Having been away all week, dashing around the country, it was lovely to get home last night and to get a sleep in my own bed! It was even more of a delight when I checked my emails and was told that two of my friends in Blogland, Janna of Bread Crumbs and Simple Christian Living had bestowed on me a wee present.


The Thinking Blogger Award was started by the thinking blog and has spread around the globe quickly. The rules are simple:

1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think
2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme
3. Optional: Proudly display the 'Thinking Blogger Award' with a link to the post that you wrote

Ladies, thank you so much for your kind words, encouragement and prayer. You have been such a blessing to me through your posts and conversations, so it really is an honour and a delight to have been given this. As I have said before, this really really is just me thinking out loud. With my lengthy commutes, I have plenty of time to ponder (and at worst, ruminate) so you all get the brunt of it!

Can I introduce you to my winners of the Thinking Blogger Award? Please visit them all to have a look around.

• Solo Femininity by Carolyn McCulley - I first read her book, Did I Kiss Marriage Goodbye?, then started reading her blog. She is a wonderfully wise woman who tackles the big issues of being a single woman pursuing biblical womanhood. Her articles will challenge and encourage your thinking.
• Middle Years by Linda - I know she has already been nominated, but I wanted to make sure to share her blog with you. Given that I am a 26 year old Scotswoman, you might not think that a Texan grandmother and I would have much in common. Instead, we have become friends through reading her refreshing and honest posts and because when she says that she will pray for you, you know that she is. I can't tell you how much that has blessed me.
• Small Things by Sherrin - We have many similar ideas on biblical womanhood and the Christian life and when we don't, it provokes some fascinating conversations. She is obviously someone who thinks deeply and carefully.
• John Dekker's Journal - I've enjoyed reading John's insightful blog and his comments here and across friends' blogs. He's a theology student so shares much of his studies with us. I have enjoyed this week's Readings for Holy Week.
• A Gracious Home by Sallie - She's already been nominated too, but I couldn't miss her out given that I can't go shopping without hearing her voice (or how I imagine her voice to be!) saying "Use it up, Wear it out, Make it do, Do without." On this and many other issues, she has made me think.

Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.
1 Thessalonians 5:11

He was without any comforts of God - no feeling that God loved him - no feeling that God pitied him - no feeling that God supported him. God was his sun before - now that sun became all darkness...He was without God - he was as if he had no God. All that God had been to him before was taken from him now. He was Godless - deprived of his God. He had the feeling of the condemned, when the Judge says, "Depart from me, ye cursed...who shall be punished with everylasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power." He felt that God said the same to him.

Ah! This is the hell that Christ suffered. The ocean of Christ's sufferings is unfathomable...He was forsaken in the [place] of sinners. If you close with him, as your surety, you will never be forsaken..."My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" [The answer?] For me - for me.

Robert Murray McCheyne, Scottish minister and evangelist (1813-1843)

This is just a quick visit to say that I will not be around this week. I fly down to Oxford tomorrow for an interview there on Wednesday. The interview for the whole of Scotland on Friday was fine but not outstanding. Maybe it is time to leave Scotland having lived here for almost 27 years now. I think I would quite like being close to London too, rather than hidden away in the Highlands! I know I have said this before, but I just think it is wonderful to know that God already knows where I am going to be and has his plans and perfect will set out for me. It is certainly something to take comfort in during a very unsettling time. As ever, I value your prayers!

On Thursday, I am off to a wedding where a Mr Macdonald will marry a Miss MacDonald. (Note the subtle difference in their names that mean that she will need to change her name!) I am looking forward to a good ceilidh and plenty of kilts!

I will then be found for the rest of the weekend working away in the hospital. The hospital intranet has banned blogs, so I won't be able to post or read, but I can look forward to catching up with you all next week.

Finally, inspired by Lindsay of Enjoy the Journey, I'll leave you with some of the unusual, surprising, and sometimes disturbing searches that have led people here: