During our Washington trip, we got to spend some quality time with Micah’s mom. She is an amazing lady – prayerful and faithful always. And she has a knack for sharing the Gospel with everyone, everywhere, in a way that is warm and not pushy or forced. This is her secret. She just tells people about her life. Plain and simple. She knows God has been good to her, so when she talks about herself, her past experiences, and her hopes and goals for the future, God is woven into every conversation she has. Her life has not been easy by any means. She was a single mom to four kids. She has had the strangest medical problems that have left her on the brink of death multiple times – rare spider bite, unexplained infection, dental surgery gone awry. This lady has some stories, y’all. But in every single one of them, the moral is the same. God is good. He has been merciful and gracious to her. He has been her provider and comforter in every trial. You can’t walk away from a conversation with Micah’s mom without pondering who God is… My SIL, MIL, and me on our way to STOMP. And this is what we are called to do. Tell of God’s goodness to others. All the time. Once, early in His ministry, Jesus healed a man possessed by demons {Mark 5}. Jesus cast out demons often, but this time was interesting because the man was possessed by not one but a LEGION of demons. When it sensed what Jesus was about to do, the legion begged to be sent into a herd of pigs when it left the man’s body. Jesus granted permission and as soon as the demons entered the pigs, the whole herd of thousands ran over a cliff and fell into the sea. The healed man was amazed, of course, and he asked to follow Jesus and become one of his disciples. It seemed like a reasonable request from a man with genuine faith. But Jesus responded with “no.” Instead Jesus gave the healed man clear instructions: “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” {Mark 5:19} That’s it. Go home to your friends and family and talk about what Jesus has done for you. And so the man went and proclaimed Jesus all over his hometown. And that’s what many of us are called to do as well. Of course, some are called to be missionaries in faraway places. And some are called to specific ministries of teaching and preaching to large audiences. But most of us? We’re called to tell our friends. We aren't called to spend time frozen in fear over how to present the Gospel with the right words to the right people in the right timing. We are called to talk about God’s goodness in our lives. And if we are truly loved by God and see His providence and grace in all the minute details of our lives, it shouldn't be hard to talk about him. So let us talk of all the normal things… of home buying and new jobs and fluctuating interest rates and healthy pregnancies and being healed from sickness and growing in patience and learning to forgive and serving others and being encouraged by strangers and working and resting for the glory of God. He is good. Tell everybody. ... Read more
Seattle
We are flying back from vacation tonight. For the past week and a half we've been on the go. San Fran for our anniversary. Camping in eastern Washington with friends. Baby shower and family time in Seattle. Now we are headed back to the desert to hunker down for baby's arrival... AKA set up and organize all the things and take all the classes. We left on our trip with a hot mess of a new house and now we have just a few weeks to get everything in place before this baby arrives. But it will get done. Right? The time away was refreshing though, and it was kind of nice to forget about home organization and nursery set up for the past ten days. And as much as I usually love the heat, my prego body was pretty excited for a few sweat-free days. I never thought I would appreciate 62 degrees and cloudy, but for the past week I've been loving it. I have such mixed feelings every time we come home to Seattle. It's a beautiful city. So beautiful. Especially when it's sunny. But most of the time it's not sunny. And the economy and the traffic and the politics are horrible. In some ways Micah and I hope to never live in Washington again... but then there's the people. Oh, the people. We love them. We have such rich and beautiful relationships here and sometimes it feels like we could tolerate a thousand days of rain to be close to the amazing community God has given us in this city. For example, Micah and I were worried about getting over to our yearly camping trip in eastern Washington. Usually we are able to borrow a car from my parents, but they recently moved one of their vehicles down to Arizona, so there wasn't one to borrow up north. We really didn't want to rent a car to go camping, so we weren't sure what we were going to do. Within a day or two of mentioning our concern about transportation, we had three different friends here offer their cars to get us over the mountain pass for a four day camping trip. Micah's cousin from Spokane even offered to drive all the way across the state to pick us up in Seattle and then drive halfway back to our camping spot. These people. They are amazing. Here are some glimpses of our time in the Pacific Northwest... Best friends since 4th grade. Camping. Gorgeous weather. Boating by day. S'mores and the game Werewolf by night. Laughter all the time. And this pregnant body survived with the help of an air mattress. Amazing baby shower gifts = extreme thankfulness for free luggage on Southwest Cousins, brothers, sisters. My sis and I are both Seattleites-turned-southerners. This means we warm ourselves by car radiators when it's too cold in the hometown. Micah took a kite-boarding lesson. I love that he's always up to some new adventure. Lunch date. Coffee date. Lake-walking with a new baby. Fro-yo. Such good friends. Gas Works Park on a sunny Sunday. And Seattle is weird, in case you didn't know. |Linking up with W&P| ... Read more
The Anniversary Promise
Micah and I made a special vow to each other after our wedding. It's not quite as serious and official as the "til death do us part" covenant, but it's pretty special nonetheless. While we were on our honeymoon in Hawaii and having the time of our lives just being US... husband and wife... with no distractions or other people around, we made a commitment to each other to repeat a mini-version of our honeymoon every year to celebrate and guard our marriage against life's busyness. Our promise to each other was simply this: that we will make a sincere effort to go away, just the two of us, every year for our anniversary. Year One: One-night stay in the little ocean-side town, Westport, in Washington State... wedding cake topper and saltwater taffy made an appearance. Now we made this promise with a vague foreknowledge that life might throw some curve balls at that commitment... with kids in the picture, responsibilities at work, possible sickness or injury, or financial constraints, we obviously realized that we would not be spending each anniversary in Hawaii {but it would be nice, huh?}. We agreed that our getaway didn't always have to be big, fancy, or expensive, but we had to make it happen... every year. Whether that means going to a hotel for a night in our own city, staying at a friend's cabin or beach house for free or saving up for a big trip, we made a commitment to carve out special time for us, away from home, to celebrate the gift of marriage and enjoy the gift of each other's company. For us, this is a summer tradition, since our anniversary is in July, but no matter what time of year your anniversary takes place, I encourage you to get away with your husband and spend some quality time with one another. We laugh, we rest, and we always spend a little bit of time talking about the past year and setting some goals and praying for the next. It's precious time and a tradition I highly recommend. Year two: Staycation at a resort in Scottsdale. Took advantage of the summer time rates since no one likes to come to Phoenix in the extreme heat... even though it rained on us. But that still didn't stop me from enjoying the pool with my magazines in tow. This year {today!} we are off to San Francisco and I'm so excited! I've never been before. I have big plans to explore as much of the city while I can... lots of hills + 7 months pregnant... bring it! However, if I get tired, you can probably find me on the lawn in front of the Full House house resting my swollen feet and dreaming of DJ Tanner. ... Read more
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