Delight.

A couple of weeks ago I was talking with my dear friend on Skype. 

(I know I say this all the time but, seriously, it is the best) 

Anywaay. 

We were having a conversation about the future and my hopes. 

I was telling her about a conversation that I had with another friend last week 

*I hope you can keep up with me, I do have a point* 

We were talking about our future and in particular marriage and families. 

She said something that got me thinking. 

"what if this isn't what the Lord has planned for us though? and we sit here talking about it dreaming about it. I want to be happy with whatever the Lord has in store for me."

I had never looked at it in this way before. 

I have always, since I can remember, looked forward to having a family and children one day. 

What if this isn't what the Lord has planned for me? 

SO back to the other conversation on Skype.

*I don't know if I can keep up with this story so there is no hope for you!*

As I said, I was telling her about this conversation.

And she said something that really got me thinking.

"I think it is too much of a desire of your heart for the Lord not to give it to you" 

This of course lead me to this scripture. 

Delight yourself in the Lord, 

and He will give you the desires of your heart.

Psalm 37:4

Pretty simply. We delight ourselves in the Lord and He gives us the desires of our heart.

Except, what does it mean to delight myself in the Lord.

I have been going over and over this for the past couple of weeks.

Delight.

Here are some definitions of this word. 

- a high degree of pleasure or enjoyment, joy, rapture

- something that gives great pleasure

- great pleasure, happiness or satisfaction

This challenged me.

In everything I do, do I take great pleasure in the Lord? 

Do I portray a high degree of joy in the Lord? 

Do I seek happiness in Him?

If I am being honest, no.

This makes me sad. 

Why shouldn't I express great joy in all that I do?

I am richly blessed.

Recently I have been occupying my thoughts on LOTS of other things.

They are not necessarily things that I shouldn't be thinking about but the definitely shouldn't be coming before the Lord. 

Because I am spending time dwelling on these things they are bringing me down and this affects my attitude. 

My heart was full of joy and love for the Lord, but I wasn't always expressing this in my attitude and actions.

So all these things that I was worrying about and that were consuming my thoughts I handed over to the Lord. 

By handing over my burdens I am freeing myself up for the delighting part!

By releasing ourselves from these things we are able to work on showing our joy in the Lord. 

I don't want to delight myself in the Lord in order to get the desires of my heart. 

I want to do it because I love Him and I do find happiness in Him. 

I delight to do Your will, O God, 

and Your law is within my heart.

Psalm 40:8

We need to set our affections on Him, and desire Him more than anyone else. 

I think the key to delighting in the Lord is spending much more time in His word and in prayer.
 By doing this we learn more about Him and become more dependant on him.

So that is exactly what I am going to do. 

I am going to change my attitude and show great joy in all that I do.
I am going to seek happiness in Him, in His friendship and love. 

So this is what has been on my heart for the past few weeks. Something that I have been thinking about, praying about and working on.

Weird faces.

At the start of the week I shared that I spent a couple of days with my sweet friend.  

We wrapped up and went out for a lovely walk one afternoon and I took my camera.

I wanted to get some photos of the two of us together because I don't know if we have any. 

Actually I can think of one photo that we have. 

But one photo for 10 years of friendship is bad. 

These photos are the best that I got. 

This girl does NOT like to smile for photos. 

She is nearly always making a face. 

She cracks me up! 

They make me smile. 

And the 2nd photo was not planned. 

We just made the exact same, weird face because we are awesome like that! 

I'm linking up with Emily today. 

Go and check out what she has to say about getting in front of the camera and capturing memories! 

My Friend.

I had such a busy, blessed week last week! 

I think I will have to do a couple of posts to cover everything.

On Tuesday I got to spend the day with my dear friend, Ciara. 

She is lovely and has such a big heart. 

Ciara is a few years younger than me, but she was always much older than her years. 

We went to the same School and Church Youth Group.

It has probably been a couple of years since we have had a chance to catch up properly.

We talked for hours, and hours. 

It was wonderful. 

I didn't realise how much I missed this girl until we spent time together. 

We talked about everything that is going on in our lives, which is why we were up until 3am!! 

But everyone stays up that late catching up with good friends, right? 

In between our talking we did have time to watch our movie, Love Actually. 

When this movie first came out we went to see it at the cinema with our mammas and it has now become "our" movie. 

We try to watch it together every Christmas. 

Last year I think we fell asleep during it! Actually, I know that we fell asleep. We must be getting old! 

But we managed to stay awake the whole way through it this year. 

I learn so much spending time with this girl. 

She challenges me to be a better person and to think differently. 

She is a wonderful, committed friend who gives you her full attention. 

She is a Godly woman who knows her Scripture. 

She is just such an encouragement to be around.

On Wednesday we went for a long walk. 

It was so nice to go on walks that I had gone on as a child. 

We both have a love for the area the we grew up in. 

It is pretty beautiful. (I didn't take many photos so I will have to take some another time and post them for you)

We walked around the estate at Taymouth Castle. 

It is pretty spectacular. 

We also did a bit of exploring around an old, beautiful house. 

I think I will have to go back on this walk and take some photos of all the beautiful places that I am talking about! You need to see what I am talking about. 

When we got back from our afternoon of walking we were a wee bit cold! 

So we spent the rest of the afternoon drinking tea and watching movies.

Perfect. 

Ciara is going to Holland in a week, actually it is probably sooner than that. 

She is going to study over there for 6 months. 

When I was with her before Christmas I had lots of questions for her. 

Her response went something like this.

I'm not really sure where I am staying yet, but I'm not at all worried about it. I really feel that the Lord wants me to be over there and know that He is going to work out all the details perfectly so I am not even going to think about it. 

I tell you, this girls faith would challenge you!

I can totally relate to that in that I feel exactly the same way about California. 

It is in the Lord's hands and He has a perfect plan.

Such a comfort knowing this. 

So through all my rambling I hope you know that I had a wonderful couple of days with my dear friend.

She is such a blessing to me.

Ciara, I will be praying for you as you set off on your little adventure. 

I know that you are going to do great things there and I am so excited for you. 

You are a beautiful, talented, faithful, thoughtful, Godly young lady.

Love you.

(this is the best photo that I got of sweet Ciara, and I think it's pretty cute!) 

Philippians 4:6

p.s. I will fill you in on the rest of my week later. 

Boo.

 

I have been thinking about my "boo", Karen, all week.

(there is a really funny story behind "boo", I will share one day!)

Do you ever just really want to be with someone, and you can't?

This is how I feel right now.

I wish I could just bake something yummy and take it round to my friend.

I wish we could watch movies.

Make funny faces.

Laugh uncontrollably, until it hurts.

But I am in Scotland, and she is in California.

Thankfully, I have lots of photos of us together that I can look through.

note: the majority of these photos were taken our Church Beach Camp, hence the matching outfits!

Today I am wishing that I was with my dear friend.

If I was, I would take a photo right now!

"Friends come and friends go,

but a true friend sticks by you like family."

Proverbs 18:24 (the Message)

I'm linking up with Emily today. You should do the same!