How Shall I Pray?

One of my favorite books is Guerrillas of Grace by Ted Loder.  His prayers in the book on so many days get right to the heart of what I'm feeling.  Today is no different.  Hope you all have a wonderful Sunday.

How Shall I Pray?

How shall I pray?
Are tears prayers, Lord?
Are screams prayers,
or groans
or sighs
or curses?

Can trembling hands be lifted to you,
or clenched fists
or the cold sweat that trickles down my back
or the cramps that knot my stomach?

Will you accept my prayers, Lord,
my real prayers,
rooted in the muck and mud and rock of my life,
and not just my pretty, cut-flower, gracefully arranged
bouquet of words?
Will you accept me, Lord,
as I really am,
messed up mixture of glory and grime?

Lord, Help me!
Help me to trust that you do accept me as I am,
that I may be done with self-condemnation
and self-pity,
and accept myself.
Help me to accept you as you are, Lord:
mysterious,
hidden,
strange,
unknowable;

and yet to trust
that your madness is wiser
than my timid, self-seeking sanities,
and that nothing you've ever done
has really been possible
so I may dare to be a little mad, too.

Ted Loder

On My Bookshelves...

At the beginning of 2011 I made a deal with myself that I would spend less time online and spend more of my free time reading and watching movies...two things that I hadn't spent much time doing in the last couple of years because of being plugged in all the time to Facebook, Blogger, Google Reader and Twitter.

As of today, I have stuck by my deal.  However, as a result, my blogging has suffered...so has my housework and laundry at times...but...I have really enjoyed unplugging from the digital world and actually turning real pages in real books.

Book Review - Unlocked by Karen Kingsbury

From the Product Description... 

Holden Harris is an eighteen-year-old locked in a prison of autism. Despite his quiet ways and quirky behaviors, Holden is very happy and socially normal---on the inside, in a private world all his own. In reality, he is bullied at school by kids who only see that he is very different. Ella Reynolds is part of the 'in' crowd. A cheerleader and star of the high school drama production, her life seems perfect. When she catches Holden listening to her rehearse for the school play, she is drawn to him ... the way he is drawn to the music. Then, Ella makes a dramatic discovery---she and Holden were best friends as children. Frustrated by the way Holden is bullied, and horrified at the indifference of her peers, Ella decides to take a stand against the most privileged and popular kids at school. Including her boyfriend, Jake. Ella believes miracles can happen in the unlikeliest places, and that just maybe an entire community might celebrate from the sidelines. But will Holden's praying mother and the efforts of Ella and a cast of theater kids be enough to unlock the prison that contains Holden? This time, friendship, faith, and the power of a song must be strong enough to open the doors to the miracle Holden needs. 

My Review...
Unlocked by Karen Kingsbury was enjoyable to read and hard to put down.  Karen has a way of drawing me into her stories and her books never fail to inspire me to continually strengthen my faith.  While the main themes of this book are Autism, Teen Suicide and Bullying, all relevant topics for today's teenagers, I found myself drawn to the character of Ella and her relationship with her mother.  Ella is a strong girl who won't take no for an answer when she is trying to help Holden, yet she has her own struggles at home.  The theme of bullying was so interesting to me and I felt myself rooting for the characters who were seen as different and didn't fit in.  The ability to see into Holden's locked up world of Autism was fascinating, especially when I read about the research Karen had done to prepare for writing this book.  Although the book is fairly predictable, it is an inspirational story filled with hope and it will warm your heart.  I recommend this for teenagers to adults.  Tissues Needed!

Thanks to Zondervan for sending me this book in exchange for my review!




Jackie

Fall Into Reading 2009...

I'm up for a challenge! I haven't spent much time reading this summer...what? Yes, that's right...not much at all. I miss it! I have a pile of books I want to read so I've decided to join the Fall Reading Challenge over at Callapidder Days. Will you join me?


Here is what I plan to read...what are you reading this Fall?


The Wednesday Letters by Jason F. Wright

Moo by Jane Smiley

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

Healing Sands by Stephen Arterburn

Intuitive Eating by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch

Breaking Free from Emotional Eating by Geneen Roth

How Do I Love Thee? by Nancy Moser

and...I've added another one thanks to Jenners at Find Your Next Book Here...

Lies My Mother Never Told Me by Kaylie Jones


Like always, I'm working through a bible study every morning as well. I have just started a new bible study called:

Me, Myself and Lies by Jennifer Rothschild

I'm also currently reading her companion book:
Self Talk, Soul Talk

and I'm reading her devotional book:
Fresh Grounded Faith

I can't wait to hear what you're reading this Fall!

Reflections on the week...

Saturdays are such great days to slow down, relax, reflect on the past week, plan for the coming one plus get a few errands and projects done too. I'm enjoying this beautiful, cool and fall-like weather we're having in Missouri and the hummingbirds are going crazy. They have been at my feeder more in the past week than all summer. Hmmmm...wonder if that means they are getting ready to move on. I hope not...I'm not ready for them to go.

This past week I had two workshops at work. Part of my job is to organize the events we hold and there are many events this year. The two this past week are our biggest of the semester. They both went well overall with only a couple of minor hiccups at each one. Now on to post-workshop details and getting ready for the upcoming events and projects. Academic Year 2009-2010 has officially started for us now.

Kobe got to meet his 3rd grade teacher this week. Initially, he wasn't excited at all when he found out who his teacher was. He was really hoping to have the teacher who taught the scrap booking segment during summer school and she is great. However, when we got up to the classroom and actually met his new teacher and he saw that a few of his friends were in his class, he was much more excited. I'm pleased that she is a teaching veteran with 22 years of experience all in our school district. We also went to visit his teacher from last year and she didn't even recognize him he had grown so much. He loved her and we're both going to miss her but this year holds a lot of promise to be GREAT!

Now, on to the Baseball saga. Kobe was so excited to sign up for Fall Baseball because he loved Spring Baseball. Well, as it turns out he ended up on a team with kids all from another school and he doesn't know anyone and the coach is hardcore (as far as 8 year olds are concerned). He makes them do drills, run laps when they make mistakes and he takes it all very seriously. So seriously that he had practice last night, this morning, Sunday afternoon and Monday evening in addition to the other practices they've already had. The first game is Wednesday evening. All the practices and drills seem a little excessive but we're trying to roll with it. Kobe, however, is not enjoying it and just seems to be tolerating it. He has said he wants to quit. He hasn't even played the first game yet so he can't really judge this season fairly until that happens. I hope this experience doesn't ruin it for him...he is only 8 years old. What to do? What to do? Sometimes this parenting stuff is hard!

The rest of the weekend is mostly going to consist of hanging out, doing laundry, going to baseball practices and reading my new book, Bad Girls of the Bible by Liz Curtis Higgs. Sounds pretty good to me!

Hope your weekend is a good one.