That Cheese Plate and Other Things

Happy Summer to you!

Most of my good friends in Memphis (including my roomie) work in hospitals so they all hate me right about now.  Sleeping in, watching KLG and Hoda, and going to the pool are high on my priority list during these two beautiful and fleeting months of the year. (Don't worry- I wear SPF 70.)

I know you're all still wondering what was so great about that cheese plate I mentioned in my first post.  Well here is a picture.  Isn't it so artful and heavenly?

Moving on from the cheese plate, I want to share some things I've been learning.  Since the last post, I turned THIRTY.  I know most of the older people reading this are thinking, "You're so young!"  BUT it took me a minute to think that thirty is a sweet spot.  A couple of years ago I started googling actors' and actresses' ages because I started noticing my occasional gray hairs and what I thought were sun spots.  I'm so vain!

One of my goals in 2016 was to turn thirty with a thankful heart and not be consumed by not being where I thought I'd be at this stage of my life, which was vacationing at Disney with my five children.  I was going to be the prepared mom with plenty of sunscreen, snacks, and band-aids, and ready for anything.

What God has done in my life has been very unexpected, fulfilling, and hard-- but lovely.  At age 30 I am exponentially more confident in who God has made me to be. Praise Him for also shifting my focus off of myself and onto His kingdom.

This morning I was reading the She Reads Truth study on Acts.  The passage was about Peter, who through the Holy Spirit, healed the lame man who sat at the temple begging.

Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour.  And a man lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the Beautiful Gate to ask alms of those entering the temple.  Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms.  And Peter directed his gaze at him, as John did, and said, "Look at us."  And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them.  But Peter said, "I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you.  In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!"  And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. And leaping up he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.  Acts 3:1-8

The lame man was asking for coins because coins were his immediate need but God wanted to give him complete healing.  God is always working to give us what is best, which is more of Himself (hard pill to swallow and understand).  At age 27, I wanted to get married so I got on eharmony to make that happen.  But God, through my broken engagement, wanted to give me much more.  He wanted me to truly cling to Him.  He wanted me to become securely rooted in these two truths: GOD IS SOVEREIGN and GOD LOVES ME.  He knew what was coming. He knew I would be moving to other side of the globe.  He used all that happened in the past two years to catapult me into the next stage of my life to fulfill the deepest desires of my heart.

I'm so thankful for the past two years for many reasons.  I can now sit with depressed and hurting people and say, "I'm so sorry.  I get it."  I'm glad God didn't leave me where I was- entangled in the sin of idols.  (Still a daily battle)  God is in the business of exceeding our expectations.  He is in the business of restoration, healing, and making His bride, the church, beautiful.

Praise Him for His beauty, His majesty, and His omnipotence!