To My Husband

Thank you, my love, for

...never leaving the toilet seat up

...always making sure my gas tank is full

...taking out the trash and cutting the grass

...killing spiders and wasps and bugs of all sorts

...running out to the drugstore to purchase things that most men haven't got a clue about and would die of embarrassment if they did

...going to the grocery store 3 times in one day to make sure I have all the ingredients for some new recipe I want to make

...eating that new recipe, even if it tastes as bad as it looks

...honestly telling me that my new recipe tastes as bad as it looks

...being a constant and steady presence in the lives of our children

...holding my hand, and my heart when we suffered the loss of a baby by miscarriage

...holding my hand, and my heart when we learned we were pregnant again and I was paralyzed with the fear of losing another

...holding my hand, and my heart when we welcomed our 3 beautiful gifts from God into this world

...patiently waiting for me to understand things when you have explained them more than once

...not saying "I told you so" when you were completely entitled to

Thank you, my love, for all of the beauty, joy, pain, laughter, tears, and love that has happened in our lives for the past 10 years. Thank you for the effort you put into our marriage daily to not only maintain, but make it better. Thank you for your faith in God and faith in His plans for our marriage.

Happy 10th Anniversary to the love of my life, my best friend, and soul mate.

The Easy Button

When I am frustrated and at the end of my rope, I sometimes joke with my husband and say "Where is my Easy Button?"-implying that if I just had this big, red button to push, all my troubles would go away, just like on TV (because everything on TV is true, right?).

I think as Christians, we often think God is supposed to be our "easy button". If we believe and have faith, go to church, do good works, and live according to His word, life is supposed to be easy, right? But God's word tells us different...

"When times are good, be happy;

but when times are bad, consider:

God has made the one as well as the other.

Therefore, a man cannot discover

anything about his future."

-Ecclesiastes 7:14

Solomon is telling us to remember that both good and bad times are from God. He is always in control, not just when things are going well in our lives, but even in times of trouble and strife. But he also says "consider"...this implies that we are to take time, to ponder, to think deeply. God wants us to consider the bad times and linger in them, not always be looking for a way out or the next good thing to come along. Some of His greatest blessings come in time of trouble. To sum it up...God wants us to struggle.

I know...crazy, right?! Why would a God who loves us and cares for us want us to struggle? Shhhh...don't advertise that Christians don't always have it easy, it might discourage people from believing! Make sure you put on a smile and act like everything is perfect in your life according to the world's standards, regardless of what is true. Wait, what was that? Perfect according to whose standards? Oh...now I see, many Christians spend so much time putting on an image of perfection by the world's standards that they miss the plan God has for them! God does not want us to have the perfect, cleanest, most well-decorated house, the perfect, most well-behaved, clean and polished children (phew...that's a relief to me!), the best holiday meal, the newest car, the most prestigious job or title. He wants us to strive for His perfection...to be like Him!

"You therefore must be perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect"

-Matthew 5:48

This scripture is telling us 2 things...one obvious and one not-so-obvious. It's like the law of science that says "every action has an equal and opposite reaction". The "action" is that we are to strive for perfection in God's eyes, a spiritual perfection. The "reaction" is that we are NOT to strive for worldly perfection. God is not impressed by your car or your job title or even your ability to keep it all together when everything around you is falling apart. He wants you to fall apart, because only in the moment of desperation when you finally realize that you don't have it all together, do you realize you need HIM!

So there it is...no more Easy Button references in my house. No more looking for a way out of the current situation, no matter how much I may struggle in it. It is time to linger in tribulation, to cry out to Jesus and lean on His strength where I lack strength, to strive for the perfection of my Heavenly Father.

Thankful

It has been quite some time since I last blogged. I have been going through some challenging times and have felt.......well, uninspired. But lately I have been reminded how amazing and wonderful my God is. I don't have any words of wisdom or eloquent prose to share tonight, just pure, heartfelt gratitude to my Lord and Savior.

Recently I have been touched, indirectly, by several families experiencing illness or loss of a child and I am reminded daily how blessed I am to have 3 beautiful, healthy, strong children. But it has amazed me even more that through their trials, these families have remained not only faithful, but thankful. Then, over the past couple of days, I have been blessed with the most amazing gift from God, the ability to see Him working in every situation in my life and those around me.

Rick and I have been working with the children to help them see how God works in their lives daily, how He cares for every part of them, every aspect of their lives. We have been thanking God for our daily blessings...."thank you, God, for giving me the energy to get up and work all day even though I didn't feel so great this morning", "thank you, God, for giving me the ability to study my spelling words and do well on my test." Through this effort, I am learning to see where God is so good in every area of my life and the lives of those around me.

I am especially encouraged following the story of Matt and Sarah Hammitt (Matt is the lead singer of Sanctus Real) whose little baby boy, Bowen, was born with a severe heart defect and had to undergo open heart surgery at 1 week old. Their open and honest way of sharing their story, the good and the bad, has humbled me and inspired me to see my life through new eyes, thankful eyes. I have posted a link to their blog if you would like to share in their experience.

I have so far to go, but am so grateful to be on this journey and to be walking with a God who created the heavens and the earth--and a God who cares about my laundry and spelling tests!