He's Changing Me

One of my favorite books at present is a book that my friend gave me, entitled Stepping Heavenward by Elizabeth Prentiss. It is the fictional story of a woman named Katherine written in the form of her journal. The entries begin the day she is sixteen years old and continue until after she is married and has children of her own. Though it is fictional, it is written with the purpose of the reader learning life lessons from it--not solely for entertainment purposes. One thing that impressed me about this book is the way the character grew and matured in the Lord. As a reader, and someone looking at the whole picture, I could see a huge change in her from the time she was sixteen to the time she was married with children. Yet, in her journal entries, she often lamented her immaturity and lack of spiritual growth.

I find myself often doing the same thing. I get so frustrated when I repeat the same mistakes over and over again. Discouragement can come easily when I dwell on my many shortcomings but reading this book gave me another perspective. If I step back and look at my life from the time I was sixteen until now, I have grown, matured, and changed drastically. It is an encouraging reminder that God is continuing his work in me--constantly teaching me and molding me into the person that He ultimately wants me to be. Until I reach heaven, I will not be that completed person and that's what this life is, my journey towards heaven to be with my Lord, Savior, and Friend.

"So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord--who is the Spirit--makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image." 2 Corinthians 3:18 NLT

*If you're interested in reading the book, there is a free audio-version here http://librivox.org/stepping-heavenward-by-e-prentiss/ or here http://www.booksshouldbefree.com/book/stepping-heavenward-by-e-prentiss.

Best Friends

I love being married to my best friend. Are you married to your best friend? Because people are always changing, learning new things, and in different phases of life it is easy to lose that friendship and just be living two lives side by side--especially with the busyness of children and their activities, work, bills, pets, house upkeep, other friends, and the list continues.

My husband and I are intentional about staying best friends--here are some of the things that we do:

• We find things in common that we like to do, and we make time to do those things together.
• We stay interested and engaged in each other's work lives. So if my husband is reading a book or going to a conference, I try to join him. He stays engaged at home with me and the children and loves it when I send him updates throughout the day of things that are happening.
• We talk about deeper things than the weather and not just about our children, though we do talk about them a lot! For instance, we might discuss politics or our Bible reading for the day.
• We learn new things together like a game or a new hobby.  Recently we've started geocaching which is a fun whole family activity. Now we are on the hunt for a new board game.
• We give each other space to have our own individual hobbies.
• We pray together.
• Sometimes, we read a book together--and I do mean we read it out loud together! It's been awhile since we've done that one but it was a great experience that we will repeat.
• We have date nights and actually get out of the house without children.
• We laugh together.

What are some things that you do to intentionally stay best friends with your spouse?

A New Year--A New Hobby

I have never been successful at making New Year resolutions. A few years ago I finally made it my New Year resolution to NEVER make a resolution again because they just made me feel like a failure. I have been successful at that one but I still feel like I am missing something when I don't make a resolution.

This year, following my wonderful husband's example, I decided to take the opportunity to learn something new. For some reason, I've been wanting to learn how to knit. My mom gave me a book, DVD, and starter kit for Christmas. I bought some cheap yarn at Walmart (which I probably won't do once I learn the basics) and I started.

So far, I have learned how to cast on, knit stitch and cast off. I am now making a practice scarf just so that I can learn the knit stitch really well before learning the purl stitch.

Surprisingly, it's sort of addictive. There is a therapeutic rhythm to knitting. There is something calming about the repetitive motion; the organization of it. It is almost mentally relaxing--definitely not physically relaxing though. My shoulders tend to stiffen up and I've discovered muscles in my wrists and hands that I previously didn't know existed.

Knitting is a detailed process. It takes time, creativity, and thought, especially when making something with a detailed pattern. I love the picture of God knitting me together. "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb." (Psalm 139:13 NIV) He has a plan and though I am not a completed project I trust Him that His pattern for me is perfect. I'm excited to see the way He's daily changing me and looking forward to someday being the finished product.

Learning something new has been a fun approach to the idea of a New Year Resolution and I already feel successful! Here's a picture of my practice scarf so far.

Yes, I know I'm using the wrong yarn for the pattern. It's not bulky enough for the pattern and the size of needles that I'm using. I know there are some holes where I dropped some stitches--don't know how to fix that yet. It's definitely a work in progress (just like me) but it's good practice and my daughters will be vying for it no matter how it looks.

Little Blessings

I know that children are blessings from God. I have four of them and they are incredible! Sometimes though they are an incredible challenge. In those challenging moments with my children, it is hard to remember to be thankful for them and the blessing that they are. Because of this, I decided to think about each of my children that God has given me and look closely at what God really gave us when he added that child to our family.

When He gave us our first child, Morgan, he gave us responsibility, routine, amazement, self-reflection, sweetness, and consistency. What a lot of things to add in to our lives! With Connor came strength, honesty, creativity, playfulness, and an unquestioning love for God. Meara brought us laughter, unexpected surprises, more hugs and kisses than we could have ever imagined, and overflowing joy. Then came Kyla. She brought wonder into our lives just when we thought we had everything figured out. She added abundant energy and activity and, amazingly enough, more laughter.

Looking at this list, I see how full our lives are. Each child really is a blessing from God. The next time I am cleaning poop off of the floor, telling them the third time to do something, breaking up an argument, or fixing another scraped knee, I will remember to thank God for my blessings.

Summer

Ha Ha! I have to laugh at myself. I was just messing around with my blog page and the settings and all that stuff and accidentally published my post with just a title. I guess that's one way to work through writer's block--I sort of feel obligated to say something now.

I do love summer. It is a busy crazy time for our family but the sunshine just makes everything seem more bearable. I was raised in eastern Oregon which is sort of desert area but right next to the Columbia River. There is wonderful sunshine all year around despite the temperature. Even after living in Northwest Washington for most of the past 16 years, I still have not found a love for the rain and the constant cloud cover that we endure for the majority of the year. I rejoice when the sun shines and and absolutely love traveling and experiencing 90 degree weather. My children, on the other hand, have lived here in the Northwest all of their short lives and when the sun shines and it's barely 70 degrees, they are eating Popsicles and looking for shade--it's hilarious.

I will enjoy the sun this summer but as the Northwest fall and winter approach, reminding myself to depend on the Lord to be my sunshine, is an important thing to do. Habakkuk 3:4 says, "His splendor was like the sunrise: rays flashed from his hand where his power was hidden." Psalm 84:11 says, "For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless." Not to say I won't enjoy the sun fully at each opportunity but, this summer, fall, winter and spring, I need to remember to focus my attention on God and not worry about the clouds in the sky so much.

God's Promises

Traveling through the Middle Ages with my children this year is an exciting adventure but it is also becoming a faith-building one. Because we were learning about Mohammed, we went back to the Bible, our Truth, and found the story of Abraham and Ishmael. Even though Ishmael was a product of Abraham's impatience, God promised to bless him and turn him into a great nation. Today, we see God's promise being fulfilled. God keeps His promises even when we are impatient and untrusting. God keeps His promises even when we stubbornly attempt to do things our own way. It's amazing to see.



Even in my own life, I have seen God keep His promises to me. A little over a year ago, my husband was diagnosed with RA. He was in so much pain for awhile that he couldn't move. We were, thankfully, able to control it with medication continued praying for complete healing. Not long after his diagnoses, a person that I just met, handed me a handwritten note. I did not keep the paper, but the message stuck in my heart. I can't even remember exactly what it said but he had written that God had heard my prayers and he had answered them. I struggled with this for a few days. I wanted to believe this message but the human doubts crowded in, "I don't even know this guy. Maybe it's about something else. What if I believe this, and then my husband is not healed?" These doubts and questions swirled around in my head mixing with guilt for feeling the way that I did. Why couldn't things be simpler? Why after all the things I have seen God do, would I doubt?



I finally thanked God for his promise and continued to pray for my husband. I decided to quietly believe and wait to see what God would do.



One year later, my husband went off his medication to see what would happen and to readjust his medication. He had no RA symptoms and his blood tests showed no evidence of RA. Some people will say that in rare circumstances this happens but I say, God healed my husband. He kept His promise to me despite my nagging doubts and questions. My God is a good, loving, compassionate, loyal, amazing God. I am humbled and so thankful that he has blessed us with this miracle.

Nothing Profound

I am sitting here at my computer trying to make my brain think of something profound that I can blog about. Nothing is happening. I am tired tonight and my mind is completely blank. I think the best cure for this condition is sunshine. That is what I desperately need. I am ready to pull out the summer clothes and the flip-flops but the sun is playing hide and seek.

Though I do appreciate any sunshine I can get at this point, I sometimes think it would almost be better if the sun just didn't shine at all. When I get a glimpse of the sun for a couple hours and then more rain, it is almost more dissapointing than if it had just been rain. Every time the sun teases me and peeks out from behind those clouds, my hopes rise and I think, "Finally, summer is here..." only to be let down a few hours later when the rain clouds again dominate the sky.

I know, I shouldn't complain, and really I don't think I am. I am just saying that I am ready for summer. Aren't you?