The Saturday Six

One.

 Source

 I stumbled across this blog post last week, written by another family experiencing a move and life transition right now. I loved the post, because it reminded me of how I feel about our move away from our home, but what I REALLY LOVED was the idea of leaving our names on a board in the attic. So of course, when we go to the old house next time, I plan to do this in the attic there!. One more mark of our family on that home before it passes on to a new legacy with a new family!

Two.

Source

A couple of weeks ago I shared with you a link to the wedding photos from one of my friends. This week she blogged a bit about their unconventional and completely Christ-centered relationship. These two inspire me, because I think they do something right that a lot of us don't get: they say right out loud they have no idea what they're doing except following hard after God. Two people following Christ together. That's what it should be.  

Three.

Source

I grew up eating cereal for breakfast, and for many of those years, my choice was Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Whenever I needed a break from that, I usually chose Cocoa Puffs. For about a year in college, I lived on Captain Crunch Berries. Seeing a theme here? I tended not to pick the healthiest ones! Ryan and I don't eat a ton of cereal, but we do like it for a snack {he eats more of it now than I do} and we struggle to find a cereal that's affordable AND good for you. While this one doesn't usually fit in the affordable category {unless we find a good sale}, it does rank as my current favorite cereal: Post Great Grains Crunchy Pecans. It tastes much like the granola I make!

Four.

Source

I love finding a good testimony: a good reminder of how absolutely involved in every detail God actually is for each of us. And so....read this.  

Five.

Source

I finished two books this week. The first one has been part of each day for several weeks now as my devotional reading. I told you a while back that I read Mark Batterson's book, The Circle Maker, but at the same time, I also started his 40 day prayer challenge companion book called Draw the Circle. I sheepishly confess that it took me longer than 40 days to get through it because with moving and a vacation, I didn't read every single day. But my delays were purely self-inflicted and were no reflection on his quality of writing at all! :)
 
Mark published this book in 2012 after he wrote The Circle Maker, and while you will find some content transferred from the main book to the companion guide, you'll also find a lot of brand new content, some of which was inspired by letters and emails he received in response to the main book. He shared stories people told him after they had begun to pray circles in their own lives, and he added new stories from his journey along the way.

This book is, in format, very much created for daily reading with short chapters and a Bible verse to begin each day's reading. I found within it the same style of underline-worthy phrases and challenges that I have always found in Mark's writing, and it was a good daily guide in learning to pray genuinely and with passion and risk.

I also appreciate that Mark doesn't claim to be a prayer expert or to always pray well. He shares of his own shortcomings and desire/hunger to learn more on the subject, but he also shares incredible stories of moments when God did big things because of prayer.

So if you like a daily reading guide better than a standard book, this would be a great choice for you. Because it's 40 days in length, it would be great for Lent or for any season when you want to mark out a prescribed number of days to pray over something!

Six.

Source

I've shared before on the Saturday Six about Ian and Larissa Murphy and their Christ-centered love story. I was excited to find out in 2014 that they released a book about their story, but because my free time was so limited then, I wasn't able to read it when it came out. But I purchased it recently, eager to read more of their story. And the book did not disappoint.

If you're looking for a sappy love story, this isn't it. If you're looking for a place where grit and grace collide and bubble over in the truest form of love, read this book. Ian and Larissa Murphy were young, in love, and dreaming about becoming engaged, planning a wedding, and living happily ever after. Their dreams and hopes and life looked much like anyone else's. And then came September 30, 2006, when Ian's car crashed with an SUV, leaving him with a traumatic brain injury and both of them with a future 100% unlike anything they envisioned.

Their book, titled Eight Twenty Eight, is a nod Romans 8:28 {as well as Ian's dad's birthday on 8/28 and their anniversary on 8/28} and is filled with the truth of how two imperfect people push forward in the most unimaginable circumstance and choose love. Larissa shares honestly about her fears, her anger, and her confusion as to why God would allow her beloved Ian to be trapped inside a coma, trapped inside his own brain, and unable to walk beside her to make her dreams come true.

She also shares honestly about how she began to see that despite his disability, he was still very much her Ian. He was still funny and tender and caring. He still had a deep, unwavering faith in the Lord, and he still loved her and wanted to marry her.

And they did marry. They married, and their life is full of nothing any girl would ever dream of for her future. She's a full time care-giver and wrestles with fears and worries about the reality of their forever. They live in a suite with Ian's family and every day, a village helps her care for her husband. But they married, and their life is full of everything any girl would ever dream of for her future. She's loved unconditionally, championed daily by her biggest encourager, and her faith is strengthened as she watches Ian love her as Christ loves the church.

 I love a good love story. I love my own love story and I love the stories of those around me. But this one - this one challenged me to the truth of love. The choice, day in and day out to rise above the temptations, rise above the challenges, rise above the unfairness that pervades, and just love. Larissa says, "The simple beauty of this marriage is the truth he speaks and the God he loves. We live as two empty vessels, vessels that we know not how to fill on our own, but are completed and perfected through what we receive down, what trickles down, from perfect love in him."

THAT is the love story we should desire.