Worth Reading...

Home from church this morning with a sick Bay...hoping the extra rest after a super-busy week will have her ready to go to the "Camp Report" service tonight! As much as I hated missing this morning, it has been nice to have a bit of quiet time to study, read, and reflect (in between switching loads of laundry...STILL. :)) I thought I'd share a few articles and posts I've run across this morning that are well worth reading (several are from links shared by Ann at A Holy Experience; I'm not sure what rabbit trails led to the others...)

Ann's series on Journaling is timely for me, as I'm trying to get back into this discipline. This post is much more than "how tos"...it motivated me to actually grab my dusty journal off the shelf and start writing! Also love this one on journaling as part of family worship.

I just found Brad Ruggles blog, and wow! I've been bookmarking posts left and right. This one so expresses what's been on my heart lately. God has spent the last two and a half years teaching me the truth that our lives are not meant to be safe or comfortable...I love Brad's "adapted quote" here.

The Prison of Thanklessness is another great post from Ruggles's blog, Learning How to Live. Very convicting.

I've seen The Girls from Ames at the library and the bookstore and thought it looked like an interesting "someday" read. After reading this article, I just reserved it at the library. I thought this comment was particularly interesting..."As we age, friendships can be crucial to our health and even our sanity. In fact, a host of scientific studies show that having a close group of friends helps people sleep better, improve their immune systems, stave off dementia and live longer."

I've noticed recently that many of the verses that speak the most to me these days are from the book of Isaiah. Bro. Kent's worship series (which I am unhappily missing this morning!) has been from Isaiah 6. Isaiah 40 is one of my favorite chapters in the Bible...packed with incredible verses. And ever since I was a little girl, Isaiah 53 has been one of the most beautiful chapters in the Bible to me. For the past year or so, God has been immersing me in the topic of His Holiness...which seems to be a major theme of the book of Isaiah. So, while we were at camp last week, I decided to start a verse-by-verse study of Isaiah. This morning as I was preparing to begin that tomorrow, I ran across this guide to inductive Bible Study by Kay Arthur of Precept Ministries.

I may have posted a link to the Habit List before, but I've pulled it back out to use for a while again...for me *and* for the kids. More on that later...

The church-goers are home and it's time to finish fixing lunch! So..."more later" from me as well. :)