Excellent Verses to Meditate on

Lamentations 3:21-33

This I recall to my mind,

Therefore I have hope.

The LORD'S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease,

For His compassions never fail.

They are new every morning;

Great is Your faithfulness.

"The LORD is my portion," says my soul,

"Therefore I have hope in Him."

The LORD is good to those who wait for Him,

To the person who seeks Him.

It is good that he waits silently

For the salvation of the LORD.

It is good for a man that he should bear

The yoke in his youth.

Let him sit alone and be silent

Since He has laid it on him.

Let him put his mouth in the dust,

Perhaps there is hope.

Let him give his cheek to the smiter,

Let him be filled with reproach.

For the Lord will not reject forever,

For if He causes grief,

Then He will have compassion

According to His abundant lovingkindness.

For He does not afflict willingly

Or grieve the sons of men.

A Good Quotation

“Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself? Take those thoughts that come to you the moment you wake up in the morning. You have not originated them, but they start talking to you, they bring back the problems of yesterday, etc.

Somebody is talking. Who is talking? Your self is talking to you. Now this man’s treatment was this; instead of allowing this self to talk to him, he starts talking to himself. ‘Why art thou cast down, O my soul?’ he asks. His soul had been depressing him, crushing him. So he stands up and says: ‘Self, listen for a moment, I will speak to you.’…

The main art in the matter of spiritual living is to know how to handle yourself. You have to take yourself in hand, you have to address yourself, preach to yourself, question yourself. You must say to your soul: ‘Why art thou cast down’– what business have you to be disquieted?

You must turn on yourself, upbraid yourself, condemn yourself, exhort yourself, and say to yourself: ‘Hope thou in God’– instead of muttering in this depressed, unhappy way. And then you must go on to remind yourself of God, Who God is, and what God is and what God has done, and what God has pledged Himself to do.

Then having done that, end on this great note: defy yourself, and defy other people, and defy the devil and the whole world, and say with this man: ‘I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance, who is also the health of my countenance and my God.’”

–D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Its Cure

C'est la vie

Yup. It's that kind of day.

French in a Flash

(Originally posted by seriouseats.com)

Watermelon Salad with Fromage de Chèvre Brulé

- serves 2 -

Ingredients

1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
1/8 large watermelon, cut into 6 1-inch planks
2 cups baby arugula
4 ounces chèvre
2 tablespoons olive oil
Black pepper
Fleur de sel

Procedure

1. Make a balsamic syrup by pouring the vinegar and honey into a small saucepan and simmering over medium heat just long enough for it to reduce and have a thick, running consistency—about 5 minutes. Set aside, as it will thicken further as it cools.

2. Assemble each salad on its plate. First some arugula, then a slice of watermelon, then some arugula, another slice of watermelon, argula, then watermelon again. Crumble the chèvre over the watermelon, and season with cracked black pepper and fleur de sel. Drizzle with olive oil.

3. Using a crème brulée torch, melt and brown the chèvre quickly over the watermelon. Drizzle with balsamic syrup, and serve.

Providence

I'm on the 4th floor of the YRL on campus right now as I write this. It's 5:30-ish and the sun has just sunk below the horizon. The rain clouds that have dominated the skies today are wonderfully painted in hues of pink and purples. I've had a pretty chaotic day on campus. I've had two difficult tests and a really tough class on Paradise Lost. It's times like this when I start to panic about my future and if I'm "cut out for this". I get so overwhelmed with all the difficult things that seem to be pilling up on top of me and it just gets hard to breathe. It's easy for me to just throw up my hands or to doubt where the Lord has put me.

Then, I realize that it's not up to me. As a Christian, the Lord has promised to work out all things for my good and for his glory. It's reassuring that God has my future and my best interest at heart. It's important in times like these that I have absolute trust in the Lord. It's really hard when I can't see the good in my situations or when I feel suffocated by all the work that lies ahead. I'm not afraid of the future. I just feel so overwhelmed all the time by things that I cannot control. It's hard when plaguing doubts and insecurities cloud your head. Sometimes, it's just hard to keep focused.

I see all the good that the Lord has done for me. He has been above and beyond all that I could ever ask or think. I look at the past and there is not one way that I have been in want. Everything that I have needed, the Lord has provided. On Sunday, I was meditating on the lyrics to "Great Is Thy Faithfulness". I was really encouraged by the last verse...

"Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth

Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;

Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,

Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!"

The line that's italicized has been my prayer these past

few days. I need the Lord's strength and the hope of the

gospel each and every day. The Lord has been so faithful to

provide me with the love of my dear friends and the promises

in the Bible. He has been so good to me, in the midst of all

of this chaos.

Hosanna

This song has been in my head all day

and it makes me really happy and really

thankful.

Greek Orzo Salad

To all of my "readers"... or maybe just to the big worldwide web,

I'm going to share one of my most favorite and easy recipes.

Like many, or none, of you know, I am a college student.

That's right. Starving student. It's like starving artist.

So, I have to be practical with planning my meals and

I've really learned how to stretch a buck out.

Greek Orzo Salad

Base Recipe:

8 oz orzo pasta

1/2 white onion, finely chopped

1 bell pepper, finely chopped

Feta Cheese, to preference

Salt and Pepper

Optional Add-ins:

Katamala Olives

Sun-dried tomatoes

Pine Nuts

Dressing:

Olive Oil, to taste

1/2 lemon, juiced.

Directions:

- Cook the orzo until it's done, according to the directions.

Make sure it is chilled completely. I recommend rinsing it with

cold water and straining, as well as letting it sit in the refrigerator.

- Add the pepper, onion, and cheese. Stir to evenly distribute.

- Mix the olive oil and the lemon juice together in a separate bowl.

I usually do equal amounts of both olive oil and lemon juice.

- Add the dressing slowly to the orzo salad, tossing as you go.

This is to prevent too much dressing on the salad.

- Add salt and pepper to taste.

- Chill in the refrigerator for 30-40 minutes.

- Serve on a bed of Spinach leaves.

Reasons why I love this recipe:

1. It's cheap to make

2. It gives me over 2 days worth of meals.

3. It's deceptively simple to make but looks spectacular

4. It's delicious!

Eat up! Yum yum!!

Readers

I really really wish that more people would read my blog.

I mean come on.

I have nice videos... fun pictures...

maybe even a recipe or two.

Eh...

I'm a college student.

It's all books, books, books.

(sigh)

But if you do happen to peruse,

I'd appreciate nice words.

Any ideas for sassy posts?

Mash-Ups

This has been in my head for the past couple of days.

It's a mashup of the top 25 Billboard hits of 2009.

I'm not a huge pop aficionado, but I can appreciate

all the hard work that goes into making a video/track

like this. Plus, it sounds pretty cool! Enjoy!

Edit:

Okay, when i said that it sounds "pretty cool", I should have said that it is my newest musical obsession. I downloaded the mp3 and have been listening to it at the gym. It is the BEST to accompany my sorry rear-end on the elliptical.