precious in His sight...

God gave me this passage this morning for myself, and I thought I would pass it along to you. It brings encouragement to my spirit and my mind, and I hope it does for you as well... just insert your name into the brackets, as I'm sure God already has!

Isaiah 43:1-5
But now, this is what the LORD says—

he who created you, O [your name here!],

he who formed you, O [your name here!]:

"Fear not, for I have redeemed you;

I have summoned you by name; you are mine.

When you pass through the waters,

I will be with you;

and when you pass through the rivers,

they will not sweep over you.

When you walk through the fire,

you will not be burned;

the flames will not set you ablaze.
For I am the LORD, your God,

the Holy One of Israel, your Savior…
you are precious and honored in my sight,

and I love you…
Do not be afraid, for I am with you...

things that make me smile...

I have always loved abbreviations and acronyms. Long before there was texting, I was using "bcs" for "because" and "thx" for "thanks." I have always been an avid note-taker, with as much detail included as possible, and perhaps, that is the reason I've always loved abbreviations.

Well, I have a new post abbreviation: TTMMS!. It stands for "Thing That Make Me Smile!" I have decided to do some posting of random things that make me smile...bcs, after all, that's what living a Heart Rock Life (HRL??) is all about, right?--finding joy in the little things, in the daily discoveries, in the many ways God shows us His presence and His love in our daily lives... if we will have eyes to see and hearts to understand...and mouths with which to show our delight!

And so, today is the first TTMMS! posting because this totally made me smile!

This was a chocolate cupcake from The Sweet and Saucy Shop--chocolate with kahlua frosting!--and it originally looked like this:

But, after I had taken a bunch of bites out of the bottom, I was left with a bit of the top and some frosting... and this delightful little smile!! :) (no, I did NOT make it into this! it really was all of its own accord!)

Definitely TTMMS!

here am i....

So, a few of you may have noticed that I have been away... at least from my blog... for a few weeks. I did not intend it to be so many days, but for the suddenly undisciplined, each day passed into another and another, and well, here it is, three weeks since my last post.

Since I don't have a giant readership, I felt that I probably wasn't all that missed from the blogosphere and didn't push myself to be here. Over the past two days, however, three of my readers emailed or checked in via Facebook to ask if everything is ok in my world. I sheepishly say, 'yes.'

I have been 'away' for a few reasons... a couple of good ones, and (the reason for the sheepishness) a couple of not-so-good ones. The good reasons are that I have been helping a sick friend with her kids the past few weekends, and I have been away from the computer and/or not really able to blog on those days. Another ok reason was that, once I passed my one-blog-post-every-day-for-one-year mark, I decided to allow myself some leeway to not necessarily post every day.

The not-so-good reasons are that I have become very undisciplined--and, as I said, as one day turned into another, it became easy to skip it for a night...and another...and another... This was also a sign of the lack of discipline in seeking those "heart rock life" moments and encounters, and I found myself not really looking for those little, but meaningful, God-moments in my day. I've allowed myself to be "busy" with less important things in the evening, such as too much Facebook time or game-playing time on the computer--rather than sharing God-encounters.

And, so, with my confessions... and with my heart of gratitude toward those of you who sought me out... I say, as Samuel did, "Here am I, Lord."

"Each day holds a surprise. But only if we expect it can we see, hear, or feel it when it comes to us. Let's not be afraid to receive each day's surprise, whether it comes to us as sorrow or as joy. It will open a new place in our hearts, a place where we can welcome new friends and celebrate more fully our shared humanity." ~Henri Nouwen, Bread for the Journey