, it is such an inspiration to others!  You are such a blessing!

Friday Quick Takes #10

1.  I LOVE our Christmas tree this year.  For some reason it is not dropping hardly any needles, unlike last year when I was vaccuuming every day!  We have had to devise a contraption to keep the cat from drinking all the tree's water.  Our cat is obsessed with water.  He prefers to drink out of a running faucet, rather than his water bowl.  If he hears water, he comes running....so refilling the Christmas tree makes for an adventure.  Luckily our anti-cat contraption is working and you barely notice it.  It's a piece of dark foam rubber that we cut to fit around the base of the tree and over the top of the water tray.And most importantly, it works!  Our poor cat is just furious over it.

2.  We are battling a long-lasting viral cold in this house.  It started with Isabel, spread to me and I gave it to Ian.  Isabel was doing better, and I was just starting to get it on Saturday when we went to a potluck dinner....I think that was a bad move.  I dosed up on dayquil before we went and felt well enough to make it through the party, but I think we just ended up spreading our germs instead of joy and Christmas cheer. :(  That was last Saturday, and the running noses are continuing....I hate when colds hang on.  Hopefully we will get through it and be well for Christmas week!

3.  Ian is cruising along furniture and starting to let go with one hand, turn around and then just sort of freefall- IF someone is there to catch him.  He doesn't really do it if he knows he's by himself.  I don't know if he expects that he can stand on his own or thinks he's going to take off walking or what!?  (He's definitely not got the balance yet to just stand on his own yet).  He's growing up faster than Isabel did....I swear!  In our house, Ian is a big ham...always smiling, giggling, getting into mischief, but as soon as someone else enters the house he becomes very serious. 

4.  We made salt-dough ornaments this week and they turned out AWESOME!  I used this lady's recipe and I think this will be an annual tradition.  Very frugal, but they turned out much nicer than I expected.  I need to take a picture :)

5.  We watched Nicholas:  The Boy Who Became Santa this week for the Feast of St. Nicholas and the Christians in the show are being persecuted.  Well Isabel asked me, "Why don't they just tell the bad guys that they (the Christians) don't really believe in Jesus so they don't kill them and throw them in jail?"  Ohhhh boy!  Big discussions at 5 years old....how to explain martyrdom as a good thing.  Any ideas?  I was so caught off guard.  I told her that it's always important to show your love for Jesus, even when people are teasing you or want to throw you in jail, etc. and that maybe that you standing up for Jesus will lead to the bad guy changing his heart to love Jesus too!

6.  I don't have a 7th quick take this week, so for my 6th, could you please send up some prayers for Rob's dad?  My FIL had a stroke and is currently in the hospital.  He does not seem to understand what people are saying and is having trouble forming sentences.  :(  His prognosis is very uncertain at this point and we are kind of taking it moment by moment until the doctors give us some more info.  Please pray for our whole family that God will show His will and bring good out of this situation.  Thank you!

Prayer Buddy!

Hey Prayer Buddy!  I've got a request!  I'm really struggling with an issue of overindulgence over here.  And it's not what you think.  I'm actually the one who is trying to keep things simple.  But I'm getting overwhelmed by the overindulgence of others, especially since this time of year is supposed to be about JESUS, preparing for Him, slowing down, reflecting....

...and instead I'm panicking and a little sick to my stomach, because of "too much of a good thing".

I know...it's rather vague.  If you could just pray that God will work all of this out, and that I can leave it up to Him.  That would be great. 

There's something about a simpler life that I am drawn to.  Less materialism.  Less clutter to occupy my house and my mind.  Maybe it's time to move out to the country and raise chickens. 

And on another note, a big Praise God! for so many new pregnancies around me lately!  Praying that these are all blessed and healthy!  Praise God for new life all around. 

Put a Sock In It!

Oh not you!

Me.

This is what I've decided to work on during Advent. 

God kind of alerted me to this at Adoration last night.  I went in and knelt down and started rambling. 

Then I got distracted.  Lost my train of thought.  I couldn't focus.  My mind was everywhere.  And I sensed God telling me to slow down and bask in His presence.  I needed to put a sock in the "mouth" of my mind, which was apparently running in overdrive.

And I'm so glad He let me know.  Because I was able to stop.  And let go.  And truly bask in His presence.  I took all of my sin, and all of my worry, and frustration, anxiety, sadness, you name it....and I gave it to Him.
And I felt light.
I thought I might fall over in the pew....I literally felt that weightless.
It was supernatural.

Until I started thinking thoughts like, "what if I really do fall out of my pew and all these people see me?"  And then that "light" feeling started to slip away. 

Trust Me.

Okay Lord.  You know best.  I trust in You. 

I had over an hour of glorious adoration time. 

And my new reminder when my mind starts to think about "too much" at once,  is to put a sock in it.

Here's my little mascot to cheer me on:

Lord, help me to slow down, put a sock in it, and listen to what you would have me hear this Advent.