Forgetfulness

Last week was a week that I would not like to repeat anytime soon.  It wasn't too bad, just painful.  I had some oral surgery a week ago and I'm just now getting the point where I don't have to take ibuprofen every few hours.  Eating has been interesting.....yeah, I don't recommend this diet.  :)   Mr. E has been wonderful, he cooked things I could actually eat, he's so great!  Needless to say, in this process, I've had lots of downtime.  That can be a good thing, but for me, it gives me lots of time to think.

I'm learning something about myself.  If I am not careful I can let my mind start to run in all different directions.  I am really good at coming up with scenarios in my head and going with them. These can be both good and bad scenarios.  I can wonder about things and/or try to figure out how I can do them or fix them. I will even spend time second guessing myself on things that have already happened, did I do it right?, what didn't I do right?, was that what I was supposed to do in the first place?, etc.  Most of the time when I begin to think this way, I forget to turn to God.  I forget that He already has a plan and direction for me to go.  I forget that His ways are higher than my ways, His thoughts higher than my thoughts.  I forget that He can take my messes and turn them into something good.  After this past week, I need to remember to pray to have God "capture my thoughts" (as a friend always tells me) and begin to dwell on Scripture to help me turn my thoughts towards Christ.

Sidenote.  This is something I read yesterday that I want to remember in the future when I read through this blog again someday.  It was in the context of losing a spouse.

That person can either be a spring of gratitude and joy, or they can be a fountain of bitterness and pain.  It is entirely up to you.

Garden

Finally, some garden pictures for you to enjoy!  Sorry the pictures aren't the greatest quality, they were taken with my phone. We have cantaloupes, cucumbers, zucchini, tomatoes, onions, bell peppers, hot peppers, green beans, potatoes and okra planted.  We are getting some produce now, not a lot, but enough to keep us going out to the garden everyday to make sure there is nothing else to pick! The second to the last picture is the watering system that automatically waters every other day.  Each row has its own water running to it.  Works out great! Thankfully we live out in the country and we have our own water well, so we are not under the same watering restrictions that the city has put in place in town.

Jonah

On Wednesday, I began a ladies Bible study at church.  It is the first one that I have done with a group of ladies since right after Jared past away.  When I attended that one, it fit perfectly with what I was going through.  This study is no different.  To tell you the truth, I think it is going to rock my world a bit.  We are going to go through the book of Jonah and the intro session already has me thinking......a lot.  The subtitle of the study is "an interrupted life".

I will let you in on a bit about me.  I don't like to have my life interrupted.  I like to plan out a week, a couple of weeks or even a month at a time.  Any guesses as to how often everything goes as planned?  My guess, which is not really a guess, is never.  I'm not sure why I still get frustrated when things don't go as planned because I should be used to my plans being thwarted by now!  However, I am not.  This has become more evident now that I am married and someone else has plans too! :) Anyway, back to the study.  The writer of the study mentioned how frustrated Jonah was when God interrupted his plans, he tried to run away to get out of what God called him to do.  Do we always jump to do what God is calling us to do?  Do we think of God's plans as interruptions or do we get excited because He is including us in His will?  Personally, I lean towards thinking that His plans are interruptions instead of divine interventions.  I hope to change that soon!

Here is a quote that I just read that kinda goes along with this post.  This is how I sometimes feel when God changes my plans.

We're not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us, we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be.  C.S. Lewis

Camp 2012

I just returned from one of my favorite weeks of the year.......camp week.

My church took about 230 5th and 6th graders to camp.  It was such fun.  It was different going as a volunteer this time, but I enjoyed having more interaction with the kids.  It was a hard week with little sleep, cafeteria food (it wasn't too bad though) and being away from Mr. E, but when I heard of kids receiving God's grace and love and becoming His child, it made it all worth it.

Life is good. We are finally settled in and hopefully we will be getting into a normal routine soon.  I've been waiting for this week for a while now, knowing that camp was the last thing that we had on our radar.

God really is showing both of us His goodness.  Although our schedules have been busy and we seem tired all the time, we can look at our lives and see that He is walking with us.  We are keeping Him in the center of our lives and looking to Him for the next steps that He would like us to take. We are staying open to His leading, but in the meantime we are content where He has us.   God is so good!