Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Alleluia

Tonight is the night that one of the pastors from our church is coming over to talk with us about our baby dedication. He'll get to see the house in a before and after state. When he comes tonight the bench seat won't be done yet, there will be wood all over the living room and most of our doors are only half painted. When he comes back in two weeks it wil all be spotless and everything will be done! I hope! I wanted to bake up some peanut butter brownies for our meeting tonight but was a couple ounces short of unsweetened chocolate and didn't really have anything that I could substitute with that wouldn't affect the taste so I changed to Pots de Creme. I'd never made them before for some reason... Super easy though, so long as you whisk alot when you're adding the hot chocolate to the egg yolks. Oh, and so long as you don't walk away. I have a horrible tendancy to walk away while I am baking and go do something else for a while (ADD much?) and when you are making anything that resembles a custard, this is a really crappy trait. That's why whenever I make eclairs they are filled with whipped cream and not custard cream. The Pots de Creme are small - understandably, since they are so rich - so I'm probably going to whip up a cake of sorts or maybe some banana bread. And we just found out that Thursday we are having a friend over for dinner (not sure which one yet, but two people are vying for the spot) so maybe having a bit of leftover cake wouldn't be a bad idea.
I just looked outside before I sat down to write this and my neighbour's son and his friend are outside doing some yardwork and terrorizing my dog. These guys are my age, or older, and they still will lean over a fence to make a dog bark and tease him. And then they put their cat on top of the shed. Silly little boys.

There's a song I may or may not have mentioned on here before - I really love it - it's been on my mind alot lately. It's almost been my anthem for the past 5 months. It's called The Valley Song by Jars of Clay. Admittedly I used to skip over the track alot and go on to my favorite songs on the cd, until one day I forgot to skip it and I just started crying while I listened to the words. It was what I was feeling being played out on the cd. Here are the lyrics:

You have lead me to the sadness
I have carried this pain
On a back bruised and a nearly broken
I'm crying out for You

I will sing of Your mercy that leads me through valleys of sorrow to rivers of joy

When death, like a gypsy,
Comes to steal what I love
I will still look to the heavens
I will still seek Your face
Though I fear you aren't listening
Because there are no words
Just the stillness, and the hunger,
For a faith that assures

I will sing of Your mercy that leads me through valleys of sorrow to rivers of joy

While we wait for rescue
With our eyes tightly shut
Face to the ground, using our hands
To cover the fatal cut
Though the pain is an ocean
Tossing us around, around, around
You have calmed greater waters
And higher mountains have come down

I will sing of Your mercy that leads me through valleys of sorrow to rivers of joy
Alleluia

This is the song that gets me through day to day when hard times pop up - which they continually do. The verses speak of our mortal weakness, of our flawed reasoning and our absolute wretchedness on this earth. The second verse talks about feeling isolated from God and relying on faith, while the writer's faith seems weak in that moment. But then comes the hope: I will sing of Your mercy that leads me through valleys of sorrow to rivers of joy. He has calmed greater waters and brought higher mountains down. He will turn our mourning into dancing and even though we may not understand how or when Romans 8:28 says "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose." Good will come of our pain and our sorrow. A greater good. A good that none of us could have foreseen and maybe none of us will see, but God will know. His will, His good, pleasing and perfect will, carries out so much more good than our poor, selfish and incompetent will ever could. So while we may not understand, while we may not agree and while we may hurt and grieve and yearn and mourn, we may trust - we may hope and through that hope and through our faith we will be blessed and comforted.

I will sing of Your mercy that leads me through valleys of sorrow to rivers of joy

Alleluia

Mrs. Vander Leek

1 comment:

  1. I love you. I love your heart. I will call you tomorrow (I tried today but couldn't get through) I hope tonight goes well.

    ReplyDelete

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