celebrate good times

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens.
Ecclesiastes 3:1

Fall is my favorite season, hands down. I love watching the leaves fall, I love the sound of them rustling on the ground, and I love the crunch of them beneath my feet. I love making pumpkin bread with the kids and eating it in the mornings. And I love the weather. I'm a pretty steady person, not known to do things to the extreme, at all. It's not too hot, it's not too cold, it's just right for Sarah. Being a native Georgian, it's usually not at blazing hot as it is here, so the seasons are a little more defined. But that's not really the case here. It's takes a little while for a season to take effect and then you still keep all seasons of clothing handy just in case. So the first day of fall rolls around and I'm really excited about it. A few days later however, it still feels like mid-July. I was still determined that I was going to celebrate. So I came inside, bumped the air down, lit my salted caramel candle, and made myself a chai tea. And as long as I didn't open the door, it actually felt like the season it was, despite the Texas heat. In every season of life there are things that happen that take us on journeys and sometimes I think we can make the mistake of taking the hardships of a situation and making them what that season of life was all about. I think we all have had really hard seasons of life and I'm not discounting the pain that comes in each season, but if we focus only on the pain we don't leave room to celebrate that season and rejoice in it's gifts. There's going to be heat. Jobs may be lost, homes may be put on the market, diseases may present themselves, a spouse may be unfaithful, we may lose a family member or a friend, mr. right may be taking his sweet time while all your friends are getting married, you may battle depression or lust or insecurity, or you may think the dream in your heart will never come to pass. But those trials don't have to steal entire seasons of life. If you take your single life and fill it with misery because you are not married, you will miss out on the beauty and freedom of that single season. Your kids will only be young for a certain period of time. If you take the time they are young trying to prove your worth by working every chance you can get, you just might miss one of the most beautiful seasons that God sent your way. If you hate your job and only dream of a better day, you will get to the better day and think that you could've made that job a little more enjoyable. If you hate living at home and just can't wait to be out on your own, you will regret not appreciating it more once you have to pay for your own things. Have you ever heard someone say or caught yourself saying, "I just don't know how they are smiling right now with everything going on. How can they be happy in such a bad time?" It's a choice. Rejoicing in the midst of a hard time is not easy. There is no secret ingredient or recipe for happiness, but there is always something to celebrate and something to be thankful for.

All of my life, in every season, you are still God, I have a reason to sing, I have a reason to worship.

With that being said, below is a recipe I use for a pumpkin pie dip. It's divine and it will be sure to help you celebrate this beautiful season, whether it's 62 or 92 degrees outside. ;)

PUMPKIN PIE DIP

Ingredients

• 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin pie filling
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Preparation

• Beat cream cheese and sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. Add pie filling, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, and ginger, beating well. Cover and chill 8 hours (if you have that kind of time. It's still good if you don't.) Serve with your favorite yummy cookie, like gingersnaps or graham crackers. I carve out a small pumpkin and pour the dip in it so it looks cute. Super easy, super yummy.
  

i think we're alone now

Going through a personal journey is just that. Personal. Whether it's healing, courage, purity, forgiveness, trust, or any of the other of the millions of things God is trying to work in us in this lifetime, there's a point where we feel alone. There are family members and friends and pastors and co-workers, some of them cheering and encouraging and holding our hand through whatever we face, but the road turns and curves and weaves and it's just us... and Him. That's it. No one can walk through what I need to walk through. I can try to call out for help from someone else, I can talk to a friend and gain perspective, I can get counseled and receive wisdom on the situation, but at the end of the day it's just me... and Him. When I get to that point, I call out to an ear that will understand, but it's like the words bounce off an invisible wall right back to me. If you have ever faced anything that seemed impossible, you know the place I'm referring to. Once we step into that place where no one can understand and no one can really help, we have no other choice than to cling to Him. The first place we should turn ends up being the last sometimes. So we find ourselves in positions that give us no other choice but the one we should've made at the very beginning. There's no turning back. There's no escape route. There's no self-help book, music, movie, candy bar, relaxation technique, outlet that can provide what we need to continue. It's simply me... and Him. Simply you... and Him. His hand will guide you and his right hand will hold you fast.

Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
--Ps 139:7-10

nobody puts Baby in a corner

My 3 year old is very outwardly expressive. If she's happy, she's shouting "Hooray, hooray!" If she's upset, she's crying, loudly. If she has an emotion or an opinion about something, you are going to know about it. Sometimes when she is being too "expressive" for me, I tell her to go sit on her bed until she can calm down. She cries... loudly... and reluctantly goes to her room. And then she does this thing. She says "Mommy, I done." But she doesn't say it once, she says it over and over and over until she gets my attention. When she succeeds, I then say, "You're not done until I say you are done. Stay here until Mommy tells you to come out." That is followed by a loud cry and reluctant obedience. After a few minutes, she's fine and we have a talk and she's back to being Happy Rhema.

One day when this was happening, the Holy Spirit started speaking to me about seasons. There are reasons why we are where we are. There are reasons why things happen when and how they happen. And when we go through "time-out" seasons, our true nature shines through. Time-out seasons are those times when you think you should be doing something great and it doesn't look like it, or when you know you blew it, or when you should be really happy with your life but for some reason you're not. It's when you thought God would do one thing and he's doing something else. It's in a tough time that I find out who I am. It comes right out. When you get squeezed, something's coming out, that's for sure, and it's not always pretty, and we shouldn't always expect it to be. The point is not doing things just right, always keeping a smile on our face and every hair in place. Sometimes the point is to just make it out alive. Sometimes the point is to have a testimony to help someone else make it through something similar. Sometimes God uses those seasons to prepare us for something we are not ready to face. Sometimes we have no clue of what's going on and we come out with an odd look and an "I got nothin."

The importance is not that we know what's going on and why we are in a certain season but that we know that God does and we trust him to know what he's doing. I need my kids to trust me. If I tell them to sit this one out, I need them to do it, even if they don't understand. Sometimes when God says, "Sarah, sit this one out," I ask questions and I try to reason with him and I read old journal entries trying to look for clues as to what he's doing and why I'm on the sideline of a situation. Basically, I'm telling him, "God, I done." Really I think he just wants me to say ok and obey. No matter what I think, he's doing something even when it looks like he's not and when I protest, I'm only getting in the way of his divine plan. Whatever he asks of us, it's only out of his deep love for us, and that's an immense comfort.

"We humans keep brainstorming options and plans, but God's purpose prevails."
Prov 19:21 The Message

Give to Give

My husband has gotten very interested in investments lately. I'm really excited about that, mainly because I have no desire to follow companies and look at prices of shares in my spare time, and I'm glad that he will be the one doing it. But I'm also excited about it because of the possibility of a good return. I know almost nothing about buying stock in companies, but I do know that when the stock prices drop, like they have in the last week (that's a whole different topic...), it's a good time to research companies and buy stock, with the educated guess that the price will go back up in time and you will sell and get a good return. If you invest in something that is good, you will get a good return. And when you invest in something that's not good, you won't get a return and you will lose money. I think that we can tend to look at investments in people the same way. Make a good investment, you will get a good return. Give to something and it will give back to you. We will see the return and use it as we please. But when we are living by the Spirit, it's different.

Galatians 6:7-10 says, "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to ALL, especially those who are of the household of faith."

We know that if we invest in our flesh we will get corruption in return. And we know that if we invest in things of the Spirit we receive life forever. And we know that we reap what we sow. BUT we don't know when, where, and how exactly all that happens. When we are sowing things in the Spirit, our reward is everlasting. We don't know whether we will see the reward for investments we make in this life or in eternity. We have been trained to think that if we give into someone or something that the same someone or something should be giving us something in return. Don't we?? I was talking to a friend not too long ago, and she said that she wants to be in a place where she gives of her time, effort and heart to others not expecting anything in return from those people. I am so thankful that she was real about that, because I want to be in that place too. It's so easy to get caught up in the "I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine" mentality. Then we get upset when we scratch someone's back and they are unable or unwilling to scratch ours. That is an earthly mentality, not a heavenly one. That same person may take what you've invested into them and sow it into someone else, furthering the kingdom and helping the body of Christ. We should all help each other out and it's good to return a favor when you can. But if we will switch our perspective and realize that we are sowing into the kingdom of God and into eternity rather than sowing into a certain someone or something, we are more likely to keep investing in people even after a bad return, enjoy our investment and to use whatever return we may get on earth to further the kingdom of God.

Meet Wanda

On Tuesday we met Wanda on the metro in Madrid. We were tired and on a time crunch. Isn't that the way it always happens? God is about to blow our minds and have us operate out of our weakness, just for kicks I think. So here we are... and Wanda is really struggling trying to get directions from someone who speaks only Spanish, and she speaks only English. So she asks if we speak English and we say yes and that our friend is really good with the metro system. Erica begins helping her understand the metro and where she is going and she begins to tell us how she was supposed to meet her sister but couldn't find her. And then she mentions her husband, but in the past tense and very randomly thrown into conversation. So I ask about him. A few years ago I began to realize that people are more likely to answer personal questions than we are to ask them. So I started asking personal questions. And to this day I have never had someone tell me that it's none of my business... not that I can remember anyways... I usually get answers, really good answers. As Wanda answered my question, I began to see that God was up to something. Wanda and her husband had planned their trip to Spain together. They were supposed to be there together, but recently Wanda's husband of 20 years decided he couldn't be married to her anymore, and he left her. And here was Wanda, in her 50's, on a metro in Madrid by herself. We helped her with directions and we prayed with her before we parted ways. She was a Christian, but in desperate need of encouragement, so we became that for her. And I learned some things from Wanda:
-We don't find our value or identity in our job, our friends, our kids, or even our spouse, but in Christ alone. He is the only one that can give us our true identity and life's purpose.
-Life doesn't stop when something bad happens. There is always a reason to continue. Wanda was telling us that she works with special needs kids in the states and that she might come back to Spain to live and teach if there is a program like that. She could've stopped her life and focused on her problem, but instead she chose to focus on the fact that God had a promise for her, still.
-With God's strength we can push through even our greatest disappointment. I believe that God sent Wanda into our lives because he loves her, deeply, and she needs his help. And he wanted to use us to help her and use her to help us learn those life lessons that are so easily forgotten.
So, praying big buff angels around her and that she has the time of her life... go, Wanda, go.

Grab your windex

Tonight I was getting ready to pray and I reached under my bedside table to grab my Bible and my journal and behind those things, and the many books I'm either in the middle of reading or longing to read, was a packet I had put together a couple of months ago. I had searched for verses that I needed at the time, promises that I needed to speak over my life. I had printed it out and stapled it together and was really excited about it. Well, tonight I picked it up and as I went to turn the page I felt this dusty film on top of it. I didn't realize I had left it alone long enough to gather dust. Everything else was the same. Nothing had changed. The verses were all still there. They all meant the same thing they meant a few months ago and even when they were first ever written. The only thing that was different was the result of my neglect. Romans 4:21 says, "Yet he (Abraham) did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised." In the verses preceding this one it talks about the things Abraham had to face. In verse 19 it says, "he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead-since he was about a hundred years old- and that Sarah's womb was also dead." Don't you think Abraham had to wipe the dust off of God's promise for his life? He had to look at who he was, what was and wasn't happening, the facts... and see underneath all of that dust to who God was, what God was capable of, and most importantly what God had promised to him. God is not the one who changes. We are the ones who change. It is not God's promises that change, fade, or disappear, but our perception of them. Some of us, me definitely included, need to wipe the dust off of words spoken to us, promises made, scriptures that speak to our situation, and believe that God has the power to do what he promised.

it's just gotta go

Since I should be in bed sleeping right now, I thought it would be a great time to blog. I wish I would have great ideas at a different time of the day, but late at night is the usually the only time I get to sit and do nothing. And then I start to think, and then it's all over. So here I am.
I am on an interesting journey right now in this season of my life. Having lived my life as a major people- pleaser, I want to do everything I can to make sure everyone is happy and that I do everything right. No conflict, no mistakes... the life of a perfectionist. And honestly, it's so tiring. I don't mean irritating or frustrating, I mean really exhausting. It takes a toll on someone mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and physically to live like that. And it was only a matter of time before Jesus decided that it just had to go. You know, you live your entire life a certain way just thinking that's who you are and that you're great that way, and then one day you have a face-to-face Daddy talk and God just says, nope, that's gotta go. We never arrive. I constantly find myself in those moments where I realize something else that just needs to go. And so I'm on this journey of pleasing God, rather than others, and looking to him for strength rather than trying so hard on my own. And there's so much freedom in that, really. I always end up referencing a movie scene in the middle of spiritual moments. Maybe a fault of mine, but I do it anyways. I was watching Bride Wars, which I found in the $5 movie bin at WalMart. I was really excited about it and I didn't even have to crawl in there to find it, it was actually on top. Incredible! Anyways, these 2 brides are duking it out because their weddings get booked on the same day at the same venue. They are sabotaging hair appointments, spray tanning sessions, etc. And the most amazing scene to me is when Kate Hudson's character is lying in bed and she starts to cry and admits that her best friend is right about her, that it is exhausting trying to be so perfect all the time. And in her moment of realizing that she doesn't have to be perfect all the time comes this raw moment of weakness that in turn brings about beautiful change in her life. So this is not an easy journey, no. And it's not really fun. But I need to journey this one. It's humbling to live in freedom because freedom exposes weakness. And it's painful to let someone down because you just can't do it all without breaking. But this journey is GOOD and NECESSARY. You're going to forget someone's birthday, it's just going to happen. You're going to spill a full drink in your lap, trip in front of everyone, talk out of turn, hurt someone's feelings, and say something you shouldn't say. You're not going to get invited to everything, be best buds with everyone or earn everyone's affections and praise. It's just not possible.
2 Timothy 2:15 says, "Do your BEST to present yourself to GOD as one approved." I am so glad that God does not expect me to win everyone's heart or be a superhero who does everything right. It's so freeing to realize that we've already won his heart, and everything from here on out is simply doing our BEST for HIM!