Monday, March 31, 2014

a weekend conference + guests

4_1


this past weekend we had some friends from athens, georgia, who came up for a weekend conference at church, over to stay with us. they have a 19-month-old who wilder was just absolutely thrilled to have for a play mate. we had a lot of family time at the table, as one does when one has babies (doesn't it seem like its constantly time to eat when you have a baby? but i guess i kind of eat all day long too so...), and it was such a blast! i loved having adult company around, especially since loverboy was busy with service for the conference all weekend, and we basically saw him at midnight every night--at least that's what it felt like. however, the amount of time we spent in the kitchen making food for everyone has me rethinking our desire to have 3 kids...and i didn't even make anything fancy (thank you trader joe's for the frozen waffles, thank you prego for the spaghetti sauce, thank you kroger for the granola, etcetera, etcetera)! i have a lot more respect for all the mamas who made me so many home-cooked meals growing up. anyways, i don't have a sunday best recipe for you, but i did make muffins, granola bars, and greek yogurt, so in my book that is a successful weekend of cooking;)

my favorite part of the weekend was putting the babies down for bed on saturday night, and we mamas left a papa in charge (of two screaming babies, ha!) and went to the meeting! it was the only one we made it to all weekend, and we got there late, but i enjoyed that meeting so much. we got God's speaking, and it was like rain in the desert for me. it's not that motherhood is a desert, really, but it is definitely harder to maintain your enjoyment of God when you are so limited in your ability to go to meetings, spend time with others in prayer, be awake early enough to spend time with the Lord, etc!

and also, the message, which was on Experiencing the God of Jacob, was just so applicable to this time in my life. i enjoyed that "the Christian life is a life of struggling with God to be transformed by God into a prince of God." and that, eventually, Jacob stopped struggling with God and accepted God's choice. we may not like what's going on in our lives, not like God's choice for us, but eventually, by allowing the Spirit to perform His work in us, by staying open to the Lord, we can be like Jacob, who ended his life with blessing upon blessing, who looked back with no regrets.

sometimes, it is so easy for me to be full of regret. but slowly i'm realizing that the Lord has sovereignly arranged everything in my environment for one purpose — to gain me, to fill me with Himself. it's not that i would be happier if i'd only done this that and the other. this, this life i'm living, is the Lord's choice for me. and here is where He wants me to find him. whenever the Lord speaks through the brothers at these conferences, i am so refreshed and encouraged to pursue the Lord and love Him.

2 comments:

  1. So much love this. Thanks for making me feel like the road ahead is so full of light, joy, and positive things, even with the rough bits like poop and long days at home. :)

    ReplyDelete