Chronicles of Narnia

This morning I started reading the Chronicles of Narnia series along with A Family Guide to Narnia. I had already read The Magician's Nephew and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe two years ago (after having read TLTW&TW when I was in elementary school). I have been struggling whether I should start at the beginning again, or should I start with the 3rd book (The Horse and His Boy). I finally decided to start with The Magician's Nephew because I am off work for 4 more weeks and I have plenty of time to read the first two books again.

Since my surgery I have already read NINE books. I love to read and I wish I had more time to read. Having extra time on my hands during my recovery has been wonderful. I will miss all this reading when I have to go back to work.

Pursue Your Strengths

Today's Scripture
“Do not neglect your gift…” (I Timothy 4:14).
Today's Word from Joel and Victoria
God has equipped each one of us with specific gifts and talents. It’s up to you to not only to identify those gifts, but to be disciplined to develop those gifts. You have to learn to stay in your strength zone. What are you naturally good at? What do you enjoy doing? Take the time to identify your strengths and weaknesses and as the scripture says, give yourself to your gifts. In other words, don’t spend all your time trying to improve your weaknesses. Don’t waste valuable days pursuing things that are outside your main gifting. Focus on your strengths. There is something that you’re good at naturally—something you can do that comes easy to you. Step out into your area of gifting. Are you good with people? Are you good with your hands? Do you have a great voice? Find ways to develop those gifts. Know that your gifts and talents are a part of your divine destiny. If you’ll be comfortable with who God made you to be, and thank Him for your unique gifting, you’ll not only enjoy your life more, but you’ll be ready to receive the abundant blessing God has in store for you!
A Prayer for Today
Heavenly Father, thank You for equipping me with everything I need to be successful in this life. I ask that You show me how to develop the gifts within me for Your glory. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

I received this a few weeks ago and I saved it because it was a reminder to order the book Now, Discover Your Strengths that I heard about at a seminar I attended a couple of months ago. I finally got around to ordering the book today, so I thought I would post this to my blog. I know that I have strengths and abilities that God has given me and I look forward to identifying them and developing them.

Anxiety

Whenever we spin anxious scenarios about the future, we waste precious emotional energy. This kind of worrying represents a negative use of the power of our imagination. As such, it can be a misguided attempt to control the future. But instead of controlling the future, we soon discover that anxiety controls us. Jesus said, "Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matt. 6:34. Begin to form habits that will help you break the power of worry in your life. Start by thanking God each morning for some small sign of His goodness: a loving friend, a beautiful garden, a child's smile. Gratitude will increase your sense of God's presence in your life. Then, set aside some time to think about ways God has taken care of you in the past. Write them down and make them part of your faith arsenal, so that when you are tempted by anxious thoughts you can remind yourself of concrete examples of how God has already provided for you. ~ From "Women of The Bible."

Book Hoard

I have been hoarding books. In the past 10 years or so, I have bought a lot of books. Some I have read and some I thought I would read at the time. These are mostly religious books. It is time to face the fact that I have too many books to read and I will probably never re-read most of the books I have read. So, I have spent the past few days clearing out books and I am taking most of them to the student center. I found it really hard to release these books, because "what if" I DO want to read them/read them again. Well, I made a list and I know that they are going to be in the library at the student center if I do want them and can't afford to buy them. I am donating 55 books - 34 of which I have already read. This doesn't include a big box of books I donated to the women's center a couple of months ago, or the bag I am taking next week to the women's center, or the books I have sold in garage sales over the year. I told you I was hoarding books. I need to go on a book buying fast.

A trip to Family Christian

I went to Family Christian today and spent my 25% coupon. This is what I purchased:

• I got two Streams in the Desert to have on hand for gifts.
• A new t-shirt
• My Utmost for His Highest (DH and I are re-read it next year and I want my own copy.)
• Love Comes Softly - We got this on Netflix a while back and it was really good. It was the $5 special today (plus 25% off) so I bought it for our collection.
• Memorize the Message - 52 Scripture Memory Verse Cards. I will have this as my goal for next year. We'll see how it goes. I've set scripture memorization as a goal before, and it didn't last long. Hopefully, I will enjoy this translation more and stick with it.