Its funny how God works!

So the other day I was checking out Kijiji and found an ad for an exercise bike for sale. It seemed interesting and so I emailed the guy. We are wanting to go on a weekend bike trip in May so I thought it would be a good idea to get an exercise bike to train during the snowy/icy months. So he replied and sent me his phone number. I didn't do anything about it for a few days and then last night Nathan and I were talking about it and wondered if it would still be there so I said well you may as well call. It probably won't be available still because its been a few days and it was pretty cheap but may as well try. So he called. And within an hour we had a new exercise bike. But the really funny part about this strangely uninteresting story was that the guy needs some drywall taping done and has a bunch of rental properties that will need work and knows a whole bunch of people who need work done potentially. So we spent $50 on an used exercise bike that we didn't really even want until a week and a half ago and made a really significant contact for work. Maybe I'm the only one who sees this but it just seems crazy that we just randomly find this ad and the bike is still there when we call later and the guy might be able to get us a bunch of work! God is good! He works things out for us in ways I can not fathom! I mean we don't have any work from him yet but its a contact anyway. Unfortunately I still have not found my wallet which is slightly stressful. I keep praying that God will bring it back to me but so far no sign of it. Its not the end of the world but I would feel better if I knew where it was! Anyway, just wanted to encourage you all that God is watching out for us and He will bring things to fruition in our lives at just the right time for our maximum benefit. Keep your chin up! =)

The Great Escape!

Guess what movie I watched recently?! =) Seriously though, I was thinking about the title and realized that it would be a good title for the Christian life as well. We have been part of the greatest escape of all time! Through Christ we have been saved from a more horrible prison than any that man could create. Thank God for our Great Escape! We have been blessed more abundantly than we deserve and we owe God our very breath and life. Praise God!

As if my life could get any crazier!

So I am once again completely up in the air with regards to what is going on in my life. Just when I thought things were starting to calm down, something else goes haywire! I had been having health problems for awhile and thought that everything was finally starting to get back to normal. I went to the doctor (a new doctor) for some routine blood tests and found out that I may have, not one, but two serious illnesses! I sat in the chair at the doctors and thought "how can my life change so much with just a few little words!" My outlook on life at this moment is very different than the one I had even this morning at 11:59. Life is such a fragile balance and it doesn't take much for the balance to be tinkered with and you are left reeling. I don't understand why this would happen to me when I thought I was pretty healthy. Sure I had a few small things that could have been better but I was working on them and thought they were getting better. Sometimes I don't understand the way God works. I don't know whether I have these illnesses or what if going on but it terrifies me just the same. I am confused and afraid of what may be coming in the next few weeks, but I know that God hasn't abandoned me. He is still the ruler of all and the all powerful God. I know that He will do what is best for me in my life. Help me God, to remember that promise whatever comes my way. Thank you for my amazing husband who is an incredible source of strength for me.

Important Things

Today I have been thinking about what is really important in my life. I have been married for two years, two months, and 22 days. This time has been one of the most precious periods of my life. God has blessed me with an amazing husband who loves and cares for me more than I deserve! He has become so much a part of my life that I could not imagine going on without him. He is one of the most important things in my life. There are so many sad things happening in the world today and one of the saddest is what is happening to families. So often now we hear stories of broken families and ruined marriages. This is not what is supposed to happen. Why is marriage treated with such flippancy? I understand that marriage is hard. We have had our share of struggles but to give up seems so sad. What is our world coming to when we trade spouses like we change our hairstyles? Whatever happened to "Till death do us part"? It is so sad to me to consider the pain and sorrow that is haunting so many families because of adultery, infidelity, and divorce. Marriage can be such a blessing if you keep it in good repair. We can't let problems get to the point where we can do such harm to our marriages and our spouses.

Life is hard and requires a lot of effort but if something is truly important to you, it is worth putting in the required effort. My marriage is important to me. It is more important than anything else apart from God and I am committed to its success. My wedding vows are promises that I have made and intend to keep no matter what trials come our way. My prayer today is that people who take similar vows would take them seriously and not cast aside the love and commitment of a spouse on a whim. Lord help us all to be true to our commitments!

It's all new!

So its been awhile since I posted on my blog and I thought I better write something. We recently moved to a new city and it has been an interesting change for me. The scenery is gorgeous here. We are in the middle of fall and the leaves on the trees are slowly changing to beautiful shades of orange and yellow. There are crisp leaves skipping along the sidewalks as the brisk wind blows them to and fro. At times I feel like one of those leaves. My life has been turned upside down in the last month or so. I was happy in my plans for the year and thought that I had everything figured out when all of a sudden everything that I had planned and had wanted to do in the upcoming months went flying out the window and away before I could catch them. All it took was a small gust of wind to turn my life all topsy turvy. I do not regret our move nor hold hard feelings about the reason for moving, I am simply learning to adjust. Why do you think God works in this way? Why does He let you think that one thing is going to happen and then all of a sudden with no warning you are set on another, completely different path? As I sit here and watch the leaves frolicking in the autumn wind I am reminded of the circumstances of life and how delicate life itself is. I don't think that we as Christians or as humans for that matter truly understand how fragile life is or how easily our lives can be changed. All it took for these leaves was a bit of cold and wind and they are removed from their home and left to wander on their own. I am so glad that my life is in the hands of God and that no matter how far I go in this world I am not alone.
This past month in a new city has taught me a lot about priorities. I have realized that family is a huge priority for me. I always knew that it was but when you lose all the familiar things in life such as place, church, the apartment we had, job, etc. you start to understand what things you really need to hold on to. And for me that thing is family ( and friends!! =) ) . I am very close to my family and it is hard to me to be separated from them. I have had to rely on God more for companionship and for strength than I have had to before, when I was in a familiar, comfortable place. Its hard being in a new city with no familiar things. Even the small things are different like the grocery store and where you used to store your toilet paper. I don't have a handy little cupboard anymore and so I had to be creative and learn new ways of doing things and new places to go. Its made my husband and I closer in some ways because we are more thankful to have each other. To make this move alone would have been very hard but to have a spouse that embarks on these new adventures with you is phenomenal! Marriage is such a blessing from God!
Life is good and God is amazing!

Time Management

Yesterday I was reading a chapter for Bible Study this week from a book called "Small Changes for a Better Life" by Elizabeth George. The chapter was called "Manage Your Life" and it deals with learning how to manage your time wisely according to God's priorities. While I was reading the chapter I realized how much of my time I spend in useless pursuits that, whether or not they are "bad", are simply a waste of the time that I have been given. So many times instead of doing something useful or profitable, I spend my time doing things that are mindless or foolish. I have gotten into the habit lately of watching movies every evening. My husband and I are enumerating for the city census and we mostly work in the evenings but when we get home we have to sort through the papers from the day and we usually end up watching a movie while we do it. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with watching movies but I find that movies get in the way of stuff that needs to be done. I end up sitting around, often snacking, and stay up later than I should. Not to mention the fact that a lot of movies are not even worth watching. Its so hard to find movies that are good in plot and in rating and many times I end up watching movies that are not beneficial to me in any way. This is just one example of a way that I tend to waste time instead of using it in a profitable way.

In the chapter, Elizabeth George talks about the importance of priorities and managing our lives. She lists three main steps to living out God's plan for our time.
First of all, we need to "Own the Management of 'our lives'. We need to realize that we are responsible for the time we have been given and form the correct priorities in our lives.
Secondly, we need to Prioritize our time. She lists eight areas of our lives that we need to make regular time for. 1. Time with God, 2. Time with your husband (if you have one!), 3. Time with your children (again, if you have them!), 4. Time for family and friends, 5. Time for yourself, and 6. Time for the unexpected, 7. Time for planning, and 8. Time for work.
The first four points are relatively self-explanatory but I want to talk about the next two a bit. Time for yourself is a priority that sometimes seems like it is just being selfish but it is important to have time to be able to be strengthened, stretched, and rejuvenated by God. If you are run down you will be less able to complete your tasks successfully and often this also translates into being less patient and loving with others as well. Our spiritual, mental, and physical wellbeing is important in order for us to be strong, healthy, productive people. The 6th point that Elizabeth George makes is a very interesting and challenging one. Time for the unexpected is being flexible, being able to say "today I want to accomplish these things, but if God has a different plan for my day I will be graceful and accomodating, as well as available. Time for the unexpected is being able to take time out of your expected day to babysit for the neighbour when she has to go to the hospital, or using the afternoon to visit someone who is sick or making food for a needy family. Anything that God puts in front of us as an alternative to our carefully planned days.

The third step is Learn What's Important. This step involves learning to be effective(or efficient) in the things that we do with our time and learning to eliminate things that are not helpful or as EG says "things that don't contribute positively and constructively to God's plan and priorities." Our priorities will change as we go through life and we need to continually reassess our lives and whether we are effectively using our time.

If we learn to manage our time wisely by developing godly priorities and plans for our life God will bless us and make us more effective servants for Him. Let us desire to be better stewards of our time and work toward that goal knowing that only things that are done for Christ will last!

Memory

The memory is such a strange thing. It seems that every time you don't want to remember something you can't get it out of your head but if you really want to memorize something or remember it you can't! I want to memorize the Bible more but it's tough. You really have to work at it. I am involved in a Bible study with a friend and we decided to start memorizing a verse per week but it doesn't seem like enough to me. Even that one verse is hard to get in there unless you make memorization a priority. We decided to start by memorizing Psalm 34:15 and 17 (ok I know its two verses but you get the idea!). Then last night I was reading those verses and decided to read the rest of the Psalm just for contexts sake when I realized what an amazing Psalm it is! So I committed to memorizing all of this amazing Psalm. Check it out:

Psalm 34

A Psalm of David when he pretended madness before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he departed.

1 I will bless the LORD at all times;
His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
2 My soul shall make its boast in the LORD;
The humble shall hear of it and be glad.
3 Oh, magnify the LORD with me,
And let us exalt His name together.

4 I sought the LORD, and He heard me,
And delivered me from all my fears.
5 They looked to Him and were radiant,
And their faces were not ashamed.
6 This poor man cried out, and the LORD heard him,
And saved him out of all his troubles.
7 The angel of the LORD encamps all around those who fear Him,
And delivers them.

8 Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good;
Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!
9 Oh, fear the LORD, you His saints!
There is no want to those who fear Him.
10 The young lions lack and suffer hunger;
But those who seek the LORD shall not lack any good thing.

11 Come, you children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
12 Who is the man who desires life,
And loves many days, that he may see good?
13 Keep your tongue from evil,
And your lips from speaking deceit.
14 Depart from evil and do good;
Seek peace and pursue it.

15 The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous,
And His ears are open to their cry.
16 The face of the LORD is against those who do evil,
To cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.

17 The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears,
And delivers them out of all their troubles.
18 The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart,
And saves such as have a contrite spirit.

19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
But the LORD delivers him out of them all.
20 He guards all his bones;
Not one of them is broken.
21 Evil shall slay the wicked,
And those who hate the righteous shall be condemned.
22 The LORD redeems the soul of His servants,
And none of those who trust in Him shall be condemned.

The statements in bold are just a few of the ones that struck me as I read this Psalm. I came away from this reading very thankful that I am a child of God. He makes pretty amazing promises to his people and it makes me realize that I do not give God the place that He deserves in my life.

There are many promises in the Bible that relate to knowing the word of God and they include such things as long life, wisdom, understanding, and many other blessings. Many passages emphasize how important it is to know God in a deep personal way and what better way is there to know God then to study His word. I need to make His word a greater priority in my life and if I do that the rest of my life will fall in line with God's plan.

I challenge you to evaluate the place that God's word has in your life and try to commit more of it to memory every day.

My first blog post...

I have decided that since I am not in school any longer I need to keep up my writing and thinking skills. Thus I have decided to start a blog. Not a blog of any significant proportions but simply thoughts that are somewhat coherent. At one time I wrote a lot but it has been some time since I have sat down with my thoughts and a blank page. I am looking forward to this opportunity to free the wandering words from my overcrowded head!

It is January 2008 and I have been thinking this past week about how we try so hard to make changes in our lives at the beginning of the year. But it is almost always a futile quest because we find ourselves getting busy again and lapsing into old comfortable habits. Its frustrating but it makes me realize two things...1. we need more than the dawn of a new year to make changes in our lives...and 2. because of Jesus every day is a new start. I heard a song the other day while I was working that reinforced the thoughts I had been having in this area. It goes like this...

New Year's Day
by Carolyn Arends

I buy a lot of diaries
Fill them full of good intentions
Each and every New Year's Eve
I make myself a list
All the things I'm gonna change
Until January 2nd
So this time I'm making one promise

Chorus:
This will be my resolution
Every day is New Year's Day
This will be my resolution
Every day is New Year's Day

I believe it's possible
I believe in new beginnings
'Cause I believe in Christmas Day
And Easter morning too
And I'm convinced it's doable
'Cause I believe in second chances
Just the way that I believe in you

This will be my resolution
Every day is New Year's Day
This could start a revolution
Every day is...

One more chance to start all over
One more chance to change and grow
One more chance to grab a hold of grace
And never let it go

So this song gives me hope...hope that I don't have to give up after every failure because God is a God of second, third, fourth, 65 billionth, chances... I can start out fresh every morning or at any moment. Every day is a chance for me to learn from my past and move on into something new. A new beginning. Thank God for new beginnings!!

Thank you Lord for never giving up on me! I don't deserve your grace and forgiveness and yet they are freely extended to me. Help me to start each morning with a fresh perspective on life and a renewed exuberance for each situation I find myself in.