Reason #530
I am so excited to have a day off tomorrow. I can hardly believe today is Wednesday, as it feels like Friday. If only! This week has been a week, and we're only half way through it. And so today was a little break from the heaviness that has followed me around since Sunday. Heaviness of my own convictions, my own reactions, my own interpretations. Heaviness from trying to figure out life on my own. Trying to come up with the best possible timeline. Trying to decipher what God wants me to do over the next few decades. And mostly, just trying to keep up with the everyday tasks that never seem to really get accomplished.
I was driving home this evening from work and Aaron called to tell me he had a surprise for me. He ended up having to spoil his surprise because of too much after-thought. But on his way home from work, he had stopped by the theatre to pick up tickets for a movie tonight. Traditionally, I'm a planner. I have my days thought out the day before so rarely are there surprises. There are possibilities of things going differently, but it usually happens as expected. And so this was a total surprise as I had already figured we'd have a lazy evening around the house. I came home, quickly changed, and we were out the door to see our movie. Aaron had given me the option to opt-out of going to the movies if I didn't really feel like it, and I won't lie, it was a bit tempting. You all know how much of a homebody I am, and I love my sweat pants and t-shirts. But I pushed the thought aside because I realized a fun surprise and a night out make for a way better and more memorable time than being a bum at home.
I really appreciated this from Aaron. Like I said, with my planning ways we usually have the week and weekend planned out. I always know what's coming up and normally have a deciding say in what we'll do. We always discuss where we want to eat, what we want to watch, what we feel like doing, and so it was nice to have an evening planned out for me. And Aaron took into consideration my thoughts and feelings and made sure to pick a movie he knew I'd like at the time he knew I'd probably pick. And although it wasn't my initial idea of how we would spend our evening, it was way better than what I had planned.
Sometimes I just pause and am amazed at what God has done in my life. How He cared enough for me to totally interrupt my plans and do something better. I told Aaron that tomorrow would be the last "first _____ holiday" we would experience together. Last year, on July 4th, we were at the same place we just weren't there together. Last year, on July 4th, I had no clue who Aaron was. And last year on July 4th, I definitely did not expect myself to be spending my next July 4th as wife to the kindest, most thoughtful, generous, sweet man I've ever met. This was not my initial idea of how it would go, yet I'm so grateful that along the way I surrendered my own plans and ideas and went with the things God had planned out for me. After all, He knows my heart's desires, so I knew He would not plan something out for me that was not going to meet or even exceed them.
God has continued to remind me of His perfect plans this week. He has reminded me of how He does care about our hearts and our desires and that He is sovereign above all. Because even when our world might be falling apart, when everything you've hoped for, prayed for, and worked for is crumbling to pieces, God is right there picking them up and piecing them back together. A few weeks ago, one of my friends shared a comment with me about how life is often like a cross-stitched blanket. From the back side, the side where you're working, it looks like a mess. Knots and thread are everywhere and it doesn't really appear to be taking on any certain pattern. And a lot of times that's what life feels like. It looks ugly and confusing and we have no clue what's really going on. Yet on the other side of the blanket, something is being created. And if we flipped it over, we'd see the masterpiece. We would see the beauty that is coming from the cross-stitching. And we realize that just because we couldn't see it doesn't mean that it hasn't been there all along.
And so I look at my own life and I just thank the Lord for not allowing my initial ideas to supersede His. For doing something all along even thought I couldn't see it at the time. And the truth is, He still is. Because I don't know where we go from here. I don't know what's next or what will have drastically changed by next July 4th, so I'm just trying to trust Him one stitch at a time fully believing that He is still doing something more beautiful that anything I could have ever planned.
#530 - For a God who is doing beautiful things with our lives even if we can't see it right now.
"For faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we don't see." - Hebrews 11:1
I was driving home this evening from work and Aaron called to tell me he had a surprise for me. He ended up having to spoil his surprise because of too much after-thought. But on his way home from work, he had stopped by the theatre to pick up tickets for a movie tonight. Traditionally, I'm a planner. I have my days thought out the day before so rarely are there surprises. There are possibilities of things going differently, but it usually happens as expected. And so this was a total surprise as I had already figured we'd have a lazy evening around the house. I came home, quickly changed, and we were out the door to see our movie. Aaron had given me the option to opt-out of going to the movies if I didn't really feel like it, and I won't lie, it was a bit tempting. You all know how much of a homebody I am, and I love my sweat pants and t-shirts. But I pushed the thought aside because I realized a fun surprise and a night out make for a way better and more memorable time than being a bum at home.
I really appreciated this from Aaron. Like I said, with my planning ways we usually have the week and weekend planned out. I always know what's coming up and normally have a deciding say in what we'll do. We always discuss where we want to eat, what we want to watch, what we feel like doing, and so it was nice to have an evening planned out for me. And Aaron took into consideration my thoughts and feelings and made sure to pick a movie he knew I'd like at the time he knew I'd probably pick. And although it wasn't my initial idea of how we would spend our evening, it was way better than what I had planned.
Sometimes I just pause and am amazed at what God has done in my life. How He cared enough for me to totally interrupt my plans and do something better. I told Aaron that tomorrow would be the last "first _____ holiday" we would experience together. Last year, on July 4th, we were at the same place we just weren't there together. Last year, on July 4th, I had no clue who Aaron was. And last year on July 4th, I definitely did not expect myself to be spending my next July 4th as wife to the kindest, most thoughtful, generous, sweet man I've ever met. This was not my initial idea of how it would go, yet I'm so grateful that along the way I surrendered my own plans and ideas and went with the things God had planned out for me. After all, He knows my heart's desires, so I knew He would not plan something out for me that was not going to meet or even exceed them.
God has continued to remind me of His perfect plans this week. He has reminded me of how He does care about our hearts and our desires and that He is sovereign above all. Because even when our world might be falling apart, when everything you've hoped for, prayed for, and worked for is crumbling to pieces, God is right there picking them up and piecing them back together. A few weeks ago, one of my friends shared a comment with me about how life is often like a cross-stitched blanket. From the back side, the side where you're working, it looks like a mess. Knots and thread are everywhere and it doesn't really appear to be taking on any certain pattern. And a lot of times that's what life feels like. It looks ugly and confusing and we have no clue what's really going on. Yet on the other side of the blanket, something is being created. And if we flipped it over, we'd see the masterpiece. We would see the beauty that is coming from the cross-stitching. And we realize that just because we couldn't see it doesn't mean that it hasn't been there all along.
And so I look at my own life and I just thank the Lord for not allowing my initial ideas to supersede His. For doing something all along even thought I couldn't see it at the time. And the truth is, He still is. Because I don't know where we go from here. I don't know what's next or what will have drastically changed by next July 4th, so I'm just trying to trust Him one stitch at a time fully believing that He is still doing something more beautiful that anything I could have ever planned.
#530 - For a God who is doing beautiful things with our lives even if we can't see it right now.
"For faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we don't see." - Hebrews 11:1
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