Merry Monday

happy monday, all!
hope you find encouragement and 
strength through His promises this day.

Psalm 86

Incline your ear, O Lord, and answer me,
    for I am poor and needy.

Preserve my life, for I am godly;
    save your servant, who trusts in you—you are my God.

Be gracious to me, O Lord,
    for to you do I cry all the day.

Gladden the soul of your servant,
    for to you, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.

For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving,
    abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.

Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer;
    listen to my plea for grace.

In the day of my trouble I call upon you,
    for you answer me.

 

There is none like you among the gods, O Lord,
    nor are there any works like yours.

All the nations you have made shall come
    and worship before you, O Lord,
    and shall glorify your name.

For you are great and do wondrous things;
    you alone are God.

Teach me your way, O Lord,
    that I may walk in your truth;
    unite my heart to fear your name.

I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart,
    and I will glorify your name forever.

For great is your steadfast love toward me;
    you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.

 O God, insolent men have risen up against me;
    a band of ruthless men seeks my life,
    and they do not set you before them.

But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious,
    slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.

Turn to me and be gracious to me;
    give your strength to your servant,
    and save the son of your maidservant.

Show me a sign of your favor,
    that those who hate me may see and be put to shame
    because you, Lord, have helped me and comforted me.

cincerely,

cindy

fighting the good fight

^{"But godliness with contentment is great gain, For we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.}  

 ^{For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.} 

But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses."

1 Timothy 6:6-12

in this new season, the Lord is impressing upon me 

the need to fight this good fight.

in my life, it seems so easy to just go about my day, thinking on the Lord and His goodness and on His cross and simply on Him.

yet my life is not much different than it was a year ago. 

i go to work, i try to sleep,  i go to church, i beat my missions drum, 

and well, that's about it.

i've become so discontent with my life and 

haven't really been able to figure out why.

until this last week.

i started reading "forgotten God."
while the concept scares me, i know it's true.
in essence, mr. chan says that the (western) church often lacks power 
because it lacks the Holy Spirit.
i'm not talking about a second baptism or anything like that, but the church all too often lacks the working of and the reliance on the Holy Spirit.

i had to spend some honest time before God in those moments.
how easily i forget that the Holy Spirit is present, active, and powerful.  
how quickly i forget to fight the good fight, knowing and resting in the power and faithfulness of the Holy Spirit.

i pray in this coming season, i would fight the good fight,
being "strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might" (Eph 6:10).
i pray that i would take up the whole armor of God, remember my only weapon is the sword of the Spirit, (although called the "word of God," it is powerless without the working of the Spirit).
i pray that others would join me in this fight, and that i could join others as they battle against our flesh, this world, and the schemes of the enemy.



cincerely,

cindy  
 

10 on 10: busiest day off edition

happy first 10th of 2013!
it's been a doozy, folks.

arrived at work @5:45am on my day off.

dedication? i think yes.

 took a pleasant walk to meet my coffee date.

the sky sure is pretty.

coffee date with this lovely lady.

i really like her a lot.

i was too jittery after my coffee,

so we walked down burlingame ave.

therapy called our names.

yea, this clock is awesome.

salted caramel pudding from CPK.

cute and delicious.

my company was the best part, but she passed on the photo shoot.

thanks again for the birthday lunch, jess!

 went to visit gammy.

love her and her 1970's apartment.

'nough said.

came home to some happy mail from morocco.

thanks for the tag team gift mariah and cherith!

 went to see le mis with these beauties.
here are my take-aways:
movie theater lighting is rough.
anne hathaway is legit.
Jesus is amazing. 
why do french characters have english accents?

my sister is back to school,
which means late nights in the living room by myself.
tear.

hope everyone's tenth was fantastic!

linked up here.

cincerely,

cindy

Pintertest Kitchen: hella late edition

hey all.

i'm almost a week late in posting.
many apologies.

my love for pumpkin continues in this post.
pumpkin chocolate chip cookie dough dip.
this was my first time trying a cookie dough dip
and i really liked the results, especially after doubling the amount of chocolate chips.
it was easy and delicious.
i served with graham crackers only,
but very much wish i had some gingersnaps.
but i think it was a hit nonetheless!

gingerbread cookies are my favorite christmas tradition.
i used to beg my mom to make them every year
and then my roommate and i would make them in college.
i tried this recipe this year and really like it!
oh, pardon the decapitated gingerbread woman.
i have some rolling out skills to learn.
 

happy pintertesting, folks,
and happy new year!


linking up with jess here:









 







cincerely,

cindy