Well, we made it home from Toronto on Saturday around 8:30. It was an awesome trip and I hope to do a recap post tomorrow. It's been a challange getting my brain back into "home" mode. I feel like I forgot how to do things! We have a busy next few weeks coming up so yesterday I sat down and did our weekly menu and calendar, but also one for the rest of the month. I keep things written down in my planner, but that still in a suitcase somewhere. My folks left enough frozen meat in the freezer and fruit and veggies in my fridge that I don't have to buy any major groceries this week. I did pick up some bread, milk, and eggs for this week though. Monday- Brats Tuesday- Chicken Pot Pie Wednesday- Sandwiches Thursday- Sausage and cheese omlettes Friday- Shepherds Pie Saturday- eating out Sunday- Crockpot BBQ chicken On another note, our financial landscape has changed. Aaron and I started discussing 2 weeks ago giving up our truck. We were already far enough behind on our payments that it was close to repossesion. We've been in this place before and had discussed it with our loan company then, so we knew the process. We had a lengthy conversation, prayed a lot, and weighed the pros and cons and decided that, even with the downsides of reposession, we'd be in a better place in the long run. They came and got it last week while we were in Toronto.
In the tone of honesty that I value on this blog, I decided to share this with you guys. Some of you know me personally and would probably eventually ask me where the truck was anyways, but those of you that don't personally know me, I want you to know that this is real life. Stuff happens. We get behind on our bills. We struggle. Being a Christian doesn't mean that things aren't hard. Could we have managed our money better? Yes, definitely. Aaron and I made A LOT of mistakes early on in our marriage and now we're paying for them. Hindsight is always 20/20. I've done my fair share of "rescue praying" but there are consequences to every action. But, with that being said, realize that everyone you come into contact with has things happening in thier life that you know nothing about. Our financial struggles have taught me that you just never know. The mom's I see in Target that I assume are so put together could be the complete opposite. I've tried to live in a way that no one would assume things really were the way they were. If there was anything I learned this last week in Canada, it's that if you're going to live Christlike, then you MUST see people the way God sees them. If you don't, then you're opinion/judgement/perception of them is jaded by your own sinful assumptions.
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I'm having a hard time remembering the begining of the week, so I'll do a few favorites from the end of the week... 1. The 4th of July! We had a great day! We relaxed at home and did some cleaning. Then we BBQ'ed hamburgers and had ice cream. We finished the day with poppers and sparklers. 2. The parents are coming! The parents are coming! My folks made it into town yesterday afternoon. We get to hang out with them for a few days before we head out for our mission trip to Toronto. Yesterday was my mom's birthday, so we had a great time celebrating. Emmy helped me make her cake and was probably more excited about it than my mom was! 3. I had a fun time working on my mom's birthday gift with Emmy. We had to come up with something on the cheap and I just happened to notice we had all the supplies to make 2 snowman candle holders. I'm going to do a complete blog post on them. Someday. 4. Canada, Eh? Yep! We're headin' out on Sunday morning. I'm getting more excited by the minute! I have the good intentions of at least having one or two blog posts while I'm gone, but we'll see!
5. In the last week or so I've been able to spend a lot of time with Aaron. He had the day off yesterday, and I guess other than that, it was no more than normal. But, we spent a lot of time working together on things instead of doing our own things. It's been fun. Aaron makes me laugh, and the last week has been no exception. I'm definitely blessed! No big post today! Lots going on! I'll be back tomorrow with My Favorites Friday! Hope you all had a great 4th!
I love 4th of July. It's one of my favorite holidays. I love having picnics, bonfires, bbq's, fireworks, boat rides, but most of all, the patriotic pride that comes with celebrating the birth of our country. I have all good memories of this holiday. This year looks a little different than normal as we'll just be hangin out at home as a family and having hamburgers for dinner, but we're still enjoying each others company.
I'm going to leave you with the words from an old song I'm sure most of us know.... think about the words. GOD BLESS THE USA! O beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain, For purple mountain majesties Above the fruited plain! America! America! God shed His grace on thee, And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea! O beautiful for pilgrim feet Whose stern impassion'd stress A thoroughfare for freedom beat Across the wilderness America! America! God mend thine ev'ry flaw, Confirm thy soul in self-control, Thy liberty in law. O beautiful for heroes prov'd In liberating strife, Who more than self their country lov'd, And mercy more than life. America! America! May God thy gold refine Till all success be nobleness, And ev'ry gain divine. O beautiful for patriot dream That sees beyond the years Thine alabaster cities gleam Undimmed by human tears. America! America! God shed His grace on thee, And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea Well, my desert story is finished. Last week brought us to the current time and there's nothing else to really update about so I'll have to come up with something else to post about... "Thinking this morning about how gratitude should be my FIRST RESPONSE to situations. My thoughts should not default to the negative and THEN find something to be thankful for in it. Retraining our minds to be thankful in all things is an intentional and repetative act."- Lisa Bruno* This is a facebook status that I read earlier this week that REALLY resounded with me. I've been thinking alot about the fact that thankfulness isn't normally my first response. My first response is to worry and stress, and then I have to remind myself to be thankful and greatful. So, I'm on a mission to retrain my mind towards thankfulness. So, now I'm wondering exactly how to do this. As much as I would like to think there is a magic switch to flip that would suddenly make me a more thankful person, I've learned the lesson that normally there aren't short cuts. It's work. Just like my training for my 5k, we have to constantly MAKE ourselves think thankful thoughts. Just like Lisa said, It's "intentional and repetative". In Phillippians 4:8 it says... Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy —think about such things. It doesn't say "Ask God and he will make you think about such things" or "Pray this specific prayer and you will automatically think such things". It says "Think such things". Action words if I've ever heard them. Ok, so I need to be purposeful about being thankful. I need to seek out things to be thankful for and thankful about. Ok, so also, in Colossians 2:6-7 it says.... So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. To me, this means that thankfulness isn't an island unto itself. You can't have thankfulness that is overflowing and a heart that harbors sin. You can't have abounding thankfulness and a shallow relationship with God. It means my relationship with God needs to be "rooted and built up in Him" and "strengthened in faith" as well. So, I need to train my mind towards thankfulness by focusing my mind on thankful thoughts and keep leading myself in that direction. I also need to continue to seek God and work towards a deeper relationship with Him. And I also need to find strength in the faith I've been given. Sounds simple, right? Like I said, there's no short cuts, and God never promised becoming more like Him would easy, He just asked us to trust Him that He knows best. And since He knows best and He commanded me to be more like Him, that's what I'm going to strive to do. *Lisa Bruno is one of my former English teachers in high school. And Drama Club Faculty Sponsor. And play director. She's currently living in China where she teaches English to Chinese and Chinese to English! (Shew! That makes my mind tired just typing that!)
I'm making a few changes in my font sets because I'm bored with the old look. Please bear with me as a few of my posts may looks slightly different.
IT'S THE WEEK! Well, kind of the week before, but still... We leave for Toronto on Sunday morning. My folks are coming into town on Thursday, so of course the girls are excited too. We've told Emmy that we'll be gone for a week, but I don't think she cares much. At least not now. We'll be able to skype with them, so it won't be complete withdrawls. But, I'm pretty sure they'll be having too much fun with Mema and Pepa. My menu is pretty simple this week. I only planned through Friday. Normally, on the weeks my parents come in, I wait till they get here to plan the meals they'll be eating with us. Monday- Fajitas. Fajitas is one of my favorite meals ever. We don't eat out much, but when we do, I don't normally order fajitas because well, once all is said and done, they can be upwards of 1,000 calories. I like fixing them at home because I can control exactly what goes in it. Tuesday- Fried Chicken. Yum! My mom's fried chicken is the best. It's universally liked by almost everyone that has tried it. If my mom was fixing a meal for someone at church, they normally always asked for this chicken. I don't fix it often, but I figured why not, it's a holiday week! Wednesday- Hamburgers. We don't have any big plans for the 4th. Cleaning actually. Aaron will be off work which will give me the opportunity to get the house cleaned before my folks come on Thursday. But, since it is the holiday, I figured we'll still have a little bit of a celebration and have hamburgers. I use regular ground beef. Normally, I cooke with extra lean beef, 90/10, but when I fix hamburgers, I use 80/20. More flavor and I think it holds together better. I season it up and grill away! Thursday- Spaghetti. I'm not sure what time my folks will be in on Thursday so I figured spaghetti would be quick and easy. I'll just a little bit of the hamburger meat from Wednesday to add to the sauce. Friday- BLT's. I added BLT's to my menu but I didn't buy any of the ingredients for it. Since it's still 5 days away, I didn't want to get the fresh ingredients and just have them sit. But, BLT's is a family favorite and I knew Aaron and my Dad would enjoy this dinner! Saturday- I told my mom I would wait till they get here to figure out Saturday, but I bet we'll end up eating pizza. Obviously, next week I won't have a Menu Monday post. I won't be planning a menu in Toronto! I'm hoping to be able to blog as much as possible, but I'm not sure what our schedule might look like. Well, it's here. Our 11th hour has come. Our rent is due today by midnight, and honestly, the money isn't there. Over the last few days I've approached this day as "The Day". Today is the day God is going to give us a miracle. Today is the day that God is going to come through with all that money we need. Today is the day. It HAS to be the day. I got up this morning and got ready for church, while continually thinking, "Ok, God. Today is the day. Let's do this!"
Then I got to church. We sang a bunch of great songs about praising God in the storm, and how He's still in control, and how my hope is in Him. Yeah. Of course it is. Today is the day. Then, Pastor Landon started preaching. His message today was entitled "Absurd Surrender". His passage was from Philippians 1, specifically verses 12-26. Instantly, as soon as the passage started being read, God spoke to me and said, "Yes, Jessica, you're right. Today is the day." Today is the day that you need to decide that I'm enough. Landon preached about how we need to give up our rights. We need to do away with the mindset that... Ok, I've done _______, God, so I deserve _______. I tithed even though we didn't have the money, so God, it's time for my financial blessing. (BOOM!) Ok God, I went on a mission trip, it's time for my blessing. Verse 18 really stuck out to me... But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice. Am I living my life in such a way that even in the 11th hour Christ is being preached through my life? And then, Landon laid it on me. I don't think he was actually directing it at me, but I'm positive God was speaking through Landon directly at me. And he said.... (this is paraphrased)... If God never promised us anything, if He never promised us blessings.... what would we do then? Would it be enough? UGH! I've been living that last few weeks giving God the plan. I've been asking God for specific things, but never living in a way that showed God that He was enough. I knew that it was time. It was time for me to decide that if rent doesn't get paid, if the bills due this week don't get paid, if things remain the same for the rest of my life, that's ok with me because God is enough. In the eleventh hour, God didn't send me a pile of money (at least not yet) but He did show me that regardless of my circumstances, He will always be enough. |
HEY, I'M JESSICA!
Christian. Wife. Mommy. Daughter. Pastor. Friend. Saved.Redeemed. Beloved.
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