the first year

my dear friend joy got married last weekend. i somewhat randomly joined a bible study she was in over ten years ago and we are still studying together today. since she was the first friend to get married after me, i started thinking about what i wanted to share with her as she begins her marriage.  

i thought back to the cards and advice that were given to us and remembered that the ones that stuck out in my mind the most were the handful that warned us not to be surprised if our first year of marriage was hard. at the time i wasn't sure if that would apply to us or not, but i suppose it was kind of freeing to know that if things started feeling hard, that was okay.  

as we went through that year i remember thinking from time to time, this is really good, but this is hard. i couldn't quite make sense of how it could be both at the same time, and i couldn't figure out how to articulate the ways it was hard. we didn't really have any rough patches that first year [though donald may argue that my back injury was on the rough side], but there were definitely times that it was hard.

it was hard to always be trying to figure out 'our' new way of doing everything. money was different. groceries were different. sleeping schedules were different. every. thing. was. different. one day, probably about six months in, i actually sat down to make a list of the things in my life that were the same and/or different from the same time the previous year. the different list seemed to never end. i had a new marital status, a new home, new furniture, a new neighborhood, a new cell phone company, a new roommate, a new dog, a new grocery store, a new bank, a new budget and a new job. the same list was short. it was my car. i had the same car. it was the only thing that hadn't changed.

now i obviously still had the same friends and family [though i had new additions to the latter] and all these changes weren't bad, they were just numerous. but now we've settled in. everything doesn't feel new and different all the time. we've figured out our new normal.

i'm thankful i was able to celebrate joy's joyous day with her and for the chance to pass a little encouragement onto her as she and steve begin their first year as husband and wife.

shelly . joy . beth

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just another israelite

the israelites. possibly the most forgetful people group in history, and they were really, really good at complaining.

here's basically what went down...the israelites are God's chosen people. this is a good start for them. life is good for while, but then there is a famine and everyone ends up in egypt. fast forward four hundred years and the israelites actually become slaves to the egyptians. big bummer. but, lucky for them, God hasn't forgotten them or the promises He made to them. so He puts on a pretty good show [lots of frogs and hail, parting a sea, etc.] and breaks the israelites out of bondage. they should be thrilled, right? wrong. what is their response to this amazing turn of events? to the fact that God continues to show up day after day to lead them and feed them? they start complaining. umm...hello!?! did you forget what just happened?

sometimes i just shake my head and feel sorry for them. it's like they couldn't see past the end of their noses. or remember the great things God did for them in their recent past. and then i realize...i'm just like them. God did something cool for me on monday [this is a true story] and now, forty eight hours later, i am fighting the urge to whine and complain because i haven't seen any progress on this subject in two days.

two. days.

have i lost my mind? am i potentially even more forgetful than the israelites? i am hoping that the Lord decides to heap on the grace and mercy and not decide that i need forty years in the proverbial desert to get my head on straight. the goal for today? to remember and be thankful. and to work on my patience.

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the timothys

for the majority of the time i've lived in kansas city, i've been a part of a really great bible study. we're kind of a random group, but i love it just the same. our game plan is simple, pick a book of the bible and study it in chapters and/or chunks until we're done. we usually jump around from old testament to new testament to keep things interesting. every time we finish one my friend joy comes up with an amazing acrostic to summarize what we've learned. [we're now on a mission to finish the whole thing so she can publish a book of them!] she's inspired me to make an effort to keep track of the things i've learned in our study and discussions.

we just finished up both first and second timothy and as we talked through it together it reminded us of things we had learned last summer studying ecclesiastes. that christianity isn't as hard as we try to make it sometimes with our lists of dos and don'ts. it's as simple as being who you are, wherever the Lord puts you, and letting people see jesus in you.

paul is encouraging timothy to simply live his life in front of others. to show jesus to others by who he is. but following that instruction doesn't mean we have to have it all together first. it's okay to let people see all of us; the good, the bad and the ugly. our failures are part of the gospel story. after all, if we had any chance of being "good enough" on our own, what need would we have of a savior?

at the end of first timothy paul tells us to "go after God...to do good, to be rich in helping others, to be extravagantly generous". which is simple, and not-so-simple, all at once. but it encourages me to know that i don't have to worry about saying or doing just the right thing at just the right time to share the most important thing in my life with the people around me. i can just be me. if i'm following jesus, people are going to get to know him when they get to know me.

and that's what i learned from the timothys.

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simply be who you are, where you are

that's a quote the bible study girls and i came up with while we studied ecclesiastes this summer, and that's what i hope to do next week in honduras.

my mom and i are leaving in the morning with a team from calvary, our church in st. louis, to spend a week at project manuelito. calvary has been partnering with this ministry for a few years now. it is a place for kids who were formerly living on the streets to live, be loved and have the opportunity to choose a different kind of life for themselves.

we know we'll be doing a lot of "handy work" around the property...fixing things, painting, washing clothes, etc. we're also planning on giving out a lot of smiles, laughter and hugs. but as with most mission trips, we'll never really know until we get there.

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purim party time

in honor of the fact that we just finished studying esther, and because it's actually the right time on the jewish calendar, the bible study girls and i decided to throw a purim party. for those that need a little history refresher, purim is the festival the jews throw to remember and celebrate the time that God spared their lives from the plot of the evil haman. [as described in the book of esther] there are four main components to a purim celebration...

• a public reading of esther [costumes are optional, but we opted in]
• sending food gifts to friends
• giving charity to the poor
• eating a festive meal

our good friend matthew henry says that "the observance of jewish feasts is a public declaration of the truth of the old testament scriptures." we believe these truths, so here we are in all our glory: 

haman . king xerxes . queen esther . mordecai

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