Thirty

For husbands coming home after weeks away!

Twenty nine

Thank You, Lord, for your grace which gives us so many chances. Thank you for sparing my dad’s life last Monday when he fell asleep at the wheel and crashed into the back of a semi-truck. Thank You for keeping him even now as he recovers in ICU. Thank you for Your great mercy. May he, and we, never ever take it for granted…

Twenty eight

“…You who were once far away from God.  You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions.  Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body.  As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.”   — Colossians 1:21-22

 

How could my heart not burst with gratitude?!  Thank you, Jesus.

Twenty seven

For growing things in my little yard.  I’m the least green fingered person ever, but this corner is overflowing with green!  Most of it is probably weeds, but it’s so pretty I don’t mind!

Twenty six

I’ve been struggling with some vanity issues lately… I’m not proud of it, but for the sake of being vulnerable (for the sake of the gospel to Christ’s glory) here it is in all its ugliness:  I hate my body.  Body image and the consequent battle with food plus an unhealthy dose of comfort eating lead to not a very nice place in my head.  And let me tell you, I am obsessed.  My thoughts about food and weight and fat are all consuming. Not an hour goes by that I don’t think of these things.  I’m regularly brought to tears over them.

If only it were as simple as eating less and exercising more through force of will…  But I can’t begin to explain how complicated it is. 

I’m terrified of passing these feelings on to my gorgeous daughters, I feel so convinced and convicted that God is bringing me to a place of healing so I don’t pass them on, and so, to His glory, I might help and comfort those who have similar feelings.

He is and has been healing me of this, but it’s slow progress.  I praise Him for the changes I see!

But today, I received a gift, from the lips of my gift of a little girl, words straight from the heart of the King to mine:

“You’re the most beautiful mama in the whole wide world.”

Thank you, Jesus, that beauty is so much more than what we see!

Twenty five

Thank you, Jesus, for these gorgeous creatures fluttering around everywhere lately.  And thank you for precious three year old daughters who help us appreciate the wonder of them…

Twenty-Three

I thank the Lord for our ability to connect. So many of us are walking around unaware that we have this incredible ability, that we can actually reach outside of ourselves and connect intimately with another, to brush souls. It took me years and years to understand this– and to understand that until I learned to have the confidence in Christ to make myself vulnerable with those around me, I would always always remain that aching kind of lonely that I had always known…

And the beauty of it, I discovered as God grew me more and more deeply, is that when I reach out a tentative hand, making myself vulnerable to rejection, it gives others around me the courage to do the same…

And I have the most meaningful relationships in my life now that even just 8 years ago I was only dreaming of.

And I am so so very unbelievably thankful.

Lord, thank You for my dear deep friends, and for the kind acquaintances I can “brush souls” with along the way. Thank You for setting a model for us of what it means to be in relationship. Help me to love like You love, Holy and intimate Father, that You might draw more and more of us aching souls to You, to Your love, to Your truth, to Your hope…

Twenty one

A church family I adore, and now, being away for a day, I MISS.  This is the closest to heavenly fellowship I’ve ever got on earth, and it’s wonderful.  Thank you Jesus!