10.22.2009

Eu te louvarei...

Praise his Name!

The weather outside is WARM.

Praise his Name!

I have not yet caught the sickness flying through dorm.

Praise his Name!

Christ died for my sins.

Praise his Name!

I have a Saviour who reigns!




10.21.2009

Bibliographies of the annotated variety...

I need more discipline. That is all. And I have berated myself in my head quite enough, thank you very much. Simply put, it is hard to juggle a part time job, and two classes. It seems ridiculous, even laughable, and yet undeniably true.

I don't know how God is going to teach me discipline, but I believe if I press onwards and don't give up or give in to the pressure I will succeed. He is right here with me, and all I have to do is trust him in this one. I am not alone.

I just really need to finish the homework assignment that was due today.

Love,
Ashleigh

10.20.2009

Looking back, but not regretting...

Natalie is up for a month, as her husband is doing work around here. It seems so weird to say "husband". I am so happy to see her, and we have already hung out a couple times in the past two days. Today I finally bought new jeans. They are different from what I am used to, so we shall see if I like them after all.

I am listening to Laura Pausini. She is a wonderful singer, and expresses her talent through English, Spanish, and her native tongue of Italian.


10.19.2009

Birthday week-end...

This week-end it was my birthday, and I was able to drive home with Jake and Mel. We didn't do too much, but what we did do was so much fun! On Saturday night Dad treated us all to Chinese food, and Mel bought a delicious Skor cake from Mariposa market. Jake and I were able to go to Brewery Bay and get the fried pickles that our taste buds have been dreaming about since July. On Sunday, Maria invited Jake and I to go over to her house for homemade waffles, and so we went :) We enjoyed every moment of her company, and the waffles, which we deliberately smothered in woodles of whipped cream and bits of bananas and riffs of raspberries and pieces of pineapple. It was delightfully enjoyable! Later on, everyone but Mom and Dad went to Harbour Inn, and we got to go for a swim. Thanks so much for having us there, Nana and Poppa! We had such a great visit, and I can't believe how fast the time went.

Mom was very sick when we got there on Friday night, but our friend Maria, who is a reflexologist, put her essential oils on her and prayer for mom to get better, and the transformation was incredible! Her energy was back up within hours, and it is easy to see that God is doing great acts of healing through his servant Maria. It is astounding.

Last night driving home on the 401 in the dark was not quite the nightmare I was expecting it to be. Jake drove for about 30 minutes, but he was quite tired so I continued on. God quite literally created a space bubble around me a plethora of times on the journey home. Every so often, especially after I was particularly freaked out with changing lanes, I would find myself separated about 100 ft. in front and 100 ft. in back from the cars surrounding me, as if God was saying, "You go ahead and relax, you're almost home." I have never experienced God's presence so much during driving before, and am infinitely grateful to him for his mercies.

Thank you to all of you who made my birthday a blast, my family and Jake and Ruth-Ann, and Maria :)

Love,
Ashleigh

10.14.2009

Work and Chocolate...

I am sitting here in the office at work, eating delicious Xocai Chocolate and taking a little break before I continue on with my jobs for the night. I enjoy working in the library, but I have decided that shelving books is quite a hassle. I believe I glorified my memories of working here before- and yet I am simply grateful for this job!

Last night I was convicted of spending too much time on the internet i.e. wasting time. I could spend hours looking for music and aimlessly searching around for things to waste my time with. I do not want to be the kind of woman who squanders my time. I want to have a purpose, and I want to glorify and focus on God in everything that I do. I was encumbered by the fact that I have been treating music like it was my idol. When I can spend more time on the internet than I can reading my Bible and getting into the Word, then I have some serious issues going on here.
I don't want to be a fake Christian, nor do I want to be weak. I want to be a strong Christian, and I want to know what God says and believe it, so that I can share it with others. I sincerely hope this is not something that I have learned this week that simply flies out the window next week. I want to embrace these truths and become truly and deeply passionate about my Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

Love,
Ashleigh


10.13.2009

Blessed Assurance, Jesus is Mine...

Today my Oma had surgery on a brain tumour, and God pulled her through :) Praise the Lord! It was a seven hour complicated surgery, and we weren't sure if it was going to be successful or not. Yesterday was an emotion-filled Thanksgiving gathering. I am so grateful to God for keeping her here with us a while longer. I know that is selfish of me, because I'm sure she would not mind going to heaven right now. However, she has such an amazing ministry here on earth, and I have so much to learn from her still. I know these days ahead will be hard and long as she recuperates and learns to deal with the deafness which ensued from the operation, but she is alive, and she is well, and praise to our God for that!

My week-end was wonderful, as I got to spend time with both sides of the family and visit with them. I also had fun doing henna with mom and Vanessa on Saturday night at home. I'm looking forward to this week-end and being home once again for a baby shower.

I am feeling quite melancholy and less than enthusiastic right now. I am not sure why. My History professor's mother died today, so we don't have class tomorrow. I am sad for him, but I know it is a relief in some ways. She had Alzheimer's disease for 22 years, so it must have been so hard on their family.

Live out loud...

Ashleigh

10.06.2009

On things that matter...

Let's not take for granted the things we have, and remember that they are temporal, and that God gave them all to us. I am grateful for friends who understand, a family that loves me, an incredibly thoughtful and sweet, godly boyfriend, as well as many other things. Currently, these are the ones that matter. If you are reading this right now, I love you!

Love,
Ashleigh

10.05.2009

Rainy Day Mondays don't always bring me down...

I stayed up way too late than I should have last night, which is not surprising at all. I have decided that I am going to bed early tonight, so I can get up on time for choir in the morning. I believe my cold is getting better, although it has migrated into a cough (a mild intermittent one at best). Despite this, I went for a 15 minute run this morning, in the rain, and it felt so refreshing. I am so happy because I have kept up exercising every other day for a whole week now. This hasn't happened in so long! I just hope I can continue doing it, because I feel so much better after I run.

I have been working through 2 Samuel in my devos, and this morning I was reading in chapter 12, the part where God shows his displeasure about David's sin with Bathsheba and against her husband Uriah(whom David killed so that he could marry Bathsheba). In this chapter, God allows David's son with Bathsheba to get sick, and immediately David fasts and cries out to God to heal his son. For seven days, David fasts and lies before God. However, when his son dies, he washes and dresses himself and goes to the House of the Lord to worship him. This act astounds me (and apparently David's servants also). It doesn't say so in the text, but I am sure that David was repentent of his sin, and even though he wanted his son to live, he recognized that God is ruler of all. He went and worshiped God despite all that had happened, giving back all the glory that was due Him as the Almighty. God punished him for his suffering, yet David continued to worship Him because he knew that the consequences were as a result of his sin. As I read on in the chapter, it went on to say that afterwards, Bathsheba gave birth to Solomon, and God was pleased with him. My Bible notes said that this is a priceless example of God's grace to David and Bathsheba, because their marriage came about through sinful ways, yet he chose to continue the line of Judah through their descendent. It is good to be reminded of how God's grace flows upon us on times when we seem to be least deserving of it. I also like being reminded of how God is so active in our lives. He used the prophet Nathan to convey his deep displeasure of David's actions, and He punished David, not because He is a hateful God, but because 1.) He abhors sin and wants us to remember this and 2.) because he loves us, and wants us to do what is right. The answer is simple: God expects obedience from us, and when we do not obey Him, He teaches us in the most unexpected ways why we must obey.

>>>>>>>>>>

I am sitting here listening to some music by a Turkish woman, seriously loving how diverse God made everyone, and how dance plays such a part in music. N.B.- I am sitting here. But barely. All I want to do is get up and dance! And I wish I knew enough bellydance to bust out some sweet moves. ah....i love dancing. and with every breath God gives me, I will continue to dance until the day I die!

Love,
ashleigh

10.04.2009

ah, c'est bon...

My day: I went to church, and then had perogies and bacon which Jake made, then went to a birthday party and ate delicious cake and then looked at my vocab cards with Jake, and then had French club with Lois, Stef, Steph, and Amy, where we ate goat cheese on crackers and drank sparkling pomegranate juice, and spoke lots of French! The end.

Love,
ashleigh

10.03.2009

JOY...

How many of you remember that song that goes like this...

Jesus and others and you!
What a wonderful way to spell joy,
Jesus and others and you!
In the life of each girl and each boy!

J is for Jesus who goes in first place,
O is for others we meet face to face,
Y is for you in whatever you do...
Put yourself third and spell JOY!

I was reminded of that tonight, as I was doing my devotions(which, by the way, was an incredible time, one I have not purposed to do for too long). I read Philippians, and there were so many verses that stood out to me. A few in particular, but one I would like to share with you tonight.

"Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others betterh than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others." (Phil. 2:3-4)

Far too often I think of myself, and my own so-called "problems". All this inward focused pondering is not Christ-like, especially if it causes me to start complaining and whining to others about my life. I desire so dearly to be self-less, and to genuninely be concerned for others and how they are doing.

It is so refreshing when God lays things on my heart as a gentle rebuke, and afterwards, to share with others. I am so grateful to be able to blog, and to hopefully encourage people with what God has so patiently and, almost painstakingly, been teaching me.

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord- and I have breath, I have life, and I was created to praise Him and bring glory to Him, even when I didn't deserve it. God, you are so good.

I love The Benjamin Gate, and here are some lyrics from them, called "Live out Loud":

Fire reflecting in these eyes
Visions of You, Imagine my surprise
Sweat hot hands, cold shivers down my spine
Visions of You, Your Spirit so divine

Chorus
Live out, live out, live out loud

Your eyes pierce through this life of mine
And bring me to give all that I can find
Revelation my heart's desire
Pull me up and out of the mire

Chorus

I am a witness
I'm at the scene of this
I'm throwing myself
I'm throwing myself into you

Chorus

We will see you come again Jesus


I love this song so much, because it's real, and it shows how, even when we are fallen and human, Jesus sees us for who we are, He reveals himself to us, and we can still live for him, shining as lights brightly for Him!!! He wants us to give our all to Him, not just little parts. Ah, so good.

I love it when I am getting close with God, when I come into His presence, and when I am being real with him. Especially when I am writing. He blows me away with what He inspires, and how it flows through my fingertips. Here is what He inspired tonight:

Lord, fill me up
From your cup
Renew my flame
Let your name
Roll off my tongue,
Always sung
In your honour-
God, my father
You show me how
To love you now,
To you I bow,
To you I give,
I live,
I breathe,
I beseech you...
Humbly I kneel
In loudest appeal--
You're real!
I love you, LORD!!!!

-AshWin-

Love,
Ashleigh

Movies and colds...

I have been such a suck the past two days. I am not even really that sick, just a stuffed up nose that sometimes runs, and a little bit of a swollen throat. However, yesterday I just wanted to stay in bed for the whole day, but Jake reminded me that it was Pizza Pop. I decided to get out of my pyjamas and go to the school, and hear about how God is working in other people's lives and their missions organizations. Afterwards, I invited Jake, Mel and Nate to my house to watch a movie. After we watched "Miss Congeniality", Mel and Nate went for an ice cream run, and then we all watched "Kate and Leopold", which is such a cute movie. It was fun to relax with them, and to eat ice cream, and just chill out. Today I don't feel like doing much of anything either, but I need to study for my Greek quiz on Tuesday. I think I will go for a run first, that will at least get the energy pumping through my body, and then I will feel like doing some work.

One of the ladies in the office I worked for during the summer told me that she might be able to give me about 8 hours of work a week this coming month, which I am super pumped about! I needed more hours, and hopefully this will help me to save a bit for next semester.

I hope everyone who is feeling under the weather gets better soon!!!

Love,
Ash

10.01.2009

Right Now...

Tonight I feel like doing everything BUT homework. Seems we are starting a trend here. I should be busier. I should do so many things. But the only thing that is THE most important is NOT what is due at the beginning of Greek class later on today. No, it is something far less temporal, far less materialistic, far less concerned with the tangible.

The one thing I SHOULD Be doing right now, at this very instant, is reading God's Word.

The one thing I SHOULD be doing right now is praying for all those people I said I would pray for today. It is unbelievable the amount of people who ask me to pray for them. I do, but not right when I should, and not with the amount of devotion I should.

The one thing I SHOULD be doing right now is NOT wasting time on facebook. It is all meaningless. It is all a vapour. It is not about what I want in life. It is not about what satisfies my desires and expectations. I am living only because my Lord is giving me my very breath. I live, because He died. Morever, I live because I was created with a purpose. A purpose that entails living in total surrender and abandon to Him, and to glorify the Father's Name.

And THAT, my friends, is what I am doing...

Right now.

Love,
Ashleigh