A love worth celebrating

Valentine's day is a funny sort of holiday.  Meant for expressing love, it stands out in my mind for other reasons.

Many years ago, before I met my hubby, his Dad was diagnosed with cancer....on Valentine's Day.

1973, when Mike was six years old, he was diagnosed with diabetes...on Valentine's Day.

2007, standing in the wrapping paper aisle at Wal-Mart, I got the call we were moving to Texas...on Valentine's Day.

2011, while out running errands I received a call that my sweet friend Tami had been diagnosed with breast cancer...on Valentine's Day.

Connor mentioned yesterday that he'd just like to skip this day all together.  I honestly don't blame him.

On the other hand, in each of these instances we have seen God's love in miraculous ways.  We've seen bodies healed of cancer, lessons learned through living with a life long disease and a wonderful new life in a new place.  While each situation seemed devastating at first glance, each has become something He has used to mold and shape us in His image.  Each one became an expression of His love for us as He guided us along the path...His perfect path. 

So as we celebrate a day set aside for "love" I am reminded of a Saviour's love for me.  A love that took Him to the cross.  A love that pursues me.  A love that envelopes me through each struggle, reminding me that no matter what news today may bring He's already there.

That is a love worth celebrating.

Forever friends

Six or seven years ago I met a lady through my blog.  We began following each others blogs, corresponding and sharing prayer requests all through the miracle of technology.  She prayed for me through my struggle with depression.  Every time she saw a cardinal (which thankfully was often), the LORD prompted her to pray.  Yep, the Internet is amazing.

What's even more amazing is that I just got to spend two days with this sweet friend IN PERSON!  She flew from Michigan to Dallas and spent the first two days with Edie (another blogging friend) before the three of us met for dinner.

We laughed that night...a lot!  Despite having just met in person, we were connected...we were instant friends because of our connection through Christ.  She doesn't drink coffee (gasp!) or wear flip-flops - two of my favorite things, but I think we were able to work through that.  She does at least like chocolate.  Whew!

After dinner Karen came to stay at my house for a couple of days.  We lounged, we chatted, we took silly pictures of crazy haired ladies, we ate ice cream and we talked some more.  We shared our hearts.  When it was time to say good-bye we parted as forever friends.  Notice I said "forever friends", not "old friends"...there's a big difference! 

I'm truly thankful for what the LORD worked over the miles and how He knit our hearts together.  Looks like I may be visiting Michigan some day...but NOT in the winter!  Snow and flip-flops just don't mix.

Thanking God when He says No

The last couple of weeks have been full of people and situations to pray for.  So many family and friends faced with trials weighes heavy on my heart.  I hate to say I feel helpless...that all I can do is pray, but it's true.  I can't fix what they're going through.  I can love on them, make them dinner or help with their kids, but I can't change their current circumstances.  Only God can do that.  In my helplessness, His strength is made perfect.  When there is nothing I can do, He can do everything.  That changes my feeling of helplessness to one of surrender.  I can take my friends to the foot of the Cross.  I can intercede for their circumstances, trusting in the One who knows their need...the One who loves them infinitely more than I do.

A friend who'd been praying with me over several of these situations mentioned how much I had to thank God for this past week.  True, three of the situations ended with answered prayer.  By answered prayer I mean "answered in the way we prayed".  While I thanked Him for answering, I had to check my heart.  What if the situations had ended in a way we hadn't prayed for?  Would I still thank Him?  Would I trust Him enough to understand that His ways are higher than mine; that His plan is so much greater?  Yes, I had a lot to thank Him for, but if I truly trust Him, then shouldn't I be thanking Him regardless of the outcome? 

Let's be real - It's not easy to thank Him through despression, or cancer or relationship challenges, but in doing so I'm expressing my heart's surrender to His plan...His PERFECT plan.  I may not have been thankful at the time for the depression in my life, but through it all I am very thankful for what He did to change me.  I am thankful for the molding and shaping that took place through those darkest of nights; those nights when I felt the sun may never rise again.  It taught me to be thankful for the promise of a sunrise.  I'm thankful that from the ashes of depression He was able to bring something beautiful to life again. 

Thanking Him regardless of His answer is the truest expression of thanks.

God and carnivals - yes, there's a correlation!

Angela at His Truth Endures shared a beautiful post about reflecting on her walk with the LORD over the past year.  She likens it in many ways to a kid at a carnival.  I'm a visual person, so her analogy struck a chord with me.  I hope you'll take a minute to stop in for a read.

No regrets

I'm not really big on new year's resolutions.  Yes, I could stand to lose 20 pounds, watch less TV, read more, eat less, exercise more, yada, yada, yada...who couldn't?  The pastor pointed out in his sermon this morning that while those things might all be good, none of them matters for eternity.  Good point.

So instead of a list of less/more, I have one goal this year - to live with no regrets.  To get to the end of 2012 and say, as best I can, that I lived each day, each moment to it's fullest.  That I lived fully present.  That I loved completely.  That I spoke words of encouragement and love.  That I bit my tongue more often than not.  That, whenever possible, I chose joy.

Now, I'm giving myself some leeway here.  I know I won't accomplish this every day, in every situation, but if I can do so as much as possible it will hopefully leave the world around me and the people in it a bit better off.  Not such a bad goal I think.

I'm also starting a photo a day project for 2012.  Inspired by something I found on Pinterest (of course!), I'll take a photo every day for the next year.  I think it will be a wonderful way to document the life and antics of our crazy family.  Check back for photos.  I'll try and post some once a week or so.

How about you?  Any goals for 2012? 

The Master Cleaner

Cleaning out and organizing things this time of year brings a sense of peace. "Out with the old and in with the new" rings in the new year in more ways than one. While I do love getting my home and calendar in order, the new year also offers time to ponder the spiritual.

“What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and self-indulgence! You blind Pharisee! First wash the inside of the cup and the dish, and then the outside will become clean, too. (Matthew 23:25-26 NLT)

I would be remiss to spend so much time cleaning and organizing the outward environment and neglect the inner mess. Yes, there's mess. There will always be mess as long as we live on this planet. Mess that needs tending to...cobwebs that need sweeping, windows too dirty to see out of and closets filled with secrets. Thankfully there's no mess too big for my God to clean up. Nothing hidden in the dark recesses He hasn't seen. My job is to throw open the doors and windows and invite the Master Cleaner to do His work.

So while I'm purging and organizing, I'm also inviting the Holy Spirit into my mess. Pretty sure He's got the bigger job here.

Cheap laundry room makeover

As I mentioned before we've been reorganizing.  Sort of like nesting without the impending delivery. 

One of the only things I'm not crazy about in our house is the laundry room.  I really hate to even complain...seeing as how some people across the globe do their laundry in the river and all, but for our family of six it's a bit small.  I decided that small or not, it needed a bit of perking up. 

I actually hadn't planned to work on the laundry room just yet, but was inspired by some black and white toile contact paper I found at Dollar Tree...yes, I heart Dollar Tree.  I lined the shelf with the contact paper, bought the kids some new blue laundry baskets to go with the color scheme, shopped my house for some things that matched and viola - a mini laundry room makeover for $7!

The large 'S' I found at a thrift store.  It's fun and funky and makes me smile.  The black stool is a long ago garage sale find and has been in every room of my house at least 10 times.  The 'live, love, laugh' bottles are from Dollar Tree (I think), the pitcher is one Mike painted for me years ago and the basket/liner were a Christmas gift from a friend.  I thought it all went so nicely with my new shelf paper.  Yes, it's the little things that make me happy.

Covered cardstock with extra shelf liner and inserted in the front of the canvas bins I've had for years.  I also covered the light switch plate in the toile.

The kids matching laundry baskets...don't worry...it's clean.

More cute labels covered with the cute contact paper tied with cute ribbon I already had.

Oh, the frugal cuteness of it all!