Monday, December 22, 2008

Christmas Plans

Kyle and I went to Indianapolis on Saturday to celebrate Christmas with his mom’s side of the family. We had a fun time, exchanging gifts and playing games. We had been up there 3 weeks before, celebrating Thanksgiving, so I feel like I'm getting to know my new family. Since we’re leaving tomorrow for Tulsa, we decided to have our own little Christmas yesterday. We slept in (‘till 9am!), opened presents, made waffles, and went to the movies. It was fun to be able to celebrate with just the two of us.

Kyle is the answer to so many prayers and I’m excited to be celebrating our first Christmas together. We’re leaving when we get off work tomorrow, and will drive halfway to Tulsa and get there on Christmas Eve! Yay for Christmas, Yay for family! Yay for Tulsa! I’m so excited.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Ducks

I am a person who likes to have my ducks in a row.
I even like to have other people’s ducks in a row.
But I’ve found that God is a duck-kicker.

I have had my ducks kicked a lot. Please don’t misunderstand me: I’m not saying that God kicks our ducks out of malice or as a show of power. God is a God of love, not a mischievous or cruel god who has nothing better to do than to screw around with people’s lives. I think it is a sign of God’s sheer love for us that he intervenes and kicks our ducks in the first place. Sometimes I wonder how many times God has saved me by kicking my ducks. I can name a few times that I’m aware of and can guess that there are hundreds more that I’m unaware of. I am beginning to understand what King Solomon meant when he said, “In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.”

Instead of spending my time trying to be in control of everyone and everything, I want to be a person who greets each day with child-like wonder- expecting God to do great things. I’m trying to reprogram my mind to be thankful. To be grateful for every day that I have and for everything that happens in the day. Not like, “Thank you, God- it’s awesome that my car broke down on the side of the road and I slammed my thumb in the filing cabinet at work,” but learning to see God in everything, or at least trust that He is working behind the scenes.

God has proved his faithfulness over and over in my life. He has shown me that I can trust him & trust his plans, whether I understand them or not.