Weekends of Woe

Rachel's Randomness

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"No one can think more highly of the understanding of women than I do. In my opinion, nature has given them so much, that they never find it necessary to use more than half." - Henry Tilney (Northanger Abbey) 

As I sit at work, listening to Pandora, surfing the Internet for story ideas, thinking of how fast these past few months have passed, Michael Buble's' song, "Home" starts playing. Oh, how appropriate that the lyrics play to my heart throbs. 

Do you ever feel that people who may or may not claim to be your "friends," often use you as a last resource or thought? We are such selfish human beings, some of who give so much more love, loyalty, affection, than we receive. But I feel like King David in the Psalms, when I say, praise God that we are not alone and that did not Christ suffer SO much more than we ever will? He is so gracious and longsuffering towards us. Those thoughts alone should humble and bring us down on our knees in thanksgiving and lift that burden off our shoulder. 

These past few months in Washington, D.C. have been great for me in so many ways and have revealed to me things about myself. At times I think I'm strong in and of myself to fight temptations but before I know it I end up thinking, "How did I, of all people, get here?" It reminds me of what my dad has preached and taught me throughout my childhood, and I'll never forget it, "Pay attention, don't wander," he would say in his deep, grave voice.

I have been blessed in so many ways and just reflecting on them brings a smile to my face and melts away my complaining heart. There are millions of things we can find to complain about in a day - it's a better challenge to find and reflect on what blessings that God through Jesus Christ has blessed us with. Take a minute to name a few and you will see what I mean. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:17, "So we do not lose heart...For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison."

All that said, I am just going to quickly point out how frustrated I am that my computer decided to commit suicide last night. Yes, a mere MONTH after the year warranty from Dell expired. Never thought I'd say these shocking words, but say them I will, I detest, no HATE Dell! I feel they plant time bombs in the computers so you have to buy a new one every year - I've definitely decided it is a conspiracy of some sort - I'm onto them. My hard drive is completely done for - a lot of my life is on that computer. I think I might cry. Thank goodness I've put most of my pictures on facebook. Dell, I'm SO done with you - Apple, here I come!!! But the "Pollyanna" side to that is I was able to post pictures I took in Williamsburg as well as watch "Northanger Abbey" on youtube with Michal.

Williamsburg was lovely but very hot. My favorite part of the entire visit was the Colonial period dancing on Saturday night. They asked for volunteers after demonstrating various dances, such as the minuet. There are two-couple, three-couple, and four-couple dances! As they asked for volunteers from the crowd for the four-couple dance, I raised my hand in high hopes of being selected, since I was in the back of the non-to-well-lit room. A gentleman (Daniel was his name) in a red velvet waist coat picked me! I was so glad I decided to wear my pink sundress from J. Crew. I felt like I was transported back in time and had become a part of Jane Austen's world - I could almost envision Mr. Darcy dancing across from me. 

Michal and I decided to go for a run last Tuesday night, not expecting the torrential downpour that was brewing. Halfway across the bridge over the Potomac, the storm unleashed its unrelenting fury - as if it were crying angry tears for me. (This was a hard week for me at that point) I had never before been scared of a storm until that moment, when I felt so exposed and as the wind whipped around us and the rain stung our skin. Within seconds, Michal and I were drenched and we could barely see in front of us and had to keep blinking the water out of our eyes. I groaned aloud, "My iPhone is SO going to die now!!!" We got home and the speaker wasn't working. I called AT&T and they recommended putting it in a bowl of rice. Thank goodness Michal had some. Praise God that the next day it worked like a charm. Now I can wait to upgrade to the iPhone 4 until they fix it.

The exciting part of the beginning of last week is that on Monday, my article on women and their struggle with pornography made the front page of The Washington Times: https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jul/11/more-women-lured-to-pornography-addiction/ 

Thank you all for your continued prayer, friendship, and for taking time to read my blogs. It shows me that you truly care about me enough to follow what is going on in my life. Until next time.

Peace out,

Rachel Duke