weekending/Hello Monday linkup

Happy Monday, friends! It was a pretty good weekend, considering all the things. I had so much heaviness when I woke up on Saturday morning, that it felt like it was weighing me down. I was just heavy in heart and in spirit and I woke up right before six and couldn't go back to sleep. I came downstairs to drink some coffee and tried to watch something lighthearted on tv, but never found anything. I ended up just turning the television off and started reading my book and then I went into the kitchen for my quiet time. I love this time of day, and especially lately, I've been pouring out my heart to Jesus. Sometimes just to say the prayer to Him out loud makes me feel lighter in spirit...but more than that, I know He hears me and that His ear is inclined to me. 

How do I know?

The answer is simple—I have faith. 

I love how Hebrews 11:1 defines faith.

Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen.

Anyway, back to my quiet time. I was praying, then I started reading in my Bible and read some verses that jumped out to me from the book of Psalms. I actually prayed the verses over a friend of mine who was going through a hard time that day, but then I realized that the Lord meant for me to see those as well.

You who fear the LORD, trust in the LORD! He is their help and shield. Psalm 115:11

...he will bless those who fear the LORD — small and great alike. Psalm 115:13

I felt like those were meant for me as well, though I did text them to my friend and let her know I'd prayed those over her. That's how the Word of God works, though—He lets us see certain verses at the exact moment we need to see something from Him. That's how He communicates with us—through His Word.

It was very timely, and right after this moment, I had a very sweet time of prayer and worship. I sometimes like to play worship music during this time with Jesus, and I felt Him so very close to me this morning. His Word also tells us that as we draw near to Him, He draws near to us in James 4:8. I just started reading the chapters in Psalm out loud to Him and I turned them into my prayer. Do you ever just sit and soak in His presence like that? If you don't, try it for yourself—turn on some worship music, and as you pray, close your eyes and think of the words you're hearing being sung...and pray them and experience Him drawing close to you. I promise, He is near, if He is your Lord and Savior.

Before all the heavy of Saturday morning, I started my weekend off by making lunch for Dad.

Lunch that day consisted of pimento cheese sandwiches on wheat bread, chips with French onion dip , fruit salad I made that morning and peach tea. We don't go anywhere these days that he comes over—I make us something delicious to eat and we stay home and talk, solving all the world's problems. He comes around eleven thirty and we leave for me to take him home around three thirty. Sometimes I go in and chat with them a bit, but yesterday I just dropped him off after walking him to the door. While Dad was here, we spent a little bit of our time listening to my current favorite worship song.

I found a version of it on YouTube with the lyrics written on the screen and the print was so large that he was able to read it along with me. At eighty nine years young, he struggles with his vision. This is  the song The Blessing by Kari Jobe and Cody Carnes...and it's one I like to play on repeat.

For dinner, Todd grilled out for us again, this time chicken, squash and zucchini. It was really good, except for the zucchini marinated for too long, thus causing immediate high blood pressure. 💁

Todd and I have started watching a new show on Netflix, and it is SO GOOD. It's called Somebody Feed Phil and it stars Phil Rosenthal, the writer and creator of the show, Everybody Loves Raymond. He is the sweetest man and everywhere he goes, the food seems amazing. He learns about their culture and traditions, the food they eat and he makes friends with everyone he meets. I want to meet him and have him over for dinner—both him and my "friend" Bob Goff.

I lasted for one show then I went to bed. 

I tagged along with my mom and Trish on Saturday—we ate lunch and Mom had one place to go, but then we made one last stop and I scored some things.

Look at my cute new purse! It's the perfect size...I am so picky about purses. I like them to able to stand up nice and tall {I hate a slouchy purse}, and I love pockets and zippered sections. This has both, and it's not too small and not too big. I can use the handles or it has a strap that I can carry it as a crossbody. It was $15 at Ross. Bonus! I like my purses to look cute, but I don't like paying a lot for them. 

That night Todd and all the guys in the house went to his friend's house to watch some fights that are happening tonight on ESPN. His friend got them on Pay Per View and they were pretty excited about going out there to swim, eat and watch some fighting. I will never understand men, by the way, as I finish that sentence. While they were gone I watched one of my favorite movies {Sleepless in Seattle} and ate some soup I bought from Costco this week.

I loved reading in the book of Colossians on both Friday and Saturday. I created these images on the YouVersion app on my phone and ironically, that is where my pastor is preaching from for the next few weeks. He started a new series on Sunday when we went to church on Sunday. Also on that day, I got to spend the time of worship with my friend's sweet little girl while her mom sang on the praise team that morning and then again at the end of the service. Those are some of the best moments, in my humble opinion, getting to spend time with my little friend. Bex loves to listen to the music and she sat so sweetly with me and "sang" and clapped her hands when the music played. She got really excited when her sweet mom sang the first part of one of the songs for that day. It was the cutest thing. 

That night, Todd and Graham worked, so it was just a few of us at home. I watched tv and wrote some blog posts for this week. 

Thanks for reading along, friends. I hope your weekend was great. Love to all! 

p.s. I am linking up with my friend Tanya over at her blog, The Other Side of the Road. 

💗