Another Step

This past week I had a meeting with two women who will be a part of the podcast team for the Women's League. It was awesome to hear their hearts, and to learn a bit more about the focus of this ministry. I am so excited!! I've put together a 2-minute teaching for our next meeting entitled "No Flame for the Candles."

Keep you posted!

The Uncomplicated Life

This week I have felt such a strong conviction in my spirit...a call to simplicity. Have you ever been going along and after awhile you feel the words TOO MUCH pressing on your heart? I really felt that this week! And I'd consider my life to be fairly uncluttered (I said my life, not my house). I cherish (and I must say this word doesn't quite envelope all the emotion I wish it did) our simple days around here. I am totally okay with us having nowhere to go once in a while. This week included subbing, working with 3 tutoring clients, going to Bible study, making and delivering meals, Trevor's soccer practice and pictures, and running back and forth to the pediatrician a few times. Normally that wouldn't kill me (and I know a lot of women with 10 times this schedule) but this week I felt the TOO MUCH on my heart.

My most complicated time of the week--the 24 hour stretch from Wednesday at dinner time until Thursday at dinner time--is just full, for a lack of a better word. And we're doing good stuff! We head out to our married couples' small group (which we love) and hand the kids off to a sitter. We race home and I make the meals until really, really late at night, which means Justin falls asleep without me. Then Thursday morning I run off to Bible study, and the kids go to their childcare rooms at the church. Then we race home, I load up the meals, and then we're off to deliver the meals, drop the kids off with someone, and then I'm off to tutor for a few hours. Every Thursday evening when the mad dash is over, I let out a huge sigh and hug my family extra tight.

On Wednesday I really, really felt like we should skip our small group--and I never like to miss small group! It was this nagging feeling even as I loaded the kids up in the car. We were a few miles down the road when I saw Aila in the rear view mirror--she looked tired, had been battling an ear infection, and even looked sad just sitting back there. She was just staring out the window blankly--not her usual silly, happy self. Once again, TOO MUCH pressed hard on my heart. Before you knew it, we were headed back home. And the second I turned that car around, peace covered me.

When we got home, we spread out a huge blanket in the living room and had a "carpet picnic" for dinner. We had asparagus and chicken piccata, and I even let Trevor have a glass of lemonade with dinner. Sure, he spilled some of it. But the whole thing was beautiful. Beautiful!!! A dinner I won't forget. We just sat there, plunked down together in a precious moment of simplicity.

I do not at all mean to bemoan the things that I am privileged to do to contribute while getting to be at home. I am so very grateful for the opportunities God has given! It's just that my heart longs for simplicity, and I want to protect our family time together, especially as Trevor and Aila get older and will become more involved with activities. After all, I really believe that, several years down the road, it's the simple things we'll all remember. And perhaps in the midst of the quiet moments is when seeds are sown the most. I just want to be mindful of the tremendous value of an uncomplicated life, and the gift of simplicity.

Conference-Bound!

I am so excited--I've gotten all $550 for the conference! It took less than 2 weeks--I'm blown away!!! Any little extra bit that comes in will just go toward gas money for the trip at this point. North Carolina or Bust!

In a few days I'll have a meeting with some women about possibly doing some podcasts--still praying! So far it seems God has been bringing so many things together.

I am also so grateful for the way He is bringing to my mind so many things that are potential speaking topics. It just seems I'm constantly grabbing a pencil and paper to jot things down these days, and I believe these little stories or experiences are piecing together to be words spoken in His name.

We're coming to the last weeks of Believing God. I wasn't sure how I ended up choosing this study, because I didn't necessarily feel a super strong leading to do this one in particular--I just kind of ended up there. But I know this was right where I was meant to be. I've seen over the past few weeks so many powerful connections between faith and words.

Psalm 81:10: "I am the Lord who brought you to your promised land. Open your mouth and I will fill it!"

Phew!!!

Justin (my computer-savvy knight in shining armor) came home and, after some searching, found every single file. A spyware program was doing some "clean-up" and had moved all of our files to a completely different place on our computer...

...but they are there!!!!

You can bet your tush I am spending the rest of the evening backing everything onto a memory stick. :)

Lord, You have been my help and my peace today. I am so grateful that everything was there all along, even though it wasn't right there before my eyes. Thank you that You too are always present, even when we cannot see.

This Can't Be Good...

Today I went to pull up a photo and found only empty folders. Hmmm...a glitch, I thought. But then I tried to pull up a Word document, and found nothing. Nothing! EVERY SINGLE FILE IS GONE. The work of the last 8 years is gone! I breathed a sigh of relief that my 120-page work-in-progress was in my email inbox as an attachment, so I tried to pull it up to download it, and just then my AOL application froze up and I had to shut it down. When I pulled AOL back up, that email was gone. Irretrievably gone. Along with my 120 pages. I have an old hard copy from two years ago, but it's missing lots of updated info, and there is no way to know what was new or how to recreate it. Furthermore, anything I've worked on for speaking outlines these past few years is also gone.

I am in disbelief. I need some prayer!

Inching Closer...

I just got in another $50 toward the conference. I'm kind of in awe at how God is providing!

I had a great talk this week with someone who contacted me after I sent out my email about the conference and what I believe is a calling to speak. She feels a very similar calling on her life, and it was really amazing to talk through it all with someone who knows. It's been fun to see how God has woven our lives together over the past 25 years--starting back when I was just 7 years old!

I was telling her how part of God moving in all of this was through the book of Joshua when God was preparing to give his people the city of Jericho as their promised land. The people were instructed to remain silent while they walked around Jericho for six days (in addition to the 40 years of desert-wandering. At that point, what was seven more days, right?). Joshua said, "Do not raise your voices, do not say a word until the day I tell you to shout. Then shout!" This was the time of preparation. But praise God, there was more in store than just silence. And on that seventh day it was time to speak up.

"Shout, for the Lord has given you this city!" Joshua commanded. Can you imagine their cries at that moment of fulfillment? After 40 years, they were home, and they claimed it with their voices. The walls fell down, and the people settled into the promised land God held in store for them all along!

I have had the tiniest taste of a season of silence and preparation in this calling, and I'm thankful to see that the "more-to-this-story" seems to be unfolding right before my eyes these days. I am excited in feeling like the time has come for silence to give way to words. :)