Trusting God & A Turquoise Table

Time seems to stand still in photographs. This picture was take a couple of summers ago when my table had a fresh coat of paint. So many people have eaten at my turquoise table since then. These past few years the table has gotten worn from wear and weather. It needs to be repainted and repaired, but it still sits in my front yard waiting for us to sit there for a bit. 

Sometimes we are like that table. I've found that I am worn and in need of repair. I have relationships that are worn and in need of repair. 

In the book of Matthew Jesus said, "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

King David wrote these words in Psalm 23:

1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

2 He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.

3 He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

God is so kind to remind us to come to Him when we are worn and weary and He will give us true rest for our souls. We can trust Him as our Good Shepherd (John 10:11-18) and that He will provide for us (Ps 23:1). He will provide times of rest and refreshment (Ps 23:2). He will be with us through the valleys in our lives and will bring us comfort (Ps 23:3). He is the One Who gets to give honor to people and we do not need to fear our enemies (Ps 23:4). God has a way for us to dwell with Him (Ps 23:6).

Pictures are great reminders of what was, but time does not stand still. I want to remain faithful. I want to remember to get rest when I am worn and weary. I want to remember that God can restore me when I sin and He can repair the broken parts of my life when I experience the result of my sin or when life just gets hard (I John 1:9). I want to continue to trust God. 

Chasing Sunrises

A couple of summers ago I was convicted about how I spend my summer days. In Idaho as the summer heat intensifies so does the length of a day. I would stay up late and then sleep in without an alarm clock. As a teacher I had felt it my right to sleep in during the long summer days. But when I woke up I found that I had wasted so
many cool parts of the day. And my day would drag into the heat when I really didn't want to do much. So I ended up wasting most of my summers.

It was easier not to waste too much of the summer when my kids were young and not driving yet. I was needed to get breakfast ready and to shuttle them to practices and other fun summer things.

But when they grew up, as kids are supposed to do, and they weren't around very much, I found I had little to get up early for.


And so, one summer, not long ago, I asked God to help me wake up to catch all His sunrises! That summer I only missed 2 sunrises. I think I was travelling and messed up  my time zone for one and the other I had awakened long before the sunrise with some summer ailment and then fell back asleep, getting much needed rest, but missed the sunrise.

I would post these sunrises that I found on my IG account (and it would then post over to my Facebook account). I found that people were looking for the sunrises. They would ask be about them. They would encourage me with words like, "keep chasing sunrises!" They would sometimes tag me in a sunrise photo that they took. It's been a fun journey and I'm looking forward to starting to chase sunrises less sporadically as my summer is fast approaching.

It's been a reminder of a few things:

God is faithful!
My friends encourage me.
Chasing Sunrises is hard work sometimes, but definitely worth it.

This year

This is one of my favorite artists and a great song!

Let's make this year the best one yet!

This is my son and his oldest son, my grandson. We went to coffee today. It has been so nice to visit them in MI during our break from school. I'm at winter break from teaching and my husband, Dave, is at winter break from the Masters Degree program that he is in.

We've finished the course from last semester and we took a traveling adventure vacation for our break. We were talking yesterday about it and we haven't been on a break for this long in a very long, long time.

We left the day after Christmas and we flew to Canada. We left Canada on New Year's Eve and drove from there to MI. Tomorrow afternoon we'll fly to WA and then Saturday evening we'll fly home to Idaho.

 I always over pack on my trips. The only thing that I over packed this time was work out gear...one pair of shorts and a couple of t-shirts. I've used or will use all of what I have left. I know that I over pack so once I packed I took some things out. I've worn these boots almost the entire time we've been gone. The last two days I wore the tennis shoes because the weather was so nice, but today reminded us that it really is winter and the boots came back on! Maybe in WA I'll wear the tennis shoes again and maybe I'll get an official work out in...and where those shorts; but I doubt it. The weather forecast is more of the same! WINTER!

I'm beginning to enjoy winter. I am beginning to enjoy this season and the rest it brings. But I still look for those bulbs to pop out and remind me of spring!

This is the drive from my son's home to our home away from home during our stay here.

Frankenmuth, MI is a wonderful place to visit and a great place to live. My son and daughter in love really like their community.

Community is so important. I've been really thinking about this word a lot this past couple of days:
*In my hometown of Meridian, ID I've seen on my Social Media accounts that neighbors are helping each other get unstuck as the great Snow apocalypse is happening there...living out community
*On those same Social Media sites a friend posted on how many books she has read this year and the comments were full of regrets and others listing their numbers. I have given up this amount of books because God is drawing me into community more and more and that means less time for books.

One last thing: 

According to Wikipedia, "A zipper, zip, fly, or zip fastener, formerly known as a clasp locker, is a commonly used device for binding the edges of an opening of fabric or other flexible material, like on a garment or a bag.[1] It is used in clothing (e.g., jackets and jeans), luggage and other bags, sporting goods, camping gear (e.g. tents and sleeping bags), and other items."

Also, according to most sites that I looked up, the zipper cannot be repaired if the box (see picture bottom of zipper right side) is broken off.  Mine broke off (it's a long and adventurous story). My coat would not zip up, which was ok since the weather was not too cold...but then today happened. It was in the teens. We found the company that we purchased the coat from and they replaced the coat since it was damaged. And now I have a new zipper! 

This year...I want to love God and love people well.