A JOYFUL NOISE

A couple of weeks ago, we were in Richmond to celebrate my nieces' 6th birthday.  We left late morning because we wanted to go to the Chesterfield Mall to look at some things.   Mom also needed to get some stuff for dinner for the long weekend (Fri-Sunday), so we decided to head over to Costco over in Richmond; we decided to head to the food court to eat some lunch there.   Mom and I were looking at the menu (well, she was because I had already decided on the salad since that's really the only gluten free thing there); a little girl came up to me, barely 3 feet away from me and started to stare at me.  I usually ignore these things, but it gets annoying to a point, especially if someone starts to following you around to continue to stare.   Then, another irritating thing is when the mom of this child knows her child is staring and she does nothing about it until my mom says "please stop staring, it's not nice".   Even, when that doesn't work, it gets more a...

There are various albums from the reAwakening album from Christ Community Church in Tennessee that I listen to quite often (there is 2 reAwakening and one called "We Will Worship You).  I put the CDs on my iPod so that it is portable for me so I can take it wherever I go and I can listen to it whenever I want to/need to it.  I listen to it when I do my daily tasks around the house, during my quiet times, or just when I need some heart encouragement.  I also use a lot of the words to many of these songs to give encouragement to many of my friends. One of my favorite songs on the reAwakening 2 CD is "I Wait for the Lord", which is based on Psalms 130: 5, 6.   Do you ever get those "ah-ha" moments?  You know, you understand the verses but then, at that point, you see it in a whole new light?  That is what happened to me the other day when I had listened to this song.  I didn't pick this album to listen to, so I wasn't antic...

For the past several weeks, I have had quite a few nights of restlessness.   I would lay in bed and can't sleep.  I would give in and take my Klonopin and nothing happens.  I try to lay in my bed with my eyes closed, occasionally soft music in the background, prayers in my heart.  Nothing happens.   I'm restless, not necessarily from pain (although probably 2/3rd of the time it probably is from the pain; but I can't do much about it because the doctors are being really careful about what medications/how much narcotics I'm given, which is NOT much AT ALL.).   So I sit up in bed, turn my lamp on, and try to read a book.  I do a lot of reading these days, so you can image the amount of tangible books I have as well as e-books I have on my Kindle (including the Bible).  I'll read a chapter or two.  Sometimes I use that time to collect my thoughts about what to write on my blog or take time to pray for others. Other times,...