Blessings

This week has been monstrously difficult, schedule and stress-wise. Hence I asked Jonathan to review a book he read. Wouldn't want the website to just die now, would we?! (Please, let us not quibble over priorities.) At any rate, on top of school (getting a BA in history and had an American History exam yesterday) and a big family cleaning project, I'm feeling a bit done in. Today I have dubbed Recovery Day and am allowing myself the pleasure of reading whatever I'd like and doing whatever I want before we revisit the cleaning project this evening. In that vein, I decided that our young squire, along with myself, would go to the used bookstore. Not because I needed to (because I so do not need to) but because I wanted to. I had some books to trade and as I was browsing shelves I stumbled across this:



You might recall that I mentioned during the Lucy Maud Montgomery Challenge that I was not in possession of this book. I used to own it, but loaned it out and it was never returned. My collection of LMM fiction books has therefore been incomplete -- until today! For a ripping one dollar and fifty cents, my collection has been made whole. I. am. STOKED! SO jazzed! I called my husband on his cell. He was, of course, at work and reception was sort of bad so the conversation went something like this:

Me: "GUESS WHAT I FOUND!?!?!?!"
J: "What?!"
Me: "JANE OF LANTERN HILL!!!"
J: "What's that?" (Ok, well, you know we all have our faults and I've now admitted his publicly here in this post. He didn't know what Jane of Lantern Hill was. This falls in my Pardonable Sins category when it comes to husbands. After all, I figure he made the $1.50 with which I used to purchase the book so I'll let this question go.)
Me: "It's the ONLY LMM work of fiction that I didn't have!!!!"
J: "It's a happy day!?"
Me: "It's a HAPPY DAY!"

And it is.

Have I mentioned that I've felt a little stressed lately? Because if I haven't - I have. (Here's my Honest Post for the month, Lisa.) I've been really struggling, wanting to have an attitude that reflects the graciousness of God in all that I do. I want to learn THROUGH circumstances, not just after them when I typically look back and see that I have left disaster in my wake. I want to go about blessing people and not just charging through life trying to accomplish my To Do List. This is what I'm working on. Some days are better than others. Some days I can't seem to be gracious enough and other days not gracious at all. This is frustrating to me because I really wish I were perfect. (Heh.) On the drive home from the book store, while listening to one of my favorite albums, the following song came on:

Now, in order to really get the full effect you must blast the speakers out on your respective computer speakers and sing along with it at the top of your lungs, ignoring the curious stares of your children (or, perhaps the people in the car stopped next to you at the red light). Some songs are just meant to be yelled. This is one of them. And I'm not going to give you the lyrics in this post because the artist himself is so much more effective in sharing his message (in my humblest of opinions).



So, not only did God treat me and bless me with a book I have been looking to replace for no less than TEN YEARS but He also reminded me that He's got me covered. Though I may personally fail a few things, He can still work with me. In my weaknesses His strength is displayed. At least that's the hope I desperately cling to and believe in.

Have you been blessed today or reminded of how much God really does care about you!? Do share. Let's dance on the mountain top together. Sometimes dancing on a mountaintop in the company of friends beats out a book review. Just sometimes.