My much-needed daily dose of positivity

Today: I'm leaving work a little bit early to go down to Atlanta to celebrate 2 friends' marriage this weekend. I'm super-excited for them, but also I'm excited to have Friday off! Wooo-hooo!

Yesterday: "Yours" by Stephen Curtis Chapman
I walk the streets of London
And notice in the faces passing by
Something that makes me stop and listen
My heart grows heavy with the cry
Where is the hope for London?
You whisper and my heart begins to soar
As I'm reminded
That every street in London is Yours

I walk the dirt roads of Uganda
I see the scars that war has left behind
Hope like the sun is fading
They're waiting for a cure no one can find
And I hear children's voices singing
Of a God who heals and rescues and restores
And I'm reminded
That every child in Africa is Yours

And its all Yours, God, Yours, God
Everything is Yours
From the stars in the sky
To the depths of the ocean floor
And its all Yours, God, Yours, God
Everything is Yours
You're the Maker and Keeper, Father and Ruler of everything
It's all Yours

And I walk the sidewalks of Nashville
Like Singapore, Manila and Shanghai
I rush by the beggar's hand and the wealthy man
And everywhere I look I realize
That just like the streets of London
For every man and woman, boy and girl
All of creation
This is our Father's world

And its all Yours, God, Yours, God
Everything is Yours
From the stars in the sky
To the depths of the ocean floor
And its all Yours, God, Yours, God
Everything is Yours
All the greatness and power, the glory and splendor and majesty
Everything is Yours
Yeah, it's all Yours
We are Yours
The glory and honor is Yours, everything is Yours
It's all Yours, God
My life is Yours, my heart is Yours
My hands and my feet are Yours
Every song that I sing
It's all Yours, all is Yours
All belongs to You
Our gifts are Yours, God
All our dreams are Yours, God
All our plans are Yours, God
The whole earth is Yours, God
Everything is Yours

I've walked the valley of death's shadow
So deep and dark that I could barely breathe
I've had to let go of more than I could bear
And questioned everything that I believe
But still even here in this great darkness
A comfort and hope come breaking through
As I can say in life or death
God, we belong to You

New Personal Social Experiment

Because of my recent complaining about my job, new city, not having any friends, etc., I've decided to start a new regimen for myself: posting, er, circulating at LEAST one fully positive thought every workday. As in, no conditional statements, no back-handed, passive-aggressive negativity. Full optimism. The Bible calls us to rejoice, and I'm not always very good at that.
I say "circulating" instead of posting, because they might not all make it to the blog. But I often email either my friend Ashley or my mom from work, or ocassionally I text John from work. So, I intend to daily circulate at least one positive thought. Although they don't have to be altruistic, greater-good kind of thoughts. Some of them might just be little things I like or that make me happy. In a Peter Pan "think happy thoughts" kind of way.
Because today is Tuesday and I haven't posted a list in a while, that's my list topic this week.

Happy Thoughts
1. This is a day that the Lord has made, and I will rejoice and be glad in it.
2. It's also a perfect hair day for me. Rare but true. Perfect yet constrained ringlets.
3. I LOVE the beautiful crisp fall weather.
4. I'm going to the library tonight and that always makes me really happy!
5. I'm thankful that I have friends with whom to share these thoughts.
6. I'm excited for my friends Emily and Paul getting married this weekend.
7. I'm glad the election season is almost over.
8. I love being married. It is so fun to live with John and get to see him everday, instead of every other weekend!
9. God always knows exactly WHAT we need (whether it's a job, a meal, or a random $25 giftcard to Walgreen's like they gave John at work the other day), and He is always faithful to provide what is best for us. That is such a relief.
10. I LOVE making dinner every night, packing my lunch for the next day, and setting out breakfast. I get so excited. You'd think my life revolved around food! I'm finding out that I love cooking!
11. I also love Extreme Makeover Home Edition.
12. I have the best family in the world. (Seriously.)

You know, once you get started with this, it's kinda hard to stop. But I better get back to work. Later gators.

Nashville Update

We're doing pretty well up here in Nashville. Our apartment is great and we're starting to connect with a few great people and form some friendships -- although we could definitely use some more friends and contacts here in the city, especially for me! John is enjoying pharmacy school and has met some great people in his program. We're still trying to settle on a church, but we've tried several and we know which ones warrant another visit. We only have 2-3 left on our list to try for the first time. It's very disheartening to visit a church where no one talks to you or even realizes that you are a first-time visitor -- it definitely makes me mourn for lost opportunities to meet visitors when I was at Redeemer! I wish I had been more outgoing to others -- maybe it's just 'karma' that we're not greeted now :)

I started a job a few weeks ago doing marketing for a specialty medical practice. I'm not sure if this job is the best fit for me, so if anyone reads my blog, I would definitely appreciate much prayer on this matter. I feel very lost in this job. It feels very stressful and chaotic to me. I think I would feel a little more grounded here if:

-the office technology actually worked (as in, I could use my computer or send a document to the printer without seeming like an idiot because I don't know their constant 'band-aids' to make a broken system work)
-(related) if I could check my work email at work
-(related) if I had a phone at work so I didn't have to use up my (*precious*valuable*) cell phone minutes
-(related) if I knew enough about technology to fix the strange hosting issues with our website (which would be a valuable marketing resource!)
-if I knew more about marketing or had more experience to build on or a little more direction given
-if I knew more about the Nashville healthcare market or had more relationships to build on
-if the job fit the description a little better (more community outreach and programming, less sales)
-if I had ever wanted to be a pharm rep, because that's essentially what medical marketing is
-it would help if the physicians involved in the practice wanted similar goals out of their overall marketing plan

I think I'll really like the position once I get my feet on the ground a bit. Prayers and suggestions are always appreciated!