I will be Your God

Ezekiel 36:28

You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.

Hosea 2:23

and I will sow her for myself in the land. And I will have mercy on No Mercy, and I will say to Not My People, 'You are my people'; and he shall say, 'You are my God.'"

Jeremiah 31:33

But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Zechariah 13:9

And I will put this third into the fire, and refine them as one refines silver, and test them as gold is tested. They will call upon my name, and I will answer them. I will say, 'They are my people'; and they will say, 'The LORD is my God.'"

Exodus 6:7

I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.

Leviticus 26:12

And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people.

Ezekiel 11:20

that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

2 Corinthians 6:16

What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, "I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Revelation 21:3

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.

2 Samuel 7:24

And you established for yourself your people Israel to be your people forever. And you, O LORD, became their God.

Ezekiel 37:26-27

I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will set them in their land and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in their midst forevermore. My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Hosea 1:10

Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And in the place where it was said to them, "You are not my people," it shall be said to them, "Children of the living God."

Exodus 29:45-46

I will dwell among the people of Israel and will be their God. And they shall know that I am the LORD their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among them. I am the LORD their God.

Zechariah 8:8

and I will bring them to dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in faithfulness and in righteousness."

Jeremiah 30:22

And you shall be my people, and I will be your God."

Jeremiah 24:7

I will give them a heart to know that I am the LORD, and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart.

All things Trader Joe's

I was doing research for a new project I am working on in the wine section. What I found was that the internet has a lot of devoted Trader Joe's fans (like me!). I also found a few other Trader Joe's artists with sites as well. There were hundreds of articles and blogs about Trader Joe's and its food, howeverI posted only the links for the sites strictly designed for all things Trader Joe's.


Tracking Trader Joe's -not affiliated with TJ's at all but extremely devoted and surprisingly knowledgeable about all the products

Cooking with Trader Joe's -again, not affiliated with TJ's.

Trader Joe artist #1

Trader Joe artist #2

And finally, the actual Trader Joe's website.

Who knew!?!

Butte College Journal

I have lots of filled (or partially filled) journals laying around my house. I think it's time to start going through them, learning what I can about myself, then getting rid of them and moving on. Here are the highlights of my past year.

Things I was musing over:

• the differences between "shadow" and "shade"
• Why I sometimes lie to avoid confrontation and embarrassment
• How to survive domestication -I wrote this after having to be at home all day by myself with nothing to do.
  

Projects I was working on:

• 2009 women's retreat -Theme: "Healing Blood"
  
• Lifeway writing assignment -huge assignment I did about being a servant like Christ. It was supposed to go online but I haven't seen it at all.
• Brittney's house warming party -now she's all grown up and getting married!
• Fund raising for young woman's ministries (stopped because everything fell through)
• Devotional assignment for Lifeway about Jesus being the only way to salvation.
  
• Started working on a personal essay for the Sac Bee but never finished.

Significant moments:

• The day we brought home Dozer
• 2008 VBS -I love my group of 5th and 6th graders
• September 6, 2008 -Youth Day
• August 30, 2008 -SYC car wash fundraiser
• Writer's workshop at the Paradise library
  

Sunday School:

• August 10, 2008 -Help in our Christian walk (Hebrews 2:14-18, 3:5-14)
• August 31, 2008 -Getting through our Christian walk (Hebrews 12)
• Date unknown -Romans Road
  

Something I wrote after a walk with Dozer in the Park:

Walk.
A carnival with laughing kids.
Everyone is happy.
I am alone but peaceful.
Not scared.
A man with jeans on.
Is He following me?

I'm excited to have kids someday.
To take them to the park or a carnival.
Until then I must watch from a distance.
Watch smiling children come up to me,
To pet my dog.
I'm more of a dog person anyways.

That is all for my Butte College journal. I can now recycle those memories. One small step to getting rid of some of the junk around my house.

What I have been learning

I have been learning that God is constantly leading me and sending me reminders of His love and grace in unexplainable ways whether I take the time to notice them or not.

Verse that I have been dwelling on lately:

Psalm 19

The Witness of Creation and Scripture

For the choir director. A Davidic psalm.

¹ The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky proclaims the work of His hands.

² Day after day they pour out speech;
night after night they communicate knowledge.

³ There is no speech; there are no words;
their voice is not heard.

⁴ Their message has gone out to all the earth,
and their words to the ends of the inhabited world.
In the heavens He has pitched a tent for the sun.

⁵ It is like a groom coming from the bridal chamber;
it rejoices like an athlete running a course.

⁶ It rises from one end of the heavens
and circles to their other end;
nothing is hidden from its heat.

⁷ The instruction of the LORD is perfect,
reviving the soul;
the testimony of the LORD is trustworthy,
making the inexperienced wise.

⁸ The precepts of the LORD are right,
making the heart glad;
the commandment of the LORD is radiant,
making the eyes light up.

⁹ The fear of the LORD is pure,
enduring forever;
the ordinances of the LORD are reliable
and altogether righteous.

¹⁰ They are more desirable than gold—
than an abundance of pure gold;
and sweeter than honey—
than honey dripping from the comb.

¹¹ In addition, Your servant is warned by them;
there is great reward in keeping them.

¹² Who perceives his unintentional sins?
Cleanse me from my hidden faults.

¹³ Moreover, keep Your servant from willful sins;
do not let them rule over me.
Then I will be innocent,
and cleansed from blatant rebellion.

¹⁴ May the words of my mouth
and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable to You,
LORD, my rock and my Redeemer.

In times of disappointment God gives us the gift of His creation. In times of confusion He gives us the gift of His word. My prayer is that my heart be turned away from sin and disobedience. THE LORD IS MY ROCK AND MY REDEEMER. AMEN.

Do It Yourself Marriage Retreat

I just came across a this Do-it-yourself Marriage Retreat document online. I read through it pretty quickly but I noticed there were some questions in it that I wouldn't think about discussing with my husband on my own. Chris is still sleeping but I am going to say that this is something we will try. It is for Christian couples which means the questions are designed for stay at home moms and their bread winning dads. For us, being a couple with two incomes and no kids, we will need to adapt some of the questions to our lifestyle (that apparently isn't very Christian), but I digress. Lord help me, I am trying to be humble.

Anyways, here is the PDF file. I hope it works ok; my computer skills are non-existent when Chris is asleep.

My New Year's Resolution

I never usually make resolutions. I don't make them because I know that I can't keep them. This year I am making a resolution and I hope that it sticks. I am going to cook more meals at home. This is a lifestyle change that I have been wanting to do for a while and this is the year I am going to do it. It just makes sense. Not only is it healthier but it is cheaper to buy groceries and cook something. The only thing I will be missing out on is the convenience.

I started out last night making fish enchiladas. They were yummy. I even had enough to take leftovers to work, saving me money during my lunch break. Chris is helping me out by making his resolution to EAT more at home.

Good luck to all who made resolutions this year!