Reason #650
Well, October, it was fun while it lasted! I can't believe today is Halloween. It kind of snuck up on me. I ran by the store after work and bought two bags of the good Halloween candy before I came home. I figured if we didn't have any trick-or-treaters, we could enjoy the candy ourselves. Fortunately, we had quite a few kiddies stop by. We did turn the lights off around 8:45 so we could save the last bit of candy for ourselves.
Per our usual evening routine, we took Scout for a walk tonight. She donned a bumblebee costume, and she looked precious! She was quite the hit, too! Of course, I think we were the only adults out with our dog as everyone else had children that were in costume. Oh well, she's our baby. The good thing about taking her out on Halloween is that we don't have to come home and put up with a sugar high or pay for cavities in a few weeks. And, since we kept some of our own candy, I feel like we definitely got the best of both worlds this Halloween!
Two Halloweens ago, I sat on the front porch with my mom handing out candy. It was another beautiful night, just like tonight. Scout was a clown that year. I had bought her outfit on clearance at Pets Mart when I got off of work that day. A whole $3 and she looked adorable. Cutest clown ever. I watched all these parents bring their little kids up to get candy. Cute little ones who were beaming with excitement to get a bite sized candy bar, as if their bags weren't already full of them. Their parents watched with smiles on their faces, making sure manners were practiced. It was a really sweet time, yet at the same time, it wasn't. I was just doing my best to try and enjoy the evening as it had been an unusual day. But as I sat there handing out candy, I was really upset. I secretly hated watching all these little families having a good time. I was miserable seeing these parents soak up cute memories with their babies. And I felt really depressed because I realized my dream of one day toting a princess or superhero from door to door to get unnecessary amounts of candy was rapidly slipping through my fingers.
Tonight as Aaron and I walked our bumblebee, we began talking about how much we looked forward to taking our future child(ren) trick-or-treating one day. We talked about costume ideas, and we even brainstormed some clever family costumes. We joked about how one day we could be the three amigos, the three musketeers, or the three little pigs. We admired the little families who were making a night out of trick-or-treating, creating a sweet lifelong memory. And as I thought about Halloween two years ago, I just had to praise the Lord that He never took away my dream. No, He changed it, made it better, but He never took it away.
Sometimes we get to a point in life where we just don't see how God could really do anything better. We've been asking and pleading every which way we know how, and we can't imagine any other way that He might do things. And so we begin to fear because we realize that life isn't working out as planned. No matter how hard we are trying, the pieces aren't falling together. All of the things we wanted, prayed for, hoped for, and tried to obtain seem completely unreachable and unrealistic now. And we just wonder how everyone else's life seems to be going right yet ours is going so wrong.
Well, like I've said before, God always does what's better for us. And, God doesn't just do "good enough." No, He goes above and beyond anything we could imagine, which is why we have a hard time seeing His plan when ours is failing. It's because His is so much better. Maybe, at the moment yours is crashing and burning, it doesn't seem that way. But that's where faith steps in. Faith says, "God, I don't understand what you're doing. I don't get why things are going this way. I don't like it, and I don't want it, but I'm going to trust you. I am going to lean on your promises because they always hold true. I am going to believe that you are going to do what's best for me even if I can't see it any other way. Because if you can't make this better, no one can. You're the only one who can do something good from this whole mess of life, and so I'm going to ask you do just that."
If you knew me two Halloweens ago, you wouldn't have thought this is what God was going to do. You wouldn't have called this one or guessed it on your own. I most certainly didn't. But I thank Him every single day for it. For going above and beyond anything I could have imagined, for seeing further than I could ever see, for having extravagantly good plans that exceeded anything I could have put together, and for giving me an incredible husband to go on a Halloween walk with me and the bumblebee this year.
Who knows what next Halloween will look like. Who knows what Scout's costume will be. The only thing I can guarantee is that she'll still be a hit no matter what she wears. And, if the weather is anything like tonight's, I am sure Aaron and I will be out and about enjoying another Halloween stroll.
#650 - Because of His extravagantly good plans.
"Glorious and majestic are his deeds, and his righteousness endures forever. He has caused his wonders to be remembered; the Lord is gracious and compassionate." - Psalm 111:3-4
Per our usual evening routine, we took Scout for a walk tonight. She donned a bumblebee costume, and she looked precious! She was quite the hit, too! Of course, I think we were the only adults out with our dog as everyone else had children that were in costume. Oh well, she's our baby. The good thing about taking her out on Halloween is that we don't have to come home and put up with a sugar high or pay for cavities in a few weeks. And, since we kept some of our own candy, I feel like we definitely got the best of both worlds this Halloween!
Two Halloweens ago, I sat on the front porch with my mom handing out candy. It was another beautiful night, just like tonight. Scout was a clown that year. I had bought her outfit on clearance at Pets Mart when I got off of work that day. A whole $3 and she looked adorable. Cutest clown ever. I watched all these parents bring their little kids up to get candy. Cute little ones who were beaming with excitement to get a bite sized candy bar, as if their bags weren't already full of them. Their parents watched with smiles on their faces, making sure manners were practiced. It was a really sweet time, yet at the same time, it wasn't. I was just doing my best to try and enjoy the evening as it had been an unusual day. But as I sat there handing out candy, I was really upset. I secretly hated watching all these little families having a good time. I was miserable seeing these parents soak up cute memories with their babies. And I felt really depressed because I realized my dream of one day toting a princess or superhero from door to door to get unnecessary amounts of candy was rapidly slipping through my fingers.
Tonight as Aaron and I walked our bumblebee, we began talking about how much we looked forward to taking our future child(ren) trick-or-treating one day. We talked about costume ideas, and we even brainstormed some clever family costumes. We joked about how one day we could be the three amigos, the three musketeers, or the three little pigs. We admired the little families who were making a night out of trick-or-treating, creating a sweet lifelong memory. And as I thought about Halloween two years ago, I just had to praise the Lord that He never took away my dream. No, He changed it, made it better, but He never took it away.
Sometimes we get to a point in life where we just don't see how God could really do anything better. We've been asking and pleading every which way we know how, and we can't imagine any other way that He might do things. And so we begin to fear because we realize that life isn't working out as planned. No matter how hard we are trying, the pieces aren't falling together. All of the things we wanted, prayed for, hoped for, and tried to obtain seem completely unreachable and unrealistic now. And we just wonder how everyone else's life seems to be going right yet ours is going so wrong.
Well, like I've said before, God always does what's better for us. And, God doesn't just do "good enough." No, He goes above and beyond anything we could imagine, which is why we have a hard time seeing His plan when ours is failing. It's because His is so much better. Maybe, at the moment yours is crashing and burning, it doesn't seem that way. But that's where faith steps in. Faith says, "God, I don't understand what you're doing. I don't get why things are going this way. I don't like it, and I don't want it, but I'm going to trust you. I am going to lean on your promises because they always hold true. I am going to believe that you are going to do what's best for me even if I can't see it any other way. Because if you can't make this better, no one can. You're the only one who can do something good from this whole mess of life, and so I'm going to ask you do just that."
If you knew me two Halloweens ago, you wouldn't have thought this is what God was going to do. You wouldn't have called this one or guessed it on your own. I most certainly didn't. But I thank Him every single day for it. For going above and beyond anything I could have imagined, for seeing further than I could ever see, for having extravagantly good plans that exceeded anything I could have put together, and for giving me an incredible husband to go on a Halloween walk with me and the bumblebee this year.
Who knows what next Halloween will look like. Who knows what Scout's costume will be. The only thing I can guarantee is that she'll still be a hit no matter what she wears. And, if the weather is anything like tonight's, I am sure Aaron and I will be out and about enjoying another Halloween stroll.
#650 - Because of His extravagantly good plans.
"Glorious and majestic are his deeds, and his righteousness endures forever. He has caused his wonders to be remembered; the Lord is gracious and compassionate." - Psalm 111:3-4
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