Blog Hop – 3 Things You Didn’t Know About Me

Ok Blog Hop… This isn't an easy one for me!! I mean obviously if you're just hopping through, I can say any three things and you wouldn't know the difference, but for others who potentially read this at least occasionally… well… what do you not know? So I'm writing this strictly for the unknown. For people who want to get to know me in three easy steps.

1. I am originally from the suburbs of Chicago. I lived in a small-for-Chicago town called Westchester, and the house I grew up in was about 5 blocks(ish) from where Al Capone was buried. I moved to TN in September of 2004 because I felt that it was what God was calling me to do with my life. It's been a ride so far, and I can't wait to see what God has in store for my future
   


2. I'm a banker. I can open accounts, work teller-row, do all things back office. There's a lovely little term called nepotism that got me a job in banking when I was 16 (almost 17) and except for about a year and a half just after I moved to TN, that's what I've been doing with my life ever since. It's amazing to me that I've had 10 years in the same field and I only recently celebrated the 4^th anniversary of my 25^th birthday! I'm not always content in this because what I want more than anything is for God's timing to be now when he lets me meet the man of my heart and get married. I want to be a mom. But I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this pretty recently…
   


3. When people ask me how I'm doing, I always answer, "I'm livin' the dream!" It all started out kind of as a joke when I was having a bad day. I really believe in using reverse psychology on myself (i.e. when I'm in a bad mood I make myself act chipper, when I'm feeling self conscious I make myself look people in the eye). So when I started saying that I was 'livin the dream' it was to convince myself that the day wasn't as awful as I was making it out to be. Now it's become kind of a staple for an answer for me. People just got such a kick out of it that I kept it going. But I realized there was even more. I am living the dream. I have my health, my family, friends… and most importantly, I have God in my life!! It is a dream indeed…

Eyes

This week I've had a hard time driving. My eyes have been watery and itchy and swollen… my BF was in town for the weekend and I had her drive my car to lunch on Sunday because I didn't think I could see well enough to get us there!

I have allergies. And worse than that, I wore contacts this weekend. And even worse I didn't use my allergy eye drops before putting in my contacts or take any allergy medication. In the winter, contacts are fine. They don't bother me and I have no troubles with them, but in the summer? I should know better…

So on Monday morning while I was driving my 26-mile-each-way drive to work… it was rough. I was squinting and uncertain, and my eyes just HURT. I prayed for the entirety of my drive, just begging God to get me to work safely. And He did. He's gotten me to and from work all week (my eyes are improving, but they're still sensitive to the light). But the whole situation; me don't doing what I should have to take care of my eyes, not being able to see, God protecting me; it got me thinking about a few things…

"How many seasons do we spend with our vision blurred to our sin?"

How often do we meander through life able to point out specks of problems in others lives when our eyes are blaringly red due to all of the irritation of sin in our own?

How often do we spend time begging God to get us safely through our lives when we are struggling with our sin?

And He does.

How blessed are we to have a heavenly Father who loves us even through our disobedience.

Blog Hop: Fruit

I was sitting on a blanket by a lake hanging out with RubyRed. No food sighs summer quite like watermelon.

Hey Jude

This kid is SO precious!!! I want to teach my kids Hey Jude someday =o)

Go Together Like a Horse and Carriage

Yup. You guessed it. Love and marriage.

A topic I rarely bring up and haven't ever blogged about. Why is that? Do you ever wonder why it is so difficult for single girls (especially those out of college and older) to say out loud:

"What I want most in my life is to meet the right guy and get married. I want to be a mom someday."

I know this isn't what every woman wants, but for those of us that do I have a question. Why are we so intimidated by that statement? Don't get me wrong, ladies; I know that it's what we talk about with our friends… our female friends. But how often do we say it when we're talking to friends of the male persuasion?? Here I am, saying it now… I really want to get married and I really want to be a mom. There you have it, folks. It's the truth. It's my deepest desire for my life.

Psalm 37:4 says "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." Delight yourself in the Lord. Can you do that all the time? To delight means literally to gain great enjoyment and pleasure. I know it is often times (most of the time?) easier for me to complain and gripe when I really should be finding enjoyment in Him. Take June for example. I am in 1 wedding, a coordinator for a second and going to three others all in the next three weekends (I was also invited to a 6^th, but I'm unable to make it). That's a lot of weddings! On top of those, both of my roommates are in serious relationships and the pastor at my church is doing a summer sermon series on marriage. For a girl who wants to get married someday but is currently single, that's a rough month of June!! And I'll be honest. There are times I complain. I truly love these friends (and family) getting married and I honestly wish them the uttermost joy and blessings in the life they are about to enter in to, but there are times I kind of want to scream... 'WHEN WILL IT BE MY TURN'!!

This morning was especially hard for me. I had a client come to my window just when a coworker mentioned something to me about the weddings and the person asked me what my coworker meant, so I gave a quick answer and they looked at my hand and said, so what… are you one of those always a bridesmaid never a bride types? I laughed it off and joked, but what I was thinking was "you rude jerk"!!! It hurt... it still kind of hurts. Not because of the comments made, but because of the emotions stirred up inside.

I'm 23 days away from my 29th birthday.

I want in the least to meet him....

...because ultimately, I want to be a wife and a mom.

Pride vs. Blessings

Pride. It's kind of an ugly word, isn't it? The first definition of pride on dictionary.com is:

1. a high or inordinate opinion of one's own dignity, importance, merit, or superiority, whether as cherished in the mind or as displayed in bearing, conduct, etc.
   

But what got me more, were the words synonymous with pride. Ego, self-regard, haughtiness, insolence, or (the one that gets me most) lordliness.
In my Life Group (what we call our Sunday school) class, we have been studying different topics & we've been using Proverbs for our Biblical references. When we are discussing poor attributes (i.e. anger) and reading scripture on how to correctly respond in situations, we very often come back to the same reason for them; Pride. It somehow all comes back to our pride.
I know this isn't a new thing. I know we've all realized it before. I know that people struggle with this all the time. I know that I struggle with pride all the time. It's that big thing that I keep "learning". I use the quotes because every time I think I learned my lesson, I just keep falling on my face again…
This week something different happened. I'll start with a mini-recap; my best friend and I have talked on and off for a while now about blessings, about how God wants to bless His children. I looked it up on an online concordance, and the word 'bless' (included blessing and blessed) was mentioned 522 times. WOW!!! Let me say it again… 522!!! That's a lot of talk about someone being blessed. So why is it that we so often don't feel like we will be… or in my case, why do I try to block them? It really doesn't make much sense, does it?
I recently planned a trip with a friend. We were going to go this weekend to St. Louis so she could see friends of hers and I could spend time with my best friend. Well, my friend's daughter (who has 3 small kids) slipped on a small rubber ball her 1 ½ year old threw towards her and broke her ankle. After I heard this, I tried and tried to figure out a way to make my car make the trip, but knew that it couldn't. So, I figured no trip. I thought that I wasn't able to make it after all, and I would just have to wait until July to see F.
But then I got an e-mail. My friend I was supposed to travel with wanted to rent me a car so I could still go. Amazing, right? A normal human being would probably think so. But me, I completely balked. No way. I was shaking my head and talking to myself while I read the e-mail (which she said I'd do in the e-mail. HA) and thinking there was no way I could accept such a gift from someone. It's a huge gift. It's a lot of money. No way! But then I thought about something… why would I say no? After praying and talking to a couple of friends I realized something…
My pride wanted me to say no. Was I going to listen to my pride and tell this friend no, or did I allow God to bless me through her? Ultimately my friend was blessing me by giving me a way to fellowship with my best friend. Someone who (as I like to say) knows me better then I know myself. And how amazing is it when you are able to be the one that God uses to bless someone else. It's like I was not only blocking a blessing to me, but one to my friend as well.
Are you allowing pride to block blessings? Because if you are, remind yourself of what the Lord told Moses to tell the Israelites (His people!) in Numbers 6:24-26:

"The LORD bless you
and keep you;

the LORD make his face shine upon you
and be gracious to you;

the LORD turn his face toward you
and give you peace."

Apologies

Dear Blog Readers,

I am writing this note to explain why I haven't followed through with my Holy Week blogging. Some of you live here in Murfreesboro with me and to you, I know you need no explanation. But I know there are some who read this from elsewhere. This blog is for you.

This town that I live in and love... well... it is a disaster area. Not federally, yet, but none the less it is. On Friday 4/10 there were multiple tornado's (2 registering at a Category 3or 4) that killed a 23 year old mother and her 9 week old daughter, damaged at least 140 homes, completely destroyed 40 homes and devastated our community.

If you want to read more about the situation, let me direct you to our local paper the DNJ.

I also covet your prayers for my community as the pieces start getting picked up and put back together...

Much Love,

LLSG