Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

So, I've basically taken a small Sabatical from my bi-weekly prayer group. Between all the illness running around here, the trips to New Jersey to help clean out my Grandparent's house, the lack of sleep because Bunny is teething again, and the growing and refining God's got going on, I'm just flat out and because there are some nights we storm the throne room doors until 10:30-11, I've been opting out for almost a month and a half. I have to confess that I am exhausted and it may well be because I've given up a crucial time between me and the Lord. Coming together with this particular group of women is always a blessing and our prayers are heard and answered. Not only is it encouraging as a woman, wife, and mother, but is re-energizes me for the Kingdom of Heaven and all that we can do while we are "trapped" here. We're meeting tomorrow, and I can't wait. I'm so tired, I can barely see, but I'm going. I know Friday will be a whole different day if I don't. Thank you God for blessing me with this group of amazing women who make it a priority to be with you on a regular basis and have been for almost 6 YEARS now!!!!!!

The Gift of Marriage

Last night at my bible group, we were helping a sister walk through something,and I had the opportunity to share something that God had shown me a little while back. Until this year, my marriage has been really hard (not just for me, I'm sure). We both came in with a lot of baggage and attitude, which is not a good recipe for a healthy long lasting marriage. But, we did do one thing right. We asked God to be part of our marriage and a cord of three is not easily broken, especially if one of your cords is the Creator of the Universe. Both of us were very unhappy, but marriage was not designed to make you happy, it was designed to make you holy. Our whole purpose on Earth is to strive through the guidance of the Holy Spirit to be more like Jesus everyday. If being married doesn't teach you forgiveness, patience, long suffering, and self control; I'm pretty sure that nothing on Earth will. Some may think that having kids teaches you those things, but raising children is what tests them (my theory on why God wants us to be married before having children). Anyway, in a particularly hard time in our marriage God gave me a special gift of understanding. He helped me realize that of all the people on all the planet, I am the only one who is allowed to love my husband the way that Jesus would if He were here. It's a huge honor, because God loves my husband so much, He wanted to give him someone to love him like He would. And that's ME! I'm meant to be a gift and a blessing! I also realized that revoking that privilege would be detrimental to me, my husband, our marriage, and our family. It makes sense doesn't it? No matter how hard or yucky our marriage has been, if I ever saw my husband being hugged in a deeply loving and comforting way by someone else, or if he felt more comfortable sharing his thoughts and feelings with someone else; man, woman, or camel, I'd be devastated and deep down I would know that it was because I was not fulfilling my purpose as a gift from God to my husband. No one is allowed to love him like I do. Anyway, there it is, pulled from the archives to benefit some else. Oh wait, I think I really needed to know that again. Maybe instead of keeping it in the archives to pull out for others, I will start trying to keep that at the forefront of my mind, and just maybe my marriage will continue to prosper. Novel idea, let's go with that.

Today

Whose day am I going to let this be? Mine? or God's? My day will consist of my daily choeres like feeding and dressing everyone, as well as, cleaning the playroom and bedrooms, bringing Bunny to her doctor's appointment, dropping some stuff off to a friend, packing, somehow squeezing my last bible study homework page in, and to be finished off with a meeting with my bible group. God's day will consist of humor, beauty, joy, challenges, surprises, and maybe even a miracle or two. Whose day is it going to be? I'm looking forward to what God has planned for me, today. Oh, and tomorrow, I may even try it again.

God's Girls

I love my Bible study group. They are truly a blessing straight from heaven. When giving advice or guidance they rely heavily upon God's word and what He has taught them during their own lifetime or through someone that they love's trials. I also admire the fact that when they are wrong about something, they are humble enough to re-evaluate, apologize, and refer back to scripture. I am both humbled and honored to be learning from them and sharing our lives together. I can only hope that I am half the blessing to them in their lives as they have been to me in mine. My heartfelt prayer for each of my children is that God would provide them with a group of friends such as these. Friends who will hold each other accountable, guide and nourish spiritually, laugh heartily and mourn deeply. I pray that my children will have friends who reflect and resemble the love of God and the heart of Jesus. I also pray that my children and I will be this kind of friend to others.

Home Sweet...

I would love to be here posting about how fabulous and relaxing it is to finally be home. The girls and I just got home yesterday from what was supposed to be a week long stay, helping my grandmother (Gigi (GG)- to the kids) pack the things in their huge 4 bedroom house out of state so they could move here. The 1 week turned into 12 days and I was soooo looking forward to the peace of returning home. After a horrific car ride, we arrived home, Bunny needed to be fed, as did the girls, I needed to pee, the overflowing car needed to be unloaded, dinner needed to be defrosted and we needed to head to Target for a new bottle. (By the way, the Born Free bottles ROCK!!!) At least the house WAS clean until I unloaded the contents of the car onto our dining room table and beyond, where it still sits at this very moment because the phone won't stop ringing. It's taken me 2 hours just to get this much out!!!! The only sanity and relief that was to be my 'Home Sweet Home' was seeing my husband and his brand new teeth (a whole different story) with his mouth agape as I rushed out the door to my Bible study. I know that Jesus is in all things, even the insanity and chaos of my 12 day stint, but sometimes it's just so nice to sit quietly and listen, learn and pray with a group of likeminded equally challenged women. God Bless my Bible girls, Jesus, and my husband for making that small peice of time possible.