Wednesdays in the Word: Verse Y

I've told you before that the verses I picked out for this list were ones that I hoped captured some of the main lessons I would want to impart to someone else if I were in a position to impart something. Important truths. Critical challenges.

I'm excited about this one, because it was one of the most important things I ever absorbed into my own heart...coupled with one of the things I'm still working to learn.

Ever take a look at a picture of yourself and find your eyes immediately drawn to the things you dislike the most? You know what popped into your mind when you just read that. For me it's usually my white roots {if it happens to be at the worst point between colorings}, my nose, random rolls of fat, and my feet.

I thought I would never get over the nose, in particular, until I heard Beth Moore recount the time someone told her she'd be pretty if it weren't for that nose. I happen to think Beth Moore is lovely inside and out and until that point had never even noticed her nose. Now I consider it a privilege to have a Beth Moore-esque nose and if she can be confident in who the Lord made her to be...I can do the same.

Over the years, God has worked in my heart profoundly, instilling the truth that HE made me...on purpose...when He did and where He did and how He did...for a specific reason.

When I wondered why I had to be born so late in life to my parents...He gently taught me {over the course of time} that He had a very distinct purpose in planting me in THAT family in THAT year. When I wondered why I had to be the one who stood in the appetite line twice and entirely missed the love-of-exercise line...He began to teach me that He made me the way I look on purpose and it's okay. The flaws, the imperfections, the things that jump off the picture first...are okay. He made me and I'm worth something.

When I wondered why I can't sing or draw...why all those talents my friends seemed to ooze eluded me entirely...He taught me that the gifts He gave me are the gifts I need.

It's been a series of lesson 36 years in the making and not done yet by a long shot.

And the part I'm still working to learn? To ask for wisdom and understanding. When I could be asking for doses of the talent I feel I missed...or for my nose to shrink or something else of a similar fashion, I need to be asking for wisdom. Wisdom to know who I am in Him and to love who I am in Him.

It's true for you too, you bloggy friend on the other side of this screen. Know that He made you on purpose to be YOU...and if you ask Him for wisdom to understand His commands, He will be faithful to show you each step as you need it.

Let's absorb it together...how much we're loved by the Creator who dreamed us into being!

Sunday on the Lake

Ryan and I stayed at the lake Saturday night and were able to be there all day Sunday as well. Oh the joy of a Sabbath on the lake. It somehow becomes a TRUE Sabbath.

Wanna peek into our day on the lake?

Sunrise on the lake. Minus the sun. That part made me sad...because I really do love morning sun on the lake. {And it's kind of a big deal for me to love morning ANYWHERE.} The fishermen were out...and it was calm and lovely even if it WAS overcast. We were thankful it was at least warm...since last year our Sunday on the lake was FREEZING. {Like sweatshirts, hats and blankets freezing. IN JULY.}

 Before most of the family got up, we went down by the water and just sat, drinking coffee and soaking in the beauty of the less-than-sunny morning.

{I was fully into my no-makeup-at-the-lake face. Sorry.}

We made our way into town to pick up donuts for the family. I will not lie. They were every bit as good as they look.

 By that time, everyone was up and about, so we went back outside to our swing. Right by the water. {Ryan was rocking our nephew in this picture.} We played with our nephew and niece for a while - to give their parents a break. A fun playtime...but MAN does Jenna ever have an imagination! It was such fun to see what her little mind devised! She reminded me so much of myself at her age!}

 Our Sunday Coke treat!!! Pretty appropriate, eh?

 And then we went back out on the boat...and Ryan went tubing. Yours truly is FAR too much of a chicken to go tubing. FAR too much. And yes. The four year old went tubing and I did not. And yes. I was ribbed for it. And no. I did not care.

 And then he got fancy and stood up on the tube. Yeah that was a wipe-out.

 Annnnnnnnnd then there was the afternoon. And the vicious storms. That wall of water out there just came right across the lake and pummeled us until we couldn't even see out to the pier!

The storm was complete with hail. Sorry the picture is so blurry...it was raining too.My camera had NO idea what to focus on...so it just didn't.

You might be proud of me...I sat on the sun porch {rain porch?} and watched the whole storm. Storms on a lake are both scary and wonderful.

 We made the best of the storm - drank coffee and ate leftover birthday cake and played games with the kiddos...but it's Indiana, so never fear. The sun will be right back!!!

Ryan's brother and his family left after the storm, so then we sat around with Allen and Nita and chatted the afternoon away and...they have a hummingbird feeder, so Ryan's mom and I became the hummingbird paparazzi!

 They were so cute!!!

We all went to dinner together that night...and then went to bed for a good night of rest. But before I leave you...a couple more pictures from our day out!

 Man he's a handsome guy!!

 And this is the perfect view.

Lake Livin' is the Life for Us!

On our first anniversary, we made a specific list of goals for year two. Among them? Spend more time at the lake.

Annnnnnnnd here it is the end of July and we'd not even been once.

Boo.

Ryan's family spent the week at the lake, so Saturday, after he got off work, we packed up Ole Bandy {that's the new red truck} and headed north for some quality time on the water.

And of course, it rained as we drove up. Because it wouldn't be a lake trip for us if it didn't include RAIN!! :)

It was clearer by the time we arrived, and Ryan took me out on a boat ride right away, which made me SO happy. I love boat rides!! My handsome boat driver:

 And my view....

 I love this place. A million memories from this lake - and I love sharing these new ones with Ryan.

 We spent the evening fixing dinner and playing with Ryan's brother's kids...who are ridiculously cute, but blognonymous, so I can't show you the cuteness. But they kept us busy!!! We played balloon games with Jenna and chased Evan around while he played with collection of toys.

We sat on the swing for a while - another of our favorite activities. I wanted a picture, and here's what I got:

 So he said he'd be nice this time. That's fine...but I won't be!!!

 Ribs on the grill. And OH MY GOODNESS were they ever good. This was Ryan's portion. {Kidding.} {Kind of.}

 After dinner - and cake and ice cream for Ryan's brother's birthday - we went out for a sunset boat ride. Minus the sunset, of course.

A perfect day, despite the rain. This is one of those times when I look at what I always dreamed about before I got married, and I find myself thankful to be living yet another piece of that dream. Thankful for a man who loves lake living and can share that with me!

The Shafferland Shuffle

* Last Sunday we grilled out for our lunch...and had more fresh sweet corn. {Ryan is a gem to take the shucking job. I HATE shucking.} We rested all afternoon, which was HEAVENLY, and went for a walk and talk that night. I cracked up at the sunny skies all around with a GIANT black cloud literally hanging right over us...as we were talking about all the frustrations of the present. How appropriate! We finished off the evening with pizza and TV - and felt rested enough to start another week!

* Monday evening, Ryan and I went to the gym to work out, and I was feeling SO GOOD about this workout! Unfortunately there were some teens in the gym who were not respectful and after tripping over one of them who was misbehaving on the track, I had to move my exercise into the super hot outside. Sigh. Ryan and I went to the grocery store and learned about white peppers. {Ever heard of those?} AND he bought me flowers!

* Tuesday evening, while Ryan was doing some projects for people at his work {he's a handyman, and I have been learning to share...} I went over to Lynne's house for dinner, which included pizza {yum!!!} watermelon {sigh of joy} and chocolate Yasso bars {I die}. Given that Ryan doesn't like watermelon, that was SUCH A TREAT! Then Lynne and two other friends and I went to a movie screening together! I'd never done that before!! Cried my fool eyes out at the end of that movie. {And I got a Coke. SWEET!!!} Tuesday was also the day we found out someone made an offer on one of our houses! {Enter much prayer, people!!}

 * Wednesday evening, Ryan and I met with the realtor to sign papers for the offer on the house. We are praying for favorable outcomes {aka smooth sale of the house} but know there is a long road of waiting ahead, so...EEEEK!!! After that, just for fun, Ryan drove through an old, closed down restaurant we used to love visiting when we were kids. Pretty sure everyone who went by thought we were nuts parked under the awning of a closed restaurant! We came home and rested...and sent selfies to some of our family members who are vacationing together. It's how we can feel present. HA!!

* Thursday morning, I drove to work in THE most gorgeous sunrise. Stunning. That night, Ryan went to the Greentown house for its routine maintenance night - and he sent me this photo. WHAT!!?!?!?!? Ladders on a roof???? Oh no. Meanwhile, I was home safely, watching a Beth Moore video with my friend Ronda and with Beth's most loyal feline. And may I just say...I'm looking forward to days when we don't have to play divide and conquer on home maintenance!??!?!?

* Friday morning I showed up at work with a crowbar and hammer...something that was apparently disconcerting to my co-workers. LOL!! Someone needed to borrow them, but I did get a good kick out of the funny looks I got while people passed by my desk! And I don't know the last time I've been SO HAPPY to see a Friday. It was just one of those weeks, I guess!! Glad to get to go home...and then Ryan and I had a treat of getting to have dinner with my friends, Tim and Rachel. Rachel and I used to work together in Financial Aid, {and she made my wedding jewelry} - and they just invited us over for dinner! Surprisingly, we didn't have plans, so we went and had a great time!

* Ryan worked on Saturday morning, so I stayed home and did chores {and finished my Beth Moore Children of the Day homework} and then Ryan and I headed up to the lake to celebrate his brother's birthday! He loves ribs, so they made some in the smoker...they were so good. Ryan took me on a boat ride, too! Love me some lake time!

The Saturday Six

One.

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I loved The Babysitter's Club books when I was growing up...and I found this little gem on Facebook this week. Ann M. Martin, who wrote the books, said that the toddler Claudia is holding on the cover of this book is Kirsten Dunst in her first ever modeling job. {Obviously Kirsten is much younger than I am. How am I now in the stage of life where I'm that much older than famous people?}

Two.

I read in the paper earlier this week about the death of actress Skye McCole Bartusiak. I read that she was the little girl in The Patriot, but I only saw that movie once, many years ago, so I didn't remember her. THEN the next day I saw that she was also the actress the played Missie Davis opposite Katherine Heigl and Dale Midkiff in Love Comes Softly. That's one of my favorite movies! So very sad to read of her death...only 21 years old!

Three.

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LOVED this blog post I stumbled upon this week by fiction writer Joanne Bischof. If you're in a season of waiting {for anything} - do give it a read. It's so comforting!

Four.

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I ADORE, ADORE, ADORE this idea that Katie Farrell blogged about. Katie is the blogger at Dashing Dish, which I love for recipes, but this was a blog post about a night she and some friends hosted for girls to help them realized how very much they're cherished by God. If I could drop everything and do this right now for some of my friends, I WOULD. This is great!

Five.

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My very first year of college, I had the privilege of having a class with Crystal Blake...and we became friends who lasted beyond that class. We kept in touch by email for years, and when I taught a women's Bible study at church, Crystal {who by that time, was a missionary in the Czech Republic} became our first international member. Crystal was diagnosed with cancer when she was 35 and she has been fighting bravely ever since {with a time of remission and then a new diagnosis}. Found this video of a bit of her testimony this week. What you see here - is the real deal. She DOES believe this. She IS this in love with Jesus. And she's beautiful.

Six.

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I don't have an underwater camera, but MAN I love these shots!!

Weeds Keep on Talking

A slight breeze blew through the yard just about then, rustling the bottom of my skirt and lifting my hair back from my neck.  The birds still sang and the freshly white rock garden shone a little brighter in the sun. 

And across the yard blew the fuzzy puffs of a seeding dandelion.  One clump of the puffy seeds blew directly in front of me and I reached out to grab it.  I held the wad of weeds-in-the making in my clenched fist and rolled my eyes.  Let that sucker go and I’d have even more weeds to clean up in a far shorter amount of time than I wanted to think about!  But apparently God was not done teaching lessons yet, and His next object of choice was a dandelion wad.

Let go.

I opened my hand and prepared to toss the white fuzzies onto the porch next to me, but the breeze kicked up again and they simply flew out of my hand and surprisingly far from me before they fell to the ground.

Okay. What was that all about?

Now that you learned all the lessons through the weeds, I want to show you how to rid yourself of the fear that consumes you so that your life does not become more infested by the weeds of fear.  Just let go.  That’s all I’m asking you to do.  When you get scared, just let go.  Just open your hand – literally if you have to – and let go.

Surely it could not be that easy.  There was no way.  Just take an all consuming, gripping fear, and release it?  Just open my hand and – poof! – away it flies like a dandelion puff?  Right.  Like that works.

But I sensed that “just releasing it” was very much what God wanted me to do, so I nodded, walked back through the chain link gate and returned to work.  Later that day, I felt a familiar anxiety coming on.  I might be single forever.  There was no possible open option in my life.  What was I to do? 

Then I remembered.  Just open your hand – literally if you have to – and let go.  And so I did.  Sitting at my desk in my office, I opened my hand and said, Take it, God.  Take this fear.  Calm my heart.  Remind me that there is at least one more single man somewhere out there in the world. 

Immediately a calm fell over me.  I admit that I threw a surprised glance Heavenward.  What do you know?  It works!!

Weeds Have So Much to Say

Thought I'd spend a couple days visiting my journey to the prayer chapel from a few years back...and when I last wrote about it, I had gone to the chapel for my second visit {of seven} and found it was closed for the day. I relocated to my yard for that particular day...

Squirming in the chair drew my focus out of the yard and onto the scene in front of my eyes.  The summer before, I’d tried my hand at a very low-budget landscaping job.  The area immediately surrounding my porch refuses to grow grass, because the rainfall from the awning above it creates a trench and kills all purposeful vegetation.  Rest assured that the weeds survive – heartily – but all grass dies.  So in an attempt to brighten the back porch, I carefully cut and laid strips of that black sheeting that is supposed to prevent weed growth.  And then shovelful by heavy shovelful, I deposited gravel over the top of it.  I randomly interspersed potted plants and tiki torches and pronounced it good. 

But as I squirmed in the green plastic chair that Tuesday, I concluded that either the black sheeting does not, in fact, kill all weeds, or the installer of the black sheeting did a very poor installation job.  Because a shocking amount of the forbidden foliage had sprouted – peeking out here and there – without my permission. 

I could not have been in a more uncomfortable situation.  Not only was my mind receiving a lesson on the merits of a fear-free life, but my eyes were now consumed with the glaring green weeds.  I think God knew that unless He freed me to pull some weeds as He chatted, He was not going to have my best attention.  I would only catch every fifth word as I tried to drown out the “PULL ME!!!  PULL ME!!!” shouted by the offensive little weeds.

So I slid down onto the ground (skirt, heels, and all!) and began to pull out the weeds.  One of the first ones I grabbed was a big one, and I yanked hard and pulled it out by the root.  When I did, the rocks all around it went flying – what a mess!  Even as I threw the big, nasty weed into the grass to be chewed up and spit out by the mower later, I sensed a lesson coming on.  See?  God said.  Sometimes when you weed something from your life, your nice, neat piles – which you are so fond of – become disrupted. 

I began to think about my life right at that moment.  I thought of the ex-boyfriend from years ago that still held such an enormous space in my heart and of the hard work I was going through right then to weed that relationship from my life.  Yes, I would say that to pull that out by the roots was disrupting many areas of my life.  I thought of my job and the unrest that settled over my heart regarding it – and how even the thought of moving to a new job had the potential to alter everything.  Even the thought of releasing the grip that fear itself had on me…that would interrupt some very tidy piles in my life.  Because even though the fear wasn’t healthy, it had its place in the cycle of my daily routine. 

I moved down the porch a few feet and tugged hard at another big weed.  It refused to budge.  How had I not gotten rid of this one before?  Like when it was a baby?  It finally came out, root and all, and along with it came a clump of dirt and several rocks.  I looked down to find a gaping hole left where once had been a nicely arranged pile of white rocks.  It would have been so much easier to take care of this one when it was little instead of waiting until it was deeply rooted.  Look at the wound left behind now.

How very much like my life that was.  If only I’d taken care of fear’s stronghold over my life when it was such a tiny problem.  To weed it out now was going to leave a noticeable wound in my heart.  Perhaps it’s a good time to look ahead…think about weeding out other problems before they became so huge that they too, left a gaping hole next to this one.

The bigger my pile of pulled weeds grew, the more I saw.  Ones that hadn’t seemed visible at all in light of the bigger weeds hiding it now glared as they became the one bit of green in a sea of white rocks.  And so it will be with you.  As you purify your life, you will notice more and more areas that need work.  But don’t stop the purification process with the big problems.  Continue working until you can’t see any more issues.

This had the potential to take much longer than seven weeks.

As I kept pulling weeds, I glared at the black sheeting. “Weren’t you supposed to prevent weed pulling festivals?”  I grumbled under my breath.  And then God again:  Even when you think you have good protection in place over your heart, things can sneak up on you.  Always be aware that Satan can bring up evil through a crack you don’t even see.

Lunch was nearly over when I felt satisfied that all weeds were present and accounted for in the discard pile in the yard.  I stood up, wiped the dirt off my hands and imagined that the lessons had concluded for the day.

Had I learned nothing?

Wednesdays in the Word: Verse X

So many of the verses I chose for this list of Scripture memory have been about learning...and facing hard times...and growth...so I'm excited for this week's verse and the celebration it encourages!!

I haven't really gone this direction when writing about the weekly verses, but today I want to tell you about a person in my life who lives this verse WELL.

Deanna and I met back in the late 90's {which makes us sound so old now...but we are NOT, thankyouverymuch} when we were both student workers in the Financial Aid Office at IWU. I was wildly insecure, floundering a bit and trying to find my way in all areas of life, it seemed. Deanna was bright, bubbly, full of love, encouragement, and {the thing that stood out to me the most} a spirit of praise.

It didn't seem to matter how tough her week might be...how unfair life seemed to be unfolding...or how overwhelmed she felt. Deanna flashed a bright smile and said "Praise the Lord anyway!"

And she meant it. On the very worst day...she praised. For real.

I was privileged to watch her get married to her college sweetheart, and they have three sons now. I keep up with Deanna through Facebook, and my heart is so happy to see that her bubbly personality and desire to praise the Lord...remain firmly intact.

Deanna is a Mary Kay consultant, and just a few weeks ago, she earned her Cadillac.

And in the way she always does, she celebrated by praising the Lord...giving Him full credit for the blessings she enjoys.

Every single time I see Deanna's name scroll through my Facebook feed, and every single time I see that beautiful smile, my instant thought is now there is a girl who praises the Lord without reservation or condition.

I confess my initial reaction isn't always to "praise the Lord anyway." But oh how I want to be more like Deanna in this way. How I want to learn her beautiful spirit of praise.

Thank you, Deanna, for your example to me. Thank you for showing me how to live a life of out-loud praise. And thanks for letting me share you with my friends so they can learn from you too!

When My Sister Channels Her Inner Bekah

If you're new {like since-Ryan-new} to the blog, you have missed all my embarrassing encounters with David Phelps.

{Wait. You DO know who he is, right? He's only about the most amazing singer to ever walk the planet.}

I've met him a few times. The first time was before my blogging days, and it was such an overwhelming experience that I literally lost my appetite for an entire day before the concert where I met him. {And this was in the fat era. I NEVER lost my appetite.} I had my photo taken with him AND his bus. And to my credit, I did not get ON the bus.

I met him a second time {appropriately} in front of a defibrillator. And I developed a stutter prior to that conversation that left me mostly ridiculous and red.

I met him a third time after I started working at WBCL and I worked his concert. It was my first time to emcee and thank THE LORD I managed to say actual, coherent, English words in that moment.

My adoration for David has calmed itself to appropriate levels since I've gotten married...I try to save the tongue-tied, heart-palpitating moments for Ryan. :)

But let me just tell you, my sister has some undying adoration too...for someone else in the southern gospel circuit: Michael English.

He is her David Phelps.

And she'd never seen him in concert.

She tried. OH she tried. She went with me to a full Gaither concert in Indianapolis when I was smack in the middle of my desert and not one bit of fun to be around...and he was sick and not at the concert. We were both sad!!!


So when I found out he was going to be IN MY TOWN this past weekend...in solo concert...I had to invite her. I had to.

And she said yes!

The concert promoter saved us some seats in the very front, and after we found our place and she'd done a bit of shopping at the product table, we settled in to wait for the big moment!

 

Ryan went with us too - even though this isn't his MOST favorite kind of music.

Poor Michael..he's sick AGAIN!!! {Last time he was sick as in recovering from surgery. This time he just sounded like he had a horrible cold. Bless his heart!}

But the boy can SING! Even sick - he sounded amazing, and Julie was just over there glowing like crazy in a Bekah-listening-to-David sort of way.

And at the end? She got to meet him.

I gave her some space, so I have no idea if she stuttered. :)

So it was a fun night - and it was fun to see her so happy. And if you want to hear BOTH Michael and David just bring a song HOME - check out this one.