This weather!!!!
A Dare.
Everyone has a story of pain and disappointment.
For a day, don’t think of your own, and go learn someone else’s.
I get to marry my best friend pretty darn soon.
And I’m really excited about it
:)
the strength of my clients blows me away somedays.
…they remind me to keep doing my own personal work.
they’re brave enough to sit and open up to me,
shouldn’t I be brave enough to sit with God and reveal it all to Him?
Food for thought today.
Sometimes we are so inculcated in our bubbles of comfort that we forget the world is still raging against all that the gospel stands for.
—Leonce Crumb speaking on racial reconciliation.
sometimes I get in the shower in the morning and think,
“Geez, when was the last time I was in here? Been a while…”
To learn how to be grateful and happy, whether hands full or empty. That is the secret worth spending a life learning.
—One Thousand Gifts, p. 47
Christmas and a Possible hiatus
So… it seems it’s been a while since I blogged. Sorry, folks. (I mean…sorry, four friends who read this). Christmas was a gift. A much needed break where I couldn’t wait to leave Chicago, and yet was ready to come back. Here’s the gist of how it went:
-Jon and I got to spend stress-free time together. I don’t think I realized how much we needed that. I was given the gift of feeling closer to him than ever. It’s been a rough ride here for us. We are thankful for Christmas break and beyond.
-We started to realize that getting married means getting to be intentional about holidays. Getting to plan and impress upon your marriage and your future children what it truly means to have Christmas. We had lots of fun talking a lot about what we like and don’t like in regards to how our families celebrate the holidays, and how we want to celebrate together over the next fifty years or so.
-I got a break from my internship and all the heartache that often comes with it. That was a blessing.
-I got to spend time with Jon’s family. I love being with his family: all nine of them. I think it’s crucial to spend time with your spouse’s family. It gives me grace, it gives me hope, it gives me insight into him in ways I am not able to without fully understanding his world for the last 27 years.
You’d think our families are from different planets sometimes. Good, bad, ugly, and great…these two Christ-following families are so different. It’s really good for us to be around them both.
-I got to watch Friday Night Lights. I’m hooked. My supervisor says it’s important for people in my field to find ways to shut off our frontal lobes so that we can relax. So I took that and ran with it and find that to be my perfect scientific excuse to watch netflix. Booyah.
-I got super convicted that I don’t spend time with Jesus as I should. Yesterday in church we were reminded that we “truly make time for what we want to make time for.” The pastor argued that we all make choices; things dont just happen to us most of the time. So, that means no more, “I’m too busy to do this, I work too much, I have four kids, I work finance and no one understands how hard it is.” All of these are the results of choices we have made for our lives, and sometimes these choices pull us from Christ. In my case, my desire to relax, take a breather, and shut off seriousness ends up leaving me away from quiet time with God. It hasn’t been working. Let me tell you: trying to plan a wedding, work as a therapist, have five grad school classes, work outside of class, be a friend and fiancé…yeah, that doesn’t work so well when you’re running on your own strength. I’m learning that the hard way and trying to make some big changes.
(If you’d like to hear an awesome sermon on this, google Park Community Church in chicago and listen to the latest sermon).
-I continue to be so thankful for my one friend here. I missed her.
-I continue to look forward to May 5 and May 12, dates God strategically and humorously put right next to each other. But, He knew what he was doing, which means I believe that I can do all this without losing it. (“It” being my sanity.) IF and only IF I make the choice to make time for God. Sounds easy, right? It’s not.
-I miss my girlfriends.
-Pray for Jon as he looks for a job.
-I am considering stopping this blog. I am going to think about this and pray about it. I think it can be vein sometimes to talk about myself so much and think about myself. I think this might be feeding that vanity. I think it’s important for me to share with those in my life, but I hope I can do so without relying on the internet at this point. As we heard yesterday that we “make time for what we make time for,” I thought there are things in my life that can be cut. And sometimes, I just think I’m trying to be cool up in this here internet world and that might not be the right idea. Just an idea I’m tossing around…
Thanks for listening.
It’s true….I suck at blogging.
I have been busy soaking up time with my family and fiancé, and trying to rest before the insanity of my last semester/month pre-wedding start caving in.
This Christmas has been a true gift…full of blessings and excitement…and if I get a minute..I’ll write more soon.
:)
