Hey! You shout in your head as you read the title – and no, this isn’t a throwback post from January first. I know it isn’t the first! It isn’t even the first day or the first week or even a Sunday!
But we can restart any time. We don’t have to wait for the first day of the week, the first day of the next month, or the first day of the next year, we can restart whenever we choose.
Too many people wait until later to do things and it gets shoved to the back burner or forgotten. Not this time for me!
It isn’t a big goal. I’m wanting to type out and post at least two blogs a week. I want to be an encourager. I want to spread hope and love. This is my voice. (Cheesy, I know, but whatever)
I’ve been letting it lag a little. This was brought to my attention by two people; a friend and a daughter who are like, “I haven’t read anything from you in awhile.” Hmm… I looked and yikes, they are right.
At one point, I was posting once every three days. That’s not too bad.
That’s my goal. My restart.
What is yours? What are you putting off resetting because it just isn’t the right time? Do you want to do it? Have you prayed about it? Is it a positive change? Yes. Yes. Yes. Then don’t wait! Restart now! Make today your New Year for your New Goal and move your life forward!
Life is an adventure: Life it to the fullest everyday!
Don’t Wait Until “Later”
Time Warp Story from – September 13, 2023
Have you ever heard (or maybe even said) “I’ll just wait until later.”
I heard it often from a couple I knew when I was younger. They said it about getting married. I loved them dearly and wanted them to go to heaven. I asked him once about Jesus and he laughed and said he’d think about it later. I saw his life of serving others and prayed he loved Jesus. She said she loved Jesus, so I knew I would see her in heaven. Once, (probably very tired of a child’s repeated question) he said they would get married when I did. He died a month to the day before I was to get married. No, they never got married. “Later” never came for that.
I’ve heard friends say “later, when we have enough money,” or “later, when I’m settled in my career,” or “later, when life slows down,” etc. But those “laters” never come and “enough” is never “enough.” Life speeds by without seeming to care. Road bumps happen. Sadly, I watch as life unfold, oftentimes things or experiences people want get lost and turn into regrets.
I heard so many regrets from elders as I was growing up that I determined I would consider future regrets whenever making any decision.
Start a flock of chickens with my babysitting money when we finally had land? Yes! (Learned I loved farming – didn’t regret that choice)
Stay in Kissimmee on my own or move with my family? After praying about it and feeling a “nudge” to “move just one more time,” I chose to move “just one more time.” (To Saint Augustine, 22 years ago – I met Louis here and started my family and yes we have lived in the vicinity of Saint Augustine for those whole 22 years.) Regrets? No!
Decide to marry the first guy I dated three days after our first date? Yes! (I said “decide to marry” not “get married to” – we were engaged 15 days after our first date and married 4 months later.) November makes 21 years. Regrets? No!
Start our family on Christmas Eve a month into marriage? Yes! (Even though everyone thought we were crazy) Regrets? No! Our little amazing first married Christmas gift will graduate from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in less than 3 months.
So many decisions we’ve made; some good, some bad. There are only three I can think of that I seriously “regret” happening and one was back when I was 12.
We can’t go backward, only forward in life. This is why I always ask the girls when they are making a big decision (job, college, sports, life) – will you regret not doing this? Will you regret taking that path? Those are the questions I want them to think on.
I challenge you to ask yourself: if you are being led to do something and you tell yourself and God, “later” for whatever reason, ask this: “Will I regret not doing/trying this later?”
If you are telling yourself you’ll do something “later” or “when you have enough” of something: ask yourself if you will regret not doing or trying whatever that is.
A line from a movie I like says “a train won’t wait” and I’ve always translated that to be, “life doesn’t wait.” My Daddy said we should live life with no regrets. God gave us only a certain amount of trips around the sun and only He knows how many. We should use those trips to serve God in everything we can without waiting for “later” and “enough.” Have fun in your experience! Enjoy this amazing life God has given you! Don’t get stuck in any ruts waiting for “later.” Pray. Jump out of your comfort zone and see where life takes you! One young woman I met as a missionary said she felt God calling her to be a missionary but thought, “later, after I finish college,” but her father advised her to just go! She went! She said it was the best decision of her life and continued to bring her boundless joy and she met so many interesting people and shared Jesus’ love with dozens of children at each place she was sent (she was part of a missionary team who traveled and her job was to put on hand-puppet shows for the children). She discovered that she had a gift for learning languages and spoke more than 20 after three years in the field!
Love with everything you have. Be joyful and thankful! Live life with no regrets!
What is most important in your life?
What came to your mind? Your career? Your family? World peace? Your children? Leaving your positive mark on society? Your business?
Focus on What is Important
September 10, 2023
What is most important in your life?
What came to your mind? Your career? Your family? World peace? Your children? Leaving your positive mark on society? Your business?
How about Jesus? For me, when I heard those words this morning (sitting in the Good News Church first service), my mind created a list like words from Jillian’s history and science lesson she has to look up:
Jesus
Family
Showing Jesus to others.
Whatever is the most important in your life directs everything else in your life.
Don’t believe that? Seriously. Consider it objectively. Whatever you consider most important shapes and directs your life to achieve each step in your life to honor that important thing.
My mind reflected back to decisions I made as a young person: a lot of decisions as even a preteen are life-shaping.
I chose to keep myself pure for my future husband.
I chose to honor my parents and respect them even if I disagreed.
I chose to better myself so I could love my brothers and sisters better.
Each of these I decided to do because I loved Jesus. I saw it as my honor to be able to shine Jesus’ light reflected through my life. I wanted my life to be lived in worship to Jesus. I wanted people to see that I was different and ask why. The “preteen/teen” choice that led to me having the most conversations with other teenagers was my choice to love Jesus by honoring His desire for my sexuality. It was counter-popular-culture to stay sexually pure (yes, as my kids can’t understand, I am young enough that I was laughed at for being a virgin after 18). I wore a birthstone ring my Daddy gave me on my ring finger and told others it was to remind me that I belonged to Jesus first; He wanted me to stay pure for my future husband. So many people laughed. A few asked deeper questions and I would get to share about Jesus and how He loved me first and my joy was to honor Him with all of my life.
Later, in the business world, I was faced with repeated pressure to falsify information on forms to cut financial corners. I held my ground and honored God. When I was told I could choose to either “serve the company” or there wouldn’t be any more hours for me. I actually told my boss that because I loved Jesus, I couldn’t lie. The hours available to me dropped to where I would spend more time driving to the office than working; that would have made it a financial burden to work rather than an income. I was unable to stay. I often wonder if that choice did any forever good (did my decision or words help anyone see Jesus?); but would I change my decision? No. I choose to honor Jesus’ commandments because I love Him. I get to honor Jesus because He first loved me.
I pray my children discover that it is an honor and privilege to love Jesus. We are loved by Him from the foundations of the world. Even while we were yet sinners, He loved each of us so much that He died for our sins and rose to conquer sin and death! Because of that, we have the honor of choosing to love Jesus and serve Him with our obedience.
I looked at little Laud sleeping in my lap and smiled. I choose to look at every part of loving my babies as a privilege and honor! I wonder at how blessed I am that God would allow me to raise one of His children! (Okay, 8 of His children so far) Still, each one is specially loved and was created piece by carefully knit piece by God as they were formed inside me. God has gifted me the honor of being their mother; one at a time and altogether. I am humbled, awed, and enthralled by the enormous blessing each child is. I thank God for them when I think of them.
Thank you, Jesus, for loving me! Thank you, Jesus, that I get to love You! Thank you that I get to love my children! Keep reminding me of how I should always choose to love You first.
“It all starts with a bachelor…” starts the old cartoon that highlights Fatherhood in a Goofy sense but before the entertainment industry really made fun of Fathers…
Father’s Day 2023
A time-warp Story from June 18, 2023
Father’s Day. Because of childhood memories, I’m always hearing the Disney Cartoon narrator from “Goofy Celebration of Fatherhood” when I read those words. “It all starts with a bachelor…” starts the old cartoon that highlights Fatherhood in a Goofy sense but before the entertainment industry really made fun of Fathers.
Our culture has tried to reduce fathers to a joke. Sadly, that is the farthest thing from the truth yet popular movies, songs, and tv shows portray fathers as not worth respect. The butt of jokes. Maybe a breadwinner. Unimportant.
In truth, it’s movies like “Courageous” that get it right. Fathers are vital. The Bible tells us the father is the head of the home. The primary moral compass of the family. It’s summer camp at my gym. I love to watch the excitement the kids get when they get picked up; “Daddy! Watch what I can do!” or “Mommy! Look what I made!” I hear a lot about mommies and daddies.
We heard about spiritual fathers at church today too; those like Paul who calls Timothy his “son in the faith” and “beloved son” though he wasn’t his biological son. My father lost his father as a young man just entering adulthood. I never met my grandfather Theodore Pearson, but I know he was a strong, giving, loving man because of the legacy he left in his children whom I met. Our daughter “Theadora” was named in honor of him. My father also had a spiritual father; Mr. Bob Suber. I loved him. I first met him when I was about 7 or 8 years old. His wife Betty taught me how to embroider and sew clothes. I watched him talk with my Daddy as we spent many evenings at their house for supper and the adults would go into discussions. I sat cross-legged in front of him with starry eyes listening to stories of his childhood in the nineteen-twenties and thirties where he and his buddies used to swipe fruit from orchards and try not to get caught or pick raw corn and dig potatoes from the edges of farmland and would roast them for lunch on fires they’d make and share food with traveling hobos. He said his mama always cooked a big broth pot from whatever squirrel, rabbit, or game he or his younger brother got that day and would toss in root vegetables and greens and herbs. He said her pots could be smelled for miles. After her family ate, she fed a bowl of broth to any hobo that stopped and asked. Mr. Bob died when I was about fourteen and I saw my Daddy cry. He said that Bob Suber’s graceful acceptance of death reminded him of other men of faith that Mr. Bob had pointed out – and he wanted to be sure he had that peace and grace when his time came. In December 2018, he showed that grace and peace at his own time when God called him home.
Fathers are so important.
I am very grateful for my Father. For the blessing I had of being his daughter.
I’m also so thankful for the Father God chose for my children. Louis is always striving to be the most godly father he can be.
I pray for the men God will lead to my girls to be fathers of their children. I pray that we raise up Lucas to be a godly man and father.
Life is far simpler than we make it out to be. Love is our center. Family is our core. God made it that way from the beginning. I pray that we shoo away the distractions and focus on the truth; choosing to follow Jesus in all things and put our families first. Fathers bold enough to be fathers have that power inside them; God put it there from the beginning. Each man simply has to choose.
Sometimes I may think too deep
#2022 #Family #HistoricalThoughts #DidMaryKnow #DidMarysMotherKnow #RaisingGodsKids #ChildrenAreAnHeritageFromTheLord #Psalm127_3 #SpeakLife #ChooseTruth #TheyAreWatchingYou #MotherhoodIsAnHonor #FatherhoodIsAnHonor #Reward #Gift #Blessing #Love #ShePonderedInHerHeart
December 31, 2022
Mary Did Know, Do You?
I read a post today that said “Mary may have known, but her mother did not.”
That hit me. We sing the song “Mary Did You Know” which I love, but always mentally I remind myself that the Bible tells us “Mary pondered these things in her heart” regarding the Angel’s visit, the visits of the shepherds, magi, the Angel’s message for them to flee, even the time when they lost Jesus in the temple. She was constantly pondering. Considering, probably praying, “God, direct me.” She knew what responsibility God had given her.
But her mother? Mary was favored by God. Her mother must have brought her up in the wisdom and admonition of the Lord. The whole post was about this – Mary did know, her mother did not.
Don’t we all know? I mean, not that every one of us carries Jesus or looks as the Creator of the World in our arms and ponders it in our hearts… but each of us who are mothers have carried at least one little child – don’t they all belong to God?
I remember looking at my firstborn: tiny, beautiful face and long eyelashes, strong little fingers with a tremendous grip, perfect tiny toes, I drank in every little detail of her sweet, fragile body. We prayed over her because we knew she belonged to God. Even her name was a promise from us; Christina Elizabeth means “Believer in Christ, Servant of God,” it was our promise that we would do our best with the few years God gave her to us.
Each little one afterward I’ve felt the same utter joy and overwhelming responsibility. They are God’s kids, not mine. I get the honor of mothering them and we get to raise them; pointing them in the right direction. Our prayer is that they take on the responsibility for their relationship themselves and continue to grow in grace and love.
Mary did know what honor God had given her. Mary’s mother knew only that she was raising a daughter of Israel, a girl who would become a woman. I imagine that all mothers whispered in their hearts to their daughters before Christ’s birth, “live true, child, it may be you through whom the God of our Fathers chooses to bring the Saviour of the World.” I imagine that Mary’s mother’s mother whispered the same thing to her. They lived in the wonder of hope and faith. They believed in the future reality and each prayed she would be the girl given the honor; each woman didn’t know if their daughter may be the one chosen by God, but they chose to raise their daughters to be wives and mothers to honor God.
They heard or read as we still do, “Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord; and the fruit of the womb is his reward.” ~Psalm 127:3 Children are a blessing, a reward, a gift God gives us to give back to Him.
No, we do not know what plans God has for our children, but we can pray for their path and lead them to an understanding of God’s love. We are all entrusted with raising our children for a time, but they all truly belong to God.
This year it may be a little premature, but I’m super excited about the amazing things. #Thankful #Gratitude #PensacolaChristianCollege #EmbryRiddleAeronauticalUniversity #LifeJourney #Children #GoodNewsChurch #WGVGymnastics #Education #Thankfulness
Thankfulness 2022
September 27, 2022
Each year I try to reflect on what God has done in our lives this past year.
This year it may be a little premature, but I’m super excited about the amazing things. I love to brag on what God has done!
I’ve been working for WGV Gymnastics (dream job I wanted my whole life but didn’t know it). Louis is coming up on two years of working for Heritage Funeral Home. I am super thankful for our Christian work environments and Christian bosses.
Christina is happily pursuing her dream with passion, determination, and enthusiasm. She is still at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University full time, working at WGV Gymnastics part-time, and babysitting, dogsitting, and housesitting on the side. She is an amazing big sister! Her little gymnasts love her! She serves in the nursery at Good News Church at least three times a month and loves “her babies” – yes, they become hers for an hour or so. I am so thankful for Christina!
Becky has thrown some shocking curveballs at us and is away at Pensacola Christian College. Same state, yes, but an hour earlier in time than we are. (Different time zone, as she’s under Alabama on the panhandle – Lucas and Thea point out on the big map on the wall at church every morning when we get their lemon tea “there’s Becky!”) I am so proud of her! She’s exploring and learning and growing – such an amazing young lady I am so blessed to be her mom! Thank you, Jesus, for Becky!
Kimberly can legally drive… (REALLY??? I can’t believe she’s 15!) She’s learning so much in schoolwork academically, in gymnastics physically, and in life with maturity as she grows and takes on so much responsibility! Kimberly’s plans are impressive. Her determination is a trait so many people comment on to me – as a youngling, it was labeled stubbornness, but now that she knows how to focus, it’s determination. Kimberly is a competitive gymnast at WGV Gymnastics, a gymnastics coach part-time at WGV Gymnastics, serves in kid’s ministry at Good News Church at least twice a month, and dogsits occasionally. (She is working toward her claimed goals of saving for a computer for college this spring and a car next fall.) I am so thankful for Kimberly!
Jaquline is Christina’s twin. Sometimes Christina’s gymnasts see Jaquline and give her hugs saying “hi! Coach!” which makes Jaquline smile proudly and Christina jealous. “You’re stealing my hugs!” Christina has been known to say later. Jaquline has grown in her relationship with Jesus so much in the last year. She serves in the church nursery at least twice a month. She occasionally volunteers at WGV – or works cleaning to “get Christina out faster.” Jaquline continues to work toward her goal of team gymnast someday – she loves Beam and said she wished there was a Beam only competition. Thank you, Jesus, for Jaquline!
Jillian is facing the challenges that come with entering double digits. The want of being treated as an adult yet the want of continuing childish foolishness. She’s maneuvering that with the cornerstone of knowing that Jesus can lead her through anything. She loves her kid’s ministry leaders at Good News Church. She loves her coaches at WGV Gymnastics (she’s a competitive gymnast). She loves her friends and I see her making some lifelong friendships, if she can hold them. She is leaping forward in academics! I am so thankful for Jillian!
Lucas is an unstoppable force of limitless energy! He is always running a one-man football game where he is the quarterback, receiver, kicker, lineman, and fullback all at the same time. When he catches his own forward pass, I’ll have seen everything. He begs me for a brother almost every day. He is super thankful for his “gym brothers” and his “best friends.” I am super thankful for these young boys and young men God has set around Lucas to help him enjoy being a little boy and slowly teach him how to be a young man. Lucas gives 110% to everything he touches. His passion and enthusiasm will help fuel his discovery stages as he grows. He loves gymnastics. He loves being strong. He loves mud and football and big trucks and being like dad. Thank you, Jesus, for Lucas!
Theadora is no longer the baby. She is a “big girl” or a “young lady” all the time. Though she loves snuggling (I’m so glad she hasn’t grown out of that yet), she is quick to say “I’ll do it myself!” and proceed to do just that. Theadora has a bold confidence that comes from running the gym at the age of two. She doesn’t care to keep up pretences, what you see is what you get – at times like that I think of her as “Becky junior.” This confidence and determination will carry her far. She “signs her name” as TTT and says, “see, I’m triple T,” they are left all over Coach Heather’s desk as “swips” for Coach Heather along with who-knows-what-it-should be doodles. I am so thankful for Theadora!
I love the stage God has us in! I’m so thankful to be here and alive and enjoying every minute of our time together and apart. I love our family. I’m so grateful to see our younglings grow and become young women (and eventually, a young man)! Thank you, Jesus, for the honor of giving life and raising children! I’m so overwhelmed with gratitude to you, Jesus, for my totally amazing family!
Enjoy each moment! We know our children are “on loan” from God for a little while & then they take flight! Enjoy this adventure, Becky!
Stretching Her Eagles’ Wings
August 28, 2022
Part of our educational philosophy is never to hold anyone back. That is sometimes the hardest part of being a homeschool mom, at least for me.
Friday, Christina, Louis, Thea, and I drove Becky to Pensacola Christian College for the start of her next level.
The car trip was fun. Louis and Christina kept playing songs Becky likes and saying, “oops, that’s not classical or hymns” which made everyone laugh and several discussions of songs and lyrics and morality erupt. We didn’t stop as often for potty or snack breaks as Louis thought we’d have to (Thea was too entertained with her big sisters and Christina, Thea, and I packed a bunch of snacks).
The campus was huge and iconic. Beautiful brick and magnificent stately trees reflected tradition and integration. I’m a bit nerdy; I loved the architecture and old fashioned style. Everything was electronic though! I had received an email asking for a physical copy of a specific document – and being leery of electronic access as I am, I brought the actual paper. Didn’t need it. The electronic version of the printed paper in my purse “transferred” perfectly from St Johns River without a thing from me. As Becky’s “authorized parent,” I was able to load into a portal on my phone that allowed me access to maps, her mailbox information, orientation information, even schedules and everything as if I were the student – Becky said it was creepy, I thought it was cool!
After crossing off the seven things (five on the “welcome” list, but with Becky under eighteen there were two paperwork drop offs and as she’s in the work program, she had a task for that as well) Becky had to do and being as much help (okay, Becky would call it hindrance) as possible, we decided (not precisely accurate, Louis decided) to go have a late lunch together just off campus.
Someone likes Becky’s new spot!
Mellow Mushroom. In Pensacola? I thought the one on Anastasia Island was the only… oops.
Finally, I ended up with a picture of my college girls. They thought it cool because both are Eagles and blue & gold & white. (Kimberly got in on that because she took her SAT at Pedro Menendez High School so she considers herself a “Falcon” and even has a Pedro Menendez Vystar card! She pulled it out and showed them the blue & yellow colors – “A falcon is a type of eagle” Kimberly claims.) Becky laughed because she and Kimberly plan on being Gators when they head for their Masters & Doctorate. (“trading the gold for orange” they claim) Remember that mustard yellow skirt? Becky’s pairing it with her beautiful navy blue blouse turns her outfit into her college colors!
I’ve been listening a lot to college plans since we encourage studying the path to what they want to do and finding various ways to access that final goal. There was a lot of path and plan discussion on that road trip.
I’m so proud of Becky for taking flight! I pray she has a wonderful experience and learns a lot. I pray she makes friends and connections that will last a lifetime! I pray she does her best. Her best right now is amazing me. I’m truly excited for her entering this stage.
Thank you, Jesus, for making it possible for us to help our children pursue their dreams! Thank you that each of them wants to help the other. Thank you that each wants to invest in their own education by working for it both financially and mentally. I’m so thankful for the blessing of Becky in my life! Thank you, Jesus, for allowing me the honor of being her mother!
As I’m driving back home, chatting with Christina as Thea and Louis sleep in the back, I think on how parents only really get to father or mother their children for a few years – they are on loan from God anyway as all of them are God’s children entrusted to us. “21 years” by TobyMac came on the radio followed by “Cinderella” by Stephen Curtis Chapman… God knows how music touches me. One bit in the “21 years” song that makes me smile is “21 years, what a beautiful loan,” (I thank you Jesus, for trusting us and “loaning” Becky – and the others, but this thought was really about Becky – to us) and in “Cinderella” the bit is “but I know something the prince never knew,” [meaning they grow up and go] and yes, girls become young women, make their own decisions, and I pray mine know they can still talk to me about anything.
Enjoy your “loans” with your littles! Enjoy every bit you can. God has trusted us with training and raising His beautiful children! Just like I love watching “my little gymnasts” (those I’ve coached, usually as preschoolers) as they rise, I love watching my girls become young ladies.
I love you, Becky! Let your light shine! Enjoy this adventure called life! Every day is a gift from God; that’s why it’s called the present!
Now, though… I understand the insane shock that caused by parents not to jump with joy when I showed off my ring and announced I was engaged. #TotalAndCompleteShock
Once Upon a Date
August 2, 2022
Nineteen year old me was crazy with excitement at 10pm at a bowling alley until 1am, (cosmic bowling in 2002) but my dad looked like he’d been shot with bright headlights in the dead of a new moon night. Now, though – I understand the insane shock that caused my parents not to jump with joy when I showed off my ring and announced I was engaged. Total and complete shock. At 10pm after a long day at work, hearing the same news from one of my kids overloaded my tired brain; I bet I looked like they’d shone ultra-blue headlights in my face on a new moon night!
Now I’m praying I can be a godly mentor for my daughters (all of them, but especially Christina at this moment) and my son. I am so super thankful for those I consider mentors I’ve learned from in my life. Sometimes they were longtime friends, my moms (one God gave me at birth, the other God gifted me when I married Louis), and some were in my life for a few days, one meeting, or a season.
I’m listening to Christina with her planning (wedding once she has her masters in 2025) and discussing life plans for the future, and I’m smiling because I remember me twenty years ago and “We’ve Only Just Begun” by The Carpenters was filling my brain on repeat.
Really odd little tidbit? I was engaged on July 20, 2002 & Christina’s engagement date was “Anastasia’s birthday” but 1am – aka July 20, 2022. And time? Cosmic bowling ended at 1am on really July 21… I don’t do coincidence (haha).
Have you ever been so overwhelmed with thankfulness that it makes you cry? #AwesomeBirthdayPresent #HealingMiracle #JesusTheGreatPhysician #Reflection
February 23, 2022
Powerfully Thankful!
Have you ever had a day that blew you away with the power of God and made you cry because you are thankful?
I’ve had quite a few since December 1st. God keeps doing amazing miracles and making me thankful – like December 10, 2021 when God saved Louis from being crushed in an accident on the interstate and December 11, 2021 when God saved my sister from dying in an accident.
Today, I’m just so thankful! A young man my family is very close to got sick on Monday – we all prayed for him. Last night (actually early morning today just after midnight), Louis led us praying that when the doctors went to do surgery, they’d find that he was healed. He asked God to touch his body and heal him completely as He is The Great Physician.
This morning, we were told he was waiting for final testing and would go into surgery. It made me so sad – I could only think of how my heart would be ripped apart if this was my Kimberly I was praying for. I love this young man and have seen God constantly work in his life. I know God can heal everything – he made the entire universe with words he spoke; He can touch a human body and repair it. In His will. That is the toughest part for me as a mom; my mind and heart fight over why God would think that my baby sister dying or a child being seriously injured or a young man slowly withering away because of a genetic disease is in God’s will.
Faith. Trust. Hope.
My faith reminds me that if I can trust God for salvation, if I can trust that the gravity and physics he set up will remain, then I need to trust His will in my life and, yes, my children’s lives and my friend’s children’s lives. Trust and pray in everything.
I have hope in that I know I will see my baby sister in heaven. I know I will see Gideon and my Daddy running and jumping and playing dodgeball and kickball in heaven. (Hey, those were favorite games so why not?) My hope is in Jesus.
When the report came back, this young man’s test came back with healthy! No surgery. Healthy on other tests for other organs! I was so happy! God, what an amazing, perfect birthday present!
I’m so thankful for healing, for life, for love, for family, for friends. So many things God has given us to enjoy – beautiful days (I bicycled to work Monday morning, we finally hung the Christmas gift swing yesterday), discovery (finding shoes Lucas hid because he prefers being barefoot), goofy games (trying to keep assorted Thea birthday balloons in the tiny square made by the couches and the wall by batting them with longer balloons), amazing gifts (homemade sugar-type m&m cookies are my favorite and I LOVE roses), traveling mercies (thankful Louis and Becca are alive), late night giggles (my favorite sounds even though I have to say, “girls, go to bed!”), healing (too many times to list!)… this list is endless.
Thank you, Jesus, for your amazing miracles!
Today, I’m so thankful, I cried.
Reflect on what amazing miracles God has done in your life and that will surely make you smile too!
This week and next week are skills testing weeks at gym. Evaluations of skills each gymnast has and their ability to move up or stay in their current level to solidify their knowledge.
Most of the time, the coaches catch when their student gymnast gets enough skills and strength or knowledge to move up, but sometimes it takes a “skills test” for a gymnast to show off or put a little more power into her actions!
This made me think about life.
Life is full of levels.
Sometimes we just move through them seamlessly. You know, like gliding from toddlerhood to preschool, or moving from 9th to 10th grade. High school to college is a little more of a push – this is like an evaluation. Are you ready? Well, time is here – which choice do you make?
In our personal growth, we tend to move slowly. It’s when a climatic event causes us to evaluate ourselves that we discover strengths we didn’t know we had or weaknesses we thought we didn’t have. Your eldest child going to college and you are tossed into the whirlwind of various choices, plans, financial issues, helping your young adult navigate stress (praying you can do that well, because she is expressing what you are internalizing!), and believing that a way will be made.
This time you have to view as a positive change. You have to realize that this temporary negative appearance will prove to be the lifetime starting point for your young adult. Your attitude through this is your “evaluation,” your young adult will be taking notes on and remembering. (Everyone else in your household is also watching!)
Sometimes a life “evaluation” is others watching how you navigate troubled waters. Like the death of your father, your sister, your close friend, your child. Losing someone you treasure. That despair can allow you to create a pit to lose yourself in. Or you can look up and pull on the strength that only comes from Jesus. This evaluation is never something we want to face.
Evaluation week went along with my study: Examine yourself to see what is good and right; remove that which leads toward darkness.
(My paraphrase again, I summarized the page-long study to that line. Most of the verses linked all boiled down to that same line as my brain interpreted them.) I imagine darkness to be the depth of one’s soul without Jesus. Since Jesus is Light and darkness is the absence of light, that makes the most sense to me.
See, when trouble hits, I can either turn inside myself and go into darkness or look outside and reach up to Jesus. In Him there is strength to endure everything.
Life has taught me that.
My “evaluations” have proven it.
I pray I always choose to reach up. I want those watching me during “skills testing” to be led to Jesus. That is my goal.
Crazy writer’s brain that sees the little flyer on our desk that reads “skills testing weeks” and launches into deep thoughts… hopefully these wandering thoughts help lift you up!
