Life has been pretty busy ... and full of its ups and downs? But overall I am doing well at the moment. :)

I had a great time the weekend before last, going on a retreat with a group from my church to Tyler, Texas. Good times!

I have been thinking some lately about the subject of contentment ... I was reading a good article today during lunch (while eating at Chick-fil-a ... not surprising, huh? :o)) about the subject, that had insights from Nancy Leigh DeMoss, a godly woman with Revive our Hearts ministry.

Before I head off to embark on my evening ... praying with a friend and catching up on some stuff around the apartment and hopefully doing some more good Christian reading ... here are some of her quotes that stood out to me ... enjoy! :)

If I have essentially a contented heart, there is not any circumstance or any person that can make me unhappy. If I have a discontented heart and I live in a palace, I'm not going to be happy. But if I have a contented heart, I can live, as the apostle Paul did, in a prison and nothing can strip me or rob me of that joy.

She talks about how the apostle Paul says in Philippians 4 that he "learned" contentment. Then she says the following:
If we're going to learn contentment, that means we're going to have to experience some circumstances where our natural response would be to grumble, to be discontent. So expect it. If you want to develop this beautiful rare jewel of a contented spirit, expect that God will take you to school on this subject and provide in your life circumstances that are not easy to embrace.

Contentment is based in a faithful, loving God who never changes.

I am back in sunny Dallas after my trip to the Coast for the holidays. It's good to be back. I also had a wonderful trip back home, visiting with friends, family and supporters. Good times!

Just a few highlights of my time there ...

Catching up with a couple of long-time friends as we traveled an hour away to "window shop" (at least mostly that for me, with the exception of two great thrift store finds - see below :)) and eat at Cracker Barrel (kids' meal chicken 'n dumplings ... yum! :O))

Finding, at two different thrift stores, a pretty black sweater with embroidered blue flowers for 89 cents and a light blue casual "jacket" for just over two bucks!

Attending, along with my parents, our church's Christmas Eve service and enjoying the fellowship afterwards

Getting a paper shredder from my cousin that I'm already immensely enjoying using to go through papers in my apartment :)

Enjoying some Christmas movies with my parents ... and another movie with popcorn :)

Getting out for a while with my mom and enjoying ice cream cones at Chick-fila

Catching up with my good friend Stace at the mall and Chick-fila, and running into some more people I knew there, too!

Getting to ride over the Biloxi-Ocean Springs bridge. [Okay, this may not seem like a big deal, but to us Gulf Coast people or even those of us who have ever lived there, like me, it's a VERY big deal. :) See, it was just recently rebuilt and reopened after being largely destroyed in Hurricane Katrina.]

All in all, I am doing well and grateful for the things God is teaching me and how He has been encouraging me thus far in this New Year. Thinking of 2008, I like to think of this Scripture passage:

"Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland."
-Isaiah 43:18,19