an hour of scrolling

i got a little stuck when i got to the sermon on the mount in matthew five. today, just posting something very random.

sometimes i am so drawn to facebook and friends on there and what interests them. things they post. people interest me, and i study it all. today, i spent my first awake hour scrolling. and am writing now to blah out thoughts about that hour. that is still opening my eyes...

my heart burns. and i pray that any tiny (or big) way that my conscience is dulled that it would come alive again. praying this as i type.

first thing i read was someone saying that actions speak louder than words. and i thought of something yesterday that i did that i regret. (thank You, God, for answering my prayer. an alive conscience will saaavvve me and the people around me from myself.)

then, i watched a posted video about reported trumpet sounds in the sky. definitely made me think. i mean i know that in the crazy quantity of videos out there, any youtube posted cropped and edited and voiced-over video could make anything appear like anything but it still made me think about what the bible says about Jesus' return.

then, i watched another video of something someone saw in a cloud. it was this thing moving mid-air for like 40 seconds that then kind of burst into light or exploded and fell to the ground. the videographers were yelling and in not-english :) saying what. was. that?!

then. i read an article about what christians shouldn't say. it was talking about how we refer to material comforts as blessings. on the way from the writer's intent to my reception of it was my conviction again. and many thoughts about how i spend money and how i indulge sometimes and i am convicted. he ended with a kind of idea about a better way to refer to our "blessings"...just gratitude. i don't think he meant to make anyone feel like they shouldn't say they are blessed ever...and my thought is kind of this verse that comes to mind always about how every good and perfect gift is from above...saying it is blessing tells that to people...but we don't always think about those who don't stand in the blessings that we know or why or how they feel.... my takeaway: simple gratefulness and fewer words about it all. soli Deo gloria is a phrase i learned some years ago that means glory to God alone. (for everything. everything in my life. present or hoped for. or evident because i exist.) we have what we have because of blessing, yes. but if someone doesn't have what we have, they also know blessing. i kind of think that things may bring a measure of happy but real blessing is soooo very much more. blessing is Jesus and the cross and the possibility of knowing Him and that is for every breathing soul.

these are random thoughts.

then i saw a weather prediction of a winter storm with a pic that pretty much covered a good part of the right half of the united states in red (early march). hmmm :)

then. i closed fb and opened youversion and read a little. :) i am thinking about Jesus' return. the trumpet and the light in the sky and then in my head/the parable of the bridesmaids ready with their lamps and am i? and about what i think about the life that i live. about things and the food in the kitchen that people in third worlds will never taste. and i read about who Jesus called blessed in the sermon on the mount. the poor in spirit. those who mourn now (they will laugh). the persecuted.

praying now that as i walk into the day i will be quiet enough to keep hearing what He is saying to my heart. #gratefulforHisvoicealwaysallthetime #soliDeogloria

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coming back to this after taking hope to school... i really think about the many different and varied people that could potentially ever read things i post and when i sent this to fb a few minutes ago, i wrote, "not sure what i write is always relatable" or something like that. and i'm thinking that now. i feel i can sometimes sound churchy or a bit she-thinks-too-much quirky. maybe acknowledging that helps the person reading whose mind is full and has trouble feeling peace ever. it does really help to let yourself be quiet and ask God to say in your head how He sees things. ;) not always completely certain my own thoughts aren't louder but always always come away with more peace and less anxiety. happy wednesday, friends.