Christmas Miracle and Stuff

So many of you know that I spoke of a "Christmas miracle" on Facebook. While I won't get into details I will share the most important parts. :)
Aaron is still unemployed, but Friday I got a call, and he got a call. This call made my/our week. I just sat and wept. It's so overwhelming when God shows how faithful He is. After a week full of sad tears, questioning how people could act or be a certain way...God showed me there is still good. We are blessed and now I will enjoy my week off with my family with a burden lifted. Aaron and I have confidence that he'll be employed again as of the first of the year. After all, we know Who our provider is and He's always on time. :)
I wrote this mostly to encourage you. Don't ever stop seeking, praying, and asking God for the things you need, the things you desire. After all, I had 2 brain surgeries before God healed me. There was a 3rd one scheduled and everything. It's all in His timing. We, of course, will never understand why He waits sometimes, while other times He answers right away. We just have to have faith that our Savior knows exactly what He is doing. He has us in His hands. He's always right there and He never leaves us in our desperate hour.
Praying for you all my dear friends, mostly that you never stop believing that our God is a God of miracles, sometimes even "Christmas miracles." ;0)

Choosing to See Beyond the Frustration

So the past couple days at work have been hard to say the very least. I think from this point forward, it will just be a place that pays the bills. I'm okay with that. Work is work. Business is business. Are my feelings still hurt? Absolutely! Is there any point in letting it get to me anymore? Nope, because they're not losing sleep over the fact that they gave my family an unemployed dad/husband for Christmas. I will say this. There are a handful of people who care. That means a lot to me and I truly appreciate those people. For now, with all the craziness going around in our country, in our community, I wanted to take time to reflect on what I'm grateful for this Christmas season.
I am so blessed to be on vacation the entire week of Christmas. Instead of just me and the boys the whole week, this year Aaron will be with us. It'll be nice to have a whole week together. That never happens.
I know Christmas isn't about presents, but I am happy that we did not procrastinate in shopping this year. Otherwise we wouldn't have been able to experience the joy of having the boys tear into so many of the things they love on Christmas morning. =0)
I am so very grateful for our friends and family who have been praying for us, not only through unemployment but every chapter of our lives. Yes, we're in a spot we'd rather not be, but we have so many people offering words of encouragement and covering us in prayer. I think that alone is how I maintain my sanity. ;0)
Our kids are healthy and we are healthy. That's more than so many people can say and I never want to take that for granted.
I could literally go on and on. This is really quite therapeutic. Focusing on the positive always outshines the negative.
Lastly I'm so grateful for my relationship with Jesus. I'm so glad that in the most desperate hour, I'll hear a song, or I'll remember a verse and be overwhelmed with His presence and peace. Since Friday, Kari Jobe's "Where I Find You" has really been amazing to listen to.
The song "Steady My Heart" has some really awesome lyrics. I'd actually like to paste the whole thing, but I think this fits me the most right now.

"I'm not gonna worry,

I know that You got me right inside the palm of Your hand.

Each and every moment,

What's good and what gets broken happens just the way that You planned.

But You're here. You're Real. I know I can trust You.

Even when it hurts. Even when it's hard

Even when it all just falls apart.

I will run to You, cause I know that You are

Lover of my soul, Healer of my scars.

You steady my heart."

BEYOND Frustrated

Aaron was supposed to start working for my company last Thursday, and then it was moved to this Monday. Yesterday he got a call saying they were 'just kidding.' Obviously that's not what they said, but that's exactly what it feels like to us. 

I know you quit your other job and we told you this is your start date, but never mind. Merry Christmas by the way. Ugh!! I'm beyond frustrated. That is why I am typing this, so I can get it out and then move past it. In all honesty I know it's better for us that he's not working there. It just stinks that we don't know when the next pay check will come. 

I know God is in control and he holds us in His hands. I'll trust that our bills will be paid, and I will have a positive attitude at work even though that is going to be BEYOND hard! Especially since the same people who lied to my husband are the people who are my boss'. God is still God and He's bigger than this! Honestly this is so little compared to so many other things going on in our world. 

Luckily the company he left to come work at mine is already looking to get him working with them again because they are AWESOME!! =0)

So we are going to have ourselves a HOLLY JOLLY CHRISTMAS and not let stinky people ruin it!! ;0)

Hope

So if you know me, you already know that my favorite Christmas album is Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers, "Once Upon a Christmas." The other day as I was listening to it in the car, the song "I Believe in Santa Clause" came on and one of the lines stuck out to me.

"I believe that there is Hope when all seems lost."

I love this, and I believe that as Christians, this is how we should all live. Why, you ask? Um, mostly because it's true!! =0) It's so important that we realize that no matter what a doctor tells us, no matter what another person tells us, no matter what this world tells us, no matter how hopeless or helpless things are, there IS still HOPE!! God is our hope. He alone can turn the most desperate situation, the most devastating circumstances into something beautiful. 

Another song comes to mind as I typed that last line:

"Beauty for ashes, a garment of praise for my heaviness.

Beauty for ashes, take this heart of stone and make it Yours."

So often we let terrible news, horrible circumstances turn our hearts to stone. Instead we should turn to our Savior, our hope. We should always remember that He alone is bigger than the circumstances we're facing. He'll never leave us alone. We lack the faith, even though we know that He's never once forsaken us. It's amazing because when we do lean on him and truly trust Him in our lives, He begins to turn our "ashes into beauty" our sadness into joy, and our pain into peace. 

I leave you with the silly song that inspired this whole blog! =0)

The More I Seek You

On the way to church this morning, I was listening to "The More I Seek You" by Kari Jobe. My plans were to work on the timing and stuff since it would be the first time we would be doing it as a worship song. Instead of concentrating on the timing, as I sang the words, I found myself in tears. Here are the words:

The more I seek You. The more I find You.

The more I find You. The more I love You. 

I want to sit at Your feet, drink from the cup in Your hand.

Lay back against You and breathe, feel Your heartbeat.

This love is so deep, it's more than I can stand. 

I melt in Your peace. It's overwhelming.

I can't say for sure what words touched my heart the most, but there are so many things that I felt while listening to this song. It describes almost perfectly why worship is so important to me..why I am a worshipper. I'm not saying this just because I lead worship at my church either. That actually has nothing to do with it. There is just something so special about having a relationship with Jesus. When I sing praises to Him, I truly do "melt in His peace." No matter what is going on in my life, whether I have the worst migraine ever, whether I've just found out my mom has a brain tumor, whether my grandmother is really sick and they don't know if she's going to be okay...in worship, even if just for a moment all of the cares melt away. He fills me with an overwhelming peace. It's AMAZING. I can't really think of any other way to describe it. I think that's why I pretty much cry every single Sunday during worship. There's just this overwhelming feeling of love and peace that's so wonderful that I can't stop the tears. 

The other great thing about God is that the more we seek Him the MORE we find!! He never runs out of AWESOMENESS!! ;) There's not a cap on God. If we seek after Him, there is always more for Him to reveal to us!!

It's like the song says, "The more I find You. The more I love You." God isn't hiding from us. He's just waiting for us to want to spend time with Him. During worship when I feel His love for me, it's impossible not to fall more in love with Him, you know? He loved/loves us all when we're unlovable. He loved us enough to give us His very best, Jesus! It always makes me wonder how people can sit during worship with scowls on their faces. God deserves our worship and praise everyday of the week, so put a smile on your face and PRAISE him!! Praise Him because He saved you and He loves YOU...even if you don't smile! ;0)