But not as hot as yesterday...the highest I saw on my home thermometer was 107 degrees! And it was still in the high 80's at midnight! Lord willing, it will cool off more tonight.
We had a very nice 4th of July...spent most of the day at home, just doing stuff around here. Then we went over to the Matt's house (HI SUE!) for a yummy BBQ dinner. The kids had a blast on their trampoline and Kenny and I got to relax with our friends. We got to see lots of fireworks in their neighborhood, despite the fact that they are illegal in Brentwood. I guess people don't care about that! We watched anyway. :o)
Kenny and Nathan are gone right now, in Santa Barbara packing up Kenny's mom to move up here. Things are going well for them so far! I've enjoyed a couple of quiet days here with the kids, swimming and just hanging out. I started scrapbooking our cruise pictures today too!
A few of us in Brentwood (from my home school group) are reading through the book "A Woman's Walk With God" by Elizabeth George on the fruits of the spirit. I wanted to share something I read from the book that really spoke to me.
She goes on to say "our joy as Christians is not dependent on circumstance, but on the spiritual realities of God's goodness, His unconditional love for us, and His ultimate victory over sin and darkness. It is not based on our efforts, accomplishments or willpower, but rather on the truth about our relationship with the Father through the Son. Joy is not merely an emotion, but the result of choosing to look beyond what appearts to be true in our life to what is true about our life in Christ."
I really like the way she puts that. Our JOY as a Christian should come just from the Lord. I realized when I read that, how dependent I can be on my circumstances to be "happy" and how easy it is for me to forget that my true joy is in the Lord.
Just thought I'd share that! :)
Stay cool and have a good weekend!
2 comments:
LOVE that book. I read it years ago when I was in Mexico. Aaaaahhhh.....
We heard a sermon on that exact subject about a month ago and it was really the 1st time that concept had struck me. I've had people act like if you're sad about something, you must not have spiritual joy. Its not walking around with a big cheesy smile on your face all the time. Its a reality in your heart. Knowing that even in this dark trial, God is still AWESOME and working all things out for good in our lives. Knowing that His end result is better than ours ever could be. A reality that God is God and we're not and that alone should give us great joy. :) Enjoy the rest of your book!
Yeah, and it's a good reminder for me to not let my spiritual life reflect how I might be "feeling" at any given moment. I can easily react on emotion. I have read this book before too (we did a study on it at LRBC a few years back) but I'm gleaning stuff from it again! It's good to re-read books b/c I forget what they were about. LOL!
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