Frankly Friday: Don't Give Up

You know the feeling when you've basically been doing SOMETHING all day...Really, it was more like one thing after another with a break thrown in here and there? That's a good feeling! But then, there's that feeling followed by looking around and realizing that you've still got a MAJOR MESS on your hands. 
I really don't like that feeling. 
I'll be HONEST. I had that feeling yesterday. When the day was over I just felt like I was covered in FILTH from head to toe, but I didn't even feel like taking a shower. I couldn't really relax because everything was a mess. Stuff...Stuff...Stuff!!!
Eventually, I ate some food, I took a shower, and I ignored the stuff and did some relaxing. Some friends came over for banana splits and then I ended up falling asleep watching "Always a Bride".
As Christians, we can get this way. We TRY so hard. We WANT to be fixed on God. We LOOK for the areas that we're coming up short. And then, we find ourselves TIRED. Certain we're a HOPELESS mess. 
We're a mess alright, but never HOPELESS. 
Over the last few weeks, one verse keeps coming up. I really need to sit down and read the CONTEXT, but for now, I'll share it with you. I printed it off along with some other words so that I could look at it. The verse goes like this: "...If you're not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all." Isaiah 7:9. 
That simple sentence says so MUCH! Words I need to hear. I can't remember if I shared my thoughts here, but I journaled up a storm...God is faithful and His call on my life can pretty much be summed up in the fact that He calls me to be FAITHFUL. 
Here me - we definitely need to be CONCERNED and working out our salvation. And yet, we also need to TRUST in the God who is behind it all. 
I don't have the balance figured out. I can't even leave you with some nice, neat sentence that sums it all up. Frankly, the mess surrounds me, I am my own mess, and I know that God is at work. 
There's just one thing left for me to do: DRINK. I need God's Word, God's people, and my weakest area: to PRAY. 
Don't give up! 

Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens,

Your faithfulness to the clouds.

Your righteousness is like the mountains of God;

Your judgments are like the great deep;

man and beast You save, O Lord.

How precious is Your steadfast love, O God!

The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of Your wings.

     They feast on the abundance of Your house,

and You give them drink from the river of Your delights.

For with You is the fountain of life;

in Your light do we see light.

              Psalm 36:5-9

Where You Can Find Me

I know, I know...SILENCE and then TWO posts in one day? Terrible. 
A few weeks ago, I read a copy of Meg Moseley's book "Gone South" for WaterBrook Multnomah Publishers. I must have really liked it because it only took me a few days (remember what I said earlier? It usually takes me forever to finish a good one because I never want it to end). I was always looking for a place to sit...The couch with a blanket during rainy days, a shady spot on the front porch on HOT afternoons, and I even laid out a few times while I read this book. 

I liked "Gone South" because
1) It takes place in the south. Noble, Alabama to be exact. I'll be honest, I've never spent much time in Alabama, but with the south comes so many things that I LOVE. 
2) There was a bit of mystery surrounding family history. I'm always up for a mystery and one of my favorite subjects is the personal history book that every person happens to be. 
3) The story centered around a lady naive enough to lend a helping hand because it's right, PERIOD and no matter what. 
4) Moseley can write. I got inside the minds of several of the characters...I wondered about some things (I'd tell you, but I don't want to ruin it for you)  right along with the main character, and I was caught wondering how far was too far in the whole lending a helping hand dilemma I mentioned . 
Get the book HERE. 
I've never even heard of Meg Moseley before, but I'll be keeping my eyes open for more of her books! 
I've moved on to "The Help". I know everyone else probably read it already, but I've been reading it since last Friday or so and it is just soooo good. On top of that, I've been making things like sweet tea, lemonade, BBQ,  corn bread, fried chicken, sweet milk gravy and mashed potatoes, and fried steak....
Now you're probably hungry, but at least you have some great books to check out if you're interested! Right? 

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review. All thoughts and comments are my own. 

The Summer Stack

I've definitely become more of a reader over the last few years. I've always enjoyed reading...I just tend to be a tad picky about what I'll read and then I take my time through each book because I never want them to end! 
This summer, I've had a growing list of things to read. I decided to stack the books together to get a picture. Turns out I've already made pretty good progress over the last month. 

What I have is quite a mix: "good story" fiction, theology, mystery, and some older books that I haven't managed to read before. 
There are some books not pictured here because I'm going to have to get them from the library or a book sale. There is at least one book that is a re-read that I need to dig out. And I am SURE that there are other books that will be added to the pile. 
What's in your summer stack? 
What should be added to mine? 
Another confession? I'm saving a few of these for LATE summer. I'll be holding off on Fitzgerald's The Last Tycoon and Platt's Follow Me until at least September. By then, I'll be saying goodbye to summer (maybe) and hello to fall. Fitzgerald's seems like a nice "goodbye" book because it isn't completed and it was the last book of Fitgerald's that was published. Platt's seems like a nice "hello" book because I am sure that it will speak life to my soul. 
So there you go. Hope you're getting some good reading in too!