A Surprising Blessing, and 25 Things

Given my predilection for wandering from the passage the pastor reads to others nearby, I guess I ought not think of this as a surprising blessing. Even so, it was, and given the economy as it seems to be, I have to share this with the two or three who might happen upon this blog/blog entry.
During church yesterday morning, the pastor read from Psalm 111:10: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever! This, however, carried me to Psalm 112, which begins: Praise the LORD! Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who greatly delights in his commandments! and further in that Psalm we read, Light shines in the darkness for the upright; he is gracious, merciful, and righteous, and further on, For the righteous will never be moved; he will be remembered forever. He is not afraid of bad news; his heart is firm, trusting in the LORD. What a wonderful promise for those who trust in the LORD: they need not fear bad news. And that is the surprise blessing I wanted to share.

25 things about me
More and more astonished that God should so love me that He gave His only begotten Son to be my substitute and bear the wrath of God [see 2 Corinthians 5]
More and more astonished that God should provide His Word in both print [the Bible] and in flesh [The Incarnation]
More and more astonished that God's Holy Spirit should deign to make the Bible understandable to me
So blessed by my parents and my sister [double sister--humanly and spiritually] and my husband
1. Lived in three states so far
2. A state employee in one of them for several years
3. Never obtained a driver's license--safer for everyone that way
4. Played cornet and French horn, until a bad incident many years ago
5. Have loved reading ever since I learned how to
6. My 10Th grade English teacher encouraged me to develop my writing skills; a teacher in college told me that I didn't have any
7. 4-H member in good standing for many years
8. Got a ribbon for my green bean casserole in the dim distant past
9. Became a serious coffee drinker in college
10. Don't like fish the way my husband likes it
11. Usually up for a cheeseburger
12. Remember when you could get a burger, fries, and drink at McD's for 99 cents total
13. Started out to get a degree in elementary education but soon discovered that what I wanted to do couldn't be done through that
14. So blessed that my family and my friends overlap
15. Like to read the encyclopedia for fun
16. Like to read the dictionary for pleasure also as well as any other word-oriented book
17. Greatly enjoy teaching both writing and literature--apart from grading
18. Only business course I took was typing
19. Love history
20. Hope to travel more some day