Write, write, write

It's summer. Here are some things we've been doing to try to stay sane...

Scheduled weekly date nights all summer long. It's an expense, but it's a definitely a good investment. Last night was (our own personal) Battle of the Nachos at the Great Dane. We decided we didn't love either of their nacho flavors, but the weather was perfect, the Pepsi was good, they had gluten free hard cider on tap, and the deck was a lovely place to visit and plan more dates.

Taking the kids outside A LOT. Neighborhood park, splash park, kiddie pool in our backyward, walks, camping with friends. We are talking a little about buying a pop-up camper (someday) and trying to spending most weekends camping while it's nice out. I was always a tent camper and never thought I'd be a pop-up/RV kind of person, but after having two kids, my definition of comfortable sleeping arrangements has changed dramatically. I am thankful that the weather has been amazingly wonderful for playing outside almost every day.

Letting things go. I usually can't tell if I'm completely spoiling my kids or being too hard on them. Maybe I'm doing a lot of both. Having an almost-3-year-old in the house is a completely new challenge for me, and I don't have the hang of it yet. So I'm trying hard to let things (my preferences) go that don't really matter. It would be nice if the kids ate a nice round lunch and supper every day, but if sharing a fruit and yogurt smoothie with them for one meal a day means one meal with no battles and no plates full of food uneaten or thrown on the floor, then so be it! (Plus, I love smoothies, too.) I am thankful for some friends and neighbors who have assured me that their oldest child is always their most challenging.

Rejoined the gym. I was hesitant to do this in the summer, but I'm still working on strengthening my knee, and it's been WONDERFUL to be able to drop the kids to play AND get some exercise and adult socialization at the same time. Tate used to have a hard time at the gym child care, but he actually asked me to go there once this week and is really enjoying it! So it's a win-win-win. Also, I think it will be fun to take Mike there for a workout class some evening for date night. I'm thankful that we live near a gym with childcare and that a membership is affordable for us, especially with the discount our insurance offers!!

Practicing gratitude. I have a tendency to get negative, critical, and bitter about things easily, even if I've pretty much had a great day. It's so easy for me to dwell on the 10 minutes to one hour of the day where one or both kids was screaming / tantrum-ing / not sleeping / not listening and get in a funk, instead of being thankful for the sunshine, trees and birds, that we get to spend time together every day and outside every day, that we have yummy food to eat, fresh water, healthy kids, and a God who knows us and loves us and is always with us. I'm trying to spend time intentional time being thankful to help keep perspective.

Reading uplifting blogs also helps:
http://barrentobeautiful.wordpress.com/
http://mrsgoresdiary.com/
I am thankful for uplifting blogs.

That's it. Nothing thrilling, but that's what I'm up to, and it feels good to write, even if it's quotidian.

Got Jesus?

Oh, to be an evangelical Christian in a liberal American city. I know how awkward the proselytizing can be because I was the observer and recipient of it before I became one of these "unstable born-agains." Very awkward indeed. Especially now to be on the flip side of it.

I have a hard time expressing to you why you need Jesus in a way that makes sense to you even though I know you need Jesus in my mind and deep down in my soul. After all, we Christians believe some things that are hard to believe.*

But what I can do is to express what Jesus means to me. What he has done in my life.

In my marriage. I am so thankful I came to know Jesus before getting married. Jesus provides my husband and I with a wellspring of forgiveness to draw from. We can get mad at each other. But we both know we are messed up and have been deeply forgiven , so it is natural to forgive each other when we fall short. Jesus shows us that love is an action (not just a feeling) and he is a model to look to in putting others before yourself, servant leadership.

In my anxiety. I was an anxious person before I knew Jesus. I took a step towards God as I learned about Jesus and God proved himself faithful as my perfect provider. He took care of all the "big" things I was worried about  (where to live, finding a job, not getting evicted from an apartment due to my barky poodle) in ways that I would never have imagined. Nowadays many of those "big" things I used to worry about don't phase me at all because... I just trust God for them. Because He's already shown me He's faithful.

In parenthood. Because I know the God who loves me loves my children even more than I possibly can. I know he will guide us in wisdom as we lead them and forgive us and bring healing when we mess up. If anything ever happens to my husband and me, I know God will still be there for our kids. I know they are really his kids, anyway, and that brings me great peace, rest, and joy.

In death. I have peace about death and eternity. I know I have the Holy Spirit in me and have seen his evidence in my life. I know I will be with Jesus when I die and raised with him at the resurrection. (See, we believe some weird things). Of course, I can worry about some of the details of how I will die, etc. But overall, I know this world is not the be all and end all, and that makes this life a lot less stressful, too.

In my identity. My value is not in what I do or don't do, but on who I am to God. Because of Jesus, I am received as a beloved daughter of God. I know He's created me with unique gifts through which I can reflect his awesomeness to others, and that makes me happy.

In the world. Freedom from the world's expectations. God's my daddy. He's the only one I'm responsible to. I wish walking this out were as easy as saying it, but it's awesomely refreshing to know. The expectations He puts on my are often much less than I would put on myself (also less than the world or my family would put on me).

As I grow. God is the source and support in maturing into the woman he created me to be. He causes me to grow in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and self-control.

I doubt I'm going to convince anyone, but I'm going to keep sharing and keep praying, because I want you to know Jesus, too. ...Awkward and annoying as that may sound.

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*Yup. Our God became the bastard son of an unmarried teenager and was part of an oppressed ethnic group in his day. After casting demons out of people, miraculously healing others, hanging out with prostitutes, and ticking off religious leaders (of his own religion) while teaching about the kingdom of God for a few years, he was publicly executed for blasphemy. (Now that is ironic). He died. (The Romans were good at killing people). In dying, he paid the debt for our sins to satisfy a loving and just God. Then he rose from the dead in victory over sin and death, appeared to his friends and to hundreds of other witnesses and eventually ascended into heaven where he's hanging out with God until his impending return.

He did this to restore Shalom. To restore us to relationship with God, with each other, and with creation (the world).

I don't know how to say that in a way that doesn't sound unbelievable. But it's what the Bible says. It's history. It's true. And it's good news for all who hear it and believe.

Confidence in What We Hope For and Assurance About What We Do Not See

Not a "real" blog entry today. Just sharing a favorite chapter of the Bible. 

Hebrews 11

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.

By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.

By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.” For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family.By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.

By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise. And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.

All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised;they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.

By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.

By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.

By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions concerning the burial of his bones.

By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.

By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. By faith he kept the Passover and the application of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.

By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.

By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the army had marched around them for seven days.

By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.

And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah,about David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.

These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.

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When we trust our God, we aren't acting in a blind faith. He has proved himself again and again and again to his people throughout history. And he wants his people to remember this. --Lauren