Wow, the days are just whizzing by... according to my pregnancy calender, only 50 + days to go...!

Having my first prenatal class tonight - wish I'd signed up a little earlier now, the lump is really getting uncomfortable.

I'm now at Isaiah 53&54!!! 5/6's of the way through... unbelievable! Thank you God for the dis-ci-pline : ) ... I'd never have stuck it otherwise. Anyway, 53 was the really famous Man of Sorrows chapter. 53:10 spoke to me, that it was God's will to crush Jesus and to make Him suffer. There have been times when I have looked at my messy career and wondered if it was a sign of disobediance, that an obediant christian would be neccessarily blessed with material and worldly success in his lifetime... it sounds silly writing it out, but I only had to look at wonderful christian examples around me, who were doing very well at work...

Anyway, this verse told me that a person might be very obediant, and it could still be God's will to not grant him success - I mean, worldly success. In fact, it might even be his will to then TAKE AWAY whatever he had - waitaminute, sorta like Job! Anyway, it made me feel a bit better, plus also awestruck by Jesus' ability to take it all in - and his perfect trust and faith that God would work it all out in the end...

Wow. Oky, gotta run.. have to get to class : )

Allright, me done for the week!!! Jubilation!

So much for spreading out my time properly though... I was going to work on three different papers today, but ended up finishing one, and getting sidetracked on small, time consuming misc queries / issues. Didn't touch the other two at all... oh well, next week!

Have read halfway through Isaiah! Really thank God for that - I know that discipline came from Him and not from me. I'm really wary starting bible studies on big books, especially those in the Old Testament, because I fizzle out a lot before I'm even halfway through... Lots of good things coming out, although for a time (I think the teens and early twenties of Isaiah) it was all doom and gloom and I couldn't really pull out stuff that spoke to me... okay, truthfully, I was too bored to pull out stuff that would speak to me : )

Anyhoo, Chp 29 - 31 has been really handy! Lots of cool verses in there. The ones I really like:

Isaiah 29:15-16"Woe to those who go to great depths to hide their plans from the Lord, who do their work in darkness and think, "Who sees us? Who will know?"You turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the clay! Shall what is formed say to him who formed it,"He did not make me"? Can the pot say of the potter, "He knows nothing"?

Like this, because it's good check for me. I definately have tried the "Who sees us? Who will know?" ploy before.

Isaiah 29:24"Those who are wayward in spirit will gain understanding. Those who complain will accept instruction"

This one is cool, cause it's like a promise to me... I think I complain a lot, and I do have a wayward spirit - it's great to know tt in that day, this will happen : )

Isaiah 30:15"In repentence and rest is your salvation. In quietness and trust is your strength"

This is just another great reminder... rather than rushing about when trouble hits, to remember that my strength is in quietness and trust!

Isaiah 30:18-22"Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you, he rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him! O people of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you. Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, "This is the way; walk in it."

My favorite!!! This is awesome, its like you can almost hear the longing in God's voice... "As soon as he hears, he will answer you". I like also that it tells HOW he answers - he doesn't remove the trouble, but he guides you through it. So, I can't complain that God didn't answer me just because my problems aren't instantly removed... I have to listen for that voice!

Isaiah 31:1 Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust inthe multitude of their chariots and in the great strength of their horsemen but do not look to the Holy One of Israel, or seek help from the Lord.

Another good reminder. Am I looking everywhere else but to God?

Isaiah 32:2 Each man shall be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in the desert and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land.

I like this promise! In that day, when Jesus reigns, each man will be like this... also a challenge, too... if Jesus reigns in my heart now, surely I should be reflecting some of these characteristics now? Am I being all these things to people around me?

Isaiah 32:6For the fool speaks folly, his mind is busy with evil; He practices ungodliness and spreads error concerning the Lord; the hungry he leaves empty and from the thirsty he witholds water."

Another warning and check. I thought hard, and realised a christian could also be a fool... I think of the times when I was far from God, trying to be cool - I was speaking folly and my mind was busy with evil. I was spreading error concerning God, because people knew I was a christian yet couldn't see through my behaviour what it truly means to be one... I wasn't feeding the hungry or helping the thirsty either...

So anyway... I like the Bible! It's got great stuff in it. It's nice to have to trust God for the most basic things even - the discipline to read it and the ability to remember what I read, even just the desire to read it and the ability to see how it can apply in my life...

Yay! Husband is here!

I feel so irritable right now > \ ... am trying to give it to God. Oh hurray, cheerful thought - realised we get off half an hour earlier on Fridays, so I've only another 30 minutes to go...

Okay, if that's the case, will put in that time... catcha later...