Monday, September 07, 2009

Whispers of His Power: Work and Practicing God's Presence

From the entry for July 28 in Amy Carmichael's devotional, Whispers of His Power.

Ps. 16:11—“In Thy presence is fullness of joy.”

“By the practice of the Presence of God, by steadfast gaze on Him, the soul comes to the knowledge of God, full and deep, to an Unclouded Vision: all its life is spent in unceasing acts of love and worship or contrition, and of simple trust, of praise and prayer and service; at times indeed life seems to be but one long unbroken practice of His Divine Presence.”

If this had been written by someone who had nothing to do but preach and pray, I should not find so much in it as I do when I remember that it was said by a cook, who had to give his mind to do what the foolish world calls common work.

The Lord of Brother Lawrence, who is our dear Lord too, help us to grow more and more into this life which is one unbroken practice of His blessed Presence.

Saturday, September 05, 2009

Beautiful Sunsets on Guam

Even though rainy season can be depressing because it's usually cloudy and rainy, we get some of the best sunsets during these few months (when the sun is actually visible through the clouds!)

Books I read in August 2009

We started in-service on August 3rd and school on August 17th, so I didn't get to read much during August. This very short list of two children's books looks terrible next to what I read this summer! Oh, well. I've already been able to read more now that we've hit September and I'm starting to get into the school routine.
The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis
It has been so long since I first read this book (over 15 years, at least!) that I forgot a lot of the story line. I loved reading this delightful story of the
creation of Narnia with it's beautiful allegory of the Creation of the world. C.S. Lewis is simply wonderful. I went on a big Lewis kick when I was in college and read most of his non-fiction works, but I also really enjoy
reading his fiction works and sense another Lewis phase coming on! I bought a cheap, horribly beat up copy of the complete works in one book for $2 this summer, but I'd really like a nice set of The Chronicles of Narnia, if anyone is wondering what to get me for Christmas. :-)
This book was as wonderful as I remembered it. I can't believe it took me so long to read it again; I'm planning on reading the entire Narnia series in the next couple of months. So many quotable lines and such a special telling of the Redemption story. I actually cried when Aslan died--but even more wonderful is his coming to life again!