Treasure

"Anything is treasure if it is desired by someone else." - G.P. Taylor

God desires us, and we are His Treasure. Amazing to think about!! He desires us, our lives, our soul, to share Eternity with Him, more than anything else! Jesus used more parables regarding money and treasure than anything else, besides farming and nature. Wanna know why? EVERYONE who has ever spent five minutes on Earth knows that wealth is a great desire of our hearts; He knew that people would pay attention if he talked about treasure. He really does know our hearts. They are the image of His own, only corrupted by sin, which His is not.

We are His treasure. He loves us, seeks us, and desires us.

Praying you have faith, hope, and love always,

Rachel

Tribulation Force Review

The second book in the popular Left Behind series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins continues to follow our four heroes, Cameron, Chloe, her father Ray and Pastor Bruce Barnes, as they struggle to survive being left behind after Christ returns to rapture his Church, and survive the End Times judgments of that infamous last book of the Bible, Revelation. Focusing on one of the four interpretations of Revelation by scholars, LaHaye and Jenkins cleverly craft an intriguing novel that is both political and deeply spiritual, resounding what rejection of Christ has in store for nonbelievers on Earth and bringing Revelation to life.

It's a fascinating, yet challenging, read. The four heroes are believable, and the world of Revelation that LaHaye and Jenkins creates is both frightening and realistic, realistic as one realizes that, according to the Bible, the Earth and its inhabitants will be punished in the last day - and perhaps are already experiencing the birth pains.


Praying you have faith, hope, and love always,

Rachel

News Stories from My Internship...!

...or most of them.

http://krcu-news.blogspot.com/search/label/Rachel%20Weatherford

Praying you have faith, hope, and love always,

Rachel

Her Daughter's Dream Review

"Marta's Legacy: Her Daughter's Dream" is by Francine Rivers, a poignant and stunning Christian author with an amazing salvation story. Readers relate to Hildemara, Caroline and May Flower Dawn and how they interacted and responded to various historical events and the broken/injured relationships brought on by the hardships suffered by each of them, and of generational abuse and cycles of abuse. Francine Rivers makes them a real family, a real people she masterfully brings to life. The brilliant Francine Rivers immortalized herself with "The Mark of the Lion" series, her "Lineage of Grace" novellas and "Redeeming Love" and this book enhances her collection of writings all the more. She wrote them based on her own family and wove faith in God and Christ into every page. A touching aspect is that Marta's, the matriarch of sorts, daughter, granddaughter and great-granddaughter finally get to read Marta's letters to Rose, whose family has enjoyed them, not knowing that if her family had been able to read them, they would have been spared a lot of pain. This never even occurred to Marta, and why would it have? And how Marta desperately tries to keep Hildemara strong but in the end she makes Hildemara distant. But what's so sad is that Marta doesn't want Hildemara to be raped like her sister was and be seen as "weak," but in the end, it is her granddaughter she should have feared for. This should be read by anyone who feels distant from any member of their family, especially their mother and/or grandmother.

Praying you have faith, hope, and love always,

Rachel

Her Mother's Hope Review

This is a great read by Francine Rivers!

Just read "Marta's Legacy: Her Mother's Hope." Anyone who's ever tried to fulfill their parents' dreams, or who have had high expectations for their children, or dreamed big dreams and fell in love, this is for them!

A native of Switzerland, Marta's father is a cold, cruel man who forces brilliant Marta to quit school and work, while allowing her brother Hermann, who hates school, to continue attending. She tries to keep up her education, but can't. After a conversation with her mother, she flees her homeland and strikes out to own her own inn. She experiences a lot of changes in her life and eventually creates her inn in Canada, but falls in love with a German engineer who eventually can't find work and moves around until they get to California. She has her daughter Hildemara in a cabin alone. She discovers her sister was raped by the son of the wealthiest couple in their town and, after getting pregnant and losing her mother, commits suicide. Marta's determined that will never happen to her or any of her posterity (which we discover does in the second book). She is strict with her daughter, a gentle girl, who eventually does the same to her own daughter, who becomes close to Marta instead of the mother.

Basically, the story shows how the strained maternal relationship began and gives some insight into possible reasons why (Marta's abusive father and sister's rape, for example). The novel was thoroughly enjoyable and explored the themes of forgiveness, generational problems and healing, as well as showing how each develops and maintains a relationship with God.

Praying you have faith, hope, and love always,

Rachel

A day that seemed like a nightmare

Today was such an awful day. I was upset the whole day (I hate working on Sundays), and it was hot and sticky and everyone just kind of wandered around. Plus, and mostly I laugh about this, a girl rang up a $25.68 order as $2568. I was in charge. I was the cashier and I tried to keep the line moving, but it was hard, because people just want to stand there and wait for it. Maybe it's amusing. Then people complained about tables (they're probably picking the only dirty table in the dining room) at least three times. Clearly we didn't look short staffed (there were three of us, one cook and a "floater" who mostly cleaned tables and washed dishes and cut up food) but we were, and we would have been even more shorthanded if we hadn't foreseen this. Tomorrow will be worse. Ugh, it was a disaster. Plus, someone thought they were entitled to free food, instead of it being thrown away (they weren't willing to pay for their "extra" food). People just want free crap. It's awful. And people kept cutting in line, and my voice hurts! And the people in charge of cash threatened me. I just want them to call my manager. I really do! Nothing is going to happen! I don't even work for them, I just work at the park, and I never will and I never want to. I tried to plaster a smile on, but it was hard.

Most of the people are mundane, but some are nice! One set of guys I think were high or something, they were confusing me, it would have been amusing otherwise. Another one was like, "Did you forget I said I could have refills?" Because I had a vacant look on my face when he asekd (I was thinking someone got away without paying for a THIRD three-entree). I didn't, and I apologized and smiled.

Another one was like, "Cheer up, Rachel, you look ---" and I can't remember what word he used (synonym for pinched, stressed). It was a weird (but fun) phrase. Then he tried to make me pay for the meal, but I wouldn't. His card worked. Really, he was all over the place, but it was great! It helped my day get better. I like it when people use my name, but sometimes it's freaky and I know they're trying to get me to do stuff for them.

I need more days off.

Praying you have faith, hope, and love always,

Rachel

Francine Rivers' Sons of Encouragement series

Francine Rivers produced five novellas about five men who were behind great men of history: Aaron, the first priest, Caleb, one of the two men who believed the Israelites could conquer despite ten nays, Jonathan, David's best friend, Saul's son and heir and the prince, Amos, a minor but important prophet, and Silas, the scribe. Men would love this inspiring series. Even young women can learn from these "behind-the-scenes" great men; being heroic is something everyone needs to do. Included in each is a Bible study on their life so that readers can form their own intelligent thoughts about each of these men. Yet another must-read by clever and creative author Francine Rivers.

Praying you have faith, hope, and love always,

Rachel

Left Behind Review

Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkin's innovative series Left Behind sparked interest in Revelation, the Apocalypse and the End Times. A fan of the last book of the Bible, Left Behind is a beautiful book even though sometimes people wonder just how many pilots couldn't believe in God before and why they suddenly were all changing their minds.

Left Behind is a challenging and fascinating perspective on the least-talked about book in the Bible, Revelation, although Revelation is by far one of the most important books in the Bible. These two authors create a universe in which God is judging the Earth and has taken away His Church; all that are left are those who refused Christ. Now they all must band together to survive the Tribulation and all the other events foretold thousands of years ago. It also has great imagery and talks about one of the four possibilities of Revelation.

Praying you have faith, hope, and love always,

Rachel

Day Off

Finally a day off!! Well, I'm on chapter 8 of Lady in Waiting, the chapter called "Lady of Security," and it's decent! I haven't gotten very far on the meditation journal, and I'm planning to re-read the book and do the study guide and the guides at the end of the chapter while finishing the meditation journal. Some days I have more to write than other days.

It was probably just the first chapter or something, since the past two chapters have been hitting home. I mean, everyone struggles with feelings of insecurity, and a Lady of Security is not overly jealous or paranoid! Insecure people get jealous easily, and they aren't fun to be around, and guys don't like it! They don't want to be tricked or deceived. I'm not saying I'm insecure, but sometimes you doubt. But we need to find our security in God, not men.

Praying you have faith, hope, and love always,

Rachel

The Last Song

I tried to watch The Last Song even though I dislike Miley Cyrus. It wasn't very successful. I watched an hour of it, but I just couldn't get into it. Nicholas Sparks is all right, but I just didn't like that movie! I wouldn't recommend it. I'm going to try I Am Number Four and The Switch.

Praying you have faith, hope, and love always,

Rachel

Tired

I'm so tired I don't know what to write about. I wish I had three days off, instead I'm working six days this week, 40 hours. Not what I was expecting when I "leaped" right into work!

So I'm going through Lady in Waiting, right? Well, at my work today was just me and three guys, a 54-year-old and a teenage boy and a 22-year-old. So the teenager asked me why I'm so nice, so I explained that I was a Christian. Well, I'm guessing it spread (I don't mind) and as soon as he had a free minute, the 22-year-old comes over and says, "So I hear you're a goody-goody Christian."

Great introduction! Well, it just got worse. I'm not sure if we were flirting or not but I think we both asked some pretty nosy questions (I personally think his was worse than mine).

He's like, "My questions aren't offending you, are they?"

And I said, "No, they're embarrassing, but I'm not offended. Ask away." I try to have an open policy.

And he snorted and chuckled.

So I hope we can be cool, he asks for my number every other day, I wouldn't mind him having my number, but it's weird! He has a fiance and a daughter, so I know he isn't serious about me, he just likes to tease.

Oh, we met our sales goal. Yay!

Praying you have faith, hope, and love always,

Rachel

Financial Aid

I'm so worried about my financial aid. What if I don't get enough?! That would be terrible. Even though some people don't get any, I usually get a good amount, and I'm glad. I hope I get a good amount. I mean, my parents pay taxes, so it's not like I'm living off the state!! I just want to know how much I need to save from my summer job for three semesters, roughly. You get less and less as the years progress, unfortunately. You need as much to start out with as you do to end with.

And apparently I'm "helping" out. And it's becoming embarrassing.

Praying you have faith, hope, and love always,

Rachel

Lady in Waiting

I'm currently going through the book Lady in Waiting in anticipation of my college group covering the book in the fall. It's all about using your time as a single woman well. It's actually a pretty interesting book, with good applicable chapters, although I will admit the meditation journal aspect is confusing. There are no clear directions, it's basically they give you some ideas and you're supposed to write what you get out of it, I think. That's what I've been doing. There's a Bible study, which mostly parallels Ruth, one of my favorite books of the Bible other than Luke, Ephesians, Proverbs and Genesis.

I have to admit, even though reading yet another purity book was not appealing (Every Young Woman's Battle has been the best so far I've read, very black and white) I know that a lot of girls struggle with the wait. I do sometimes. Although I get impatient, I think I'm arriving at the place where I don't know more about pleasing a boyfriend than pleasing the Lord and don't care to. I'm happy not being in the muck of young dating that many people endure, but neither will I be single for the rest of my life. So we will see! I've only gotten to chapter three. The book has an interesting perspective; I'd recommend it!!

Praying you have faith, hope, and love always,

Rachel

Cleaning

Cleaning is hard for me. There's not much place for anything else to go. I don't know what to get rid of. I've gotten rid of a lot of stuff already, yet my room still feels cluttered. It may always feel cluttered, even if I have nothing on the walls and nothing in my room. My room in Cape was cluttered. I think it will be even barer next fall. But I also found some good stuff! That's good! I also threw some stuff out. I don't want to be a hoarder!!!!! :)

Praying you have faith, hope, and love always,

Rachel

Pray for Courage!

I need courage to do something very hard for me. I can't say what, but know that I am determined to do it! Thanks!

Praying you have faith, hope, and love always,

Rachel