We Give Thanks...

Well, I really did mean to post last week for Thanksgiving, but somehow the weekend slipped away and already it's Thursday! This year for Thanksgiving, we stayed here in Gaithersburg. Our good friends Joe and Jeanie Lechner came up from Charlotte to be with her family, with whom we celebrated our day of Thanks. This year we have so much to be thankful for!

Most importantly is our salvation...the best gift either of us could ever receive. And beyond that, the Lord has heaped blessing upon blessing in our lives.

We are thankful to be here in Gaithersburg at the Pastor's College- and thankful to all of you who have allowed us to be here by your generosity.

We are thankful for new friends and dear friends from home.

Of course, how can we not also thank the Lord for his kindness in allowing me to get pregnant so quickly last spring and for an easy pregnancy. As Nick and I have walked with friends through the grief of miscarriage and the hardship of infertility, I certainly don't take this pregnancy for granted. Every good gift is from above, and I am thankful in advance for the blessing this little one will be. I'm also thankful that I can say that in full faith now, since I have fought many fears in the last few weeks about the coming changes of having a baby. I think the most helpful thing in dealing with my sin of fear and anxiety has been to dwell on God's promises and character. Hasn't he proved to be faithful in every other area of my life? Will he not also provide abundant grace in the coming season of change to handle each and every new thing that comes my way? The answer, of course, is yes. I am thankful that God has answered my prayers this week in giving me a new excitement for the coming of our baby, as well as peace with an increased reliance on Him for strength. With the Lord as my Savior and loving Father, what cause have I to fear?

We are also so thankful for a growing marriage...how far the Lord has brought us in just 2 1/2 years! God has worked in our marriage to bring about much sanctification in both of us...something that has not always been easy, but oh so rewarding. Our marriage is stronger now than it ever has been, and we give thanks to God alone for that.

Happy (Belated) Thanksgiving to you all!

A Whirlwind Visit

My parents were able to come for the weekend, and we had a wonderful time together. I must admit, it was a bit of a whirlwind visit since they arrived Friday night and took off this morning ( Monday). But we managed to fit quite a lot in 2 days! On Saturday we went into D.C. and went to the Holocaust Museum and an exhibit of the first 1000 years of the Bible. This time in the Holocaust Museum, we were able to see the main exhibit...how sobering. I'm afraid we didn't have our timing very well planned, though, since it was about 12:45 when we got on the elevator, and on our way up the museum staff told us that most people take 3-3 1/2 hours to get through, but that there was 12 hours of material! We hadn't eaten our packed lunch yet, so we were a little unsure as to how we would make it throught he whole thing! But we did manage to sneak eating granola bars during one of the exhibit's short films. On the whole, the exhibit was very thought-provoking and sobering. I think by the end we were all ready for an emotional break. So we headed to the cold outside and ate our lunches on a bench (at 3:30 pm!) on the Mall green. After getting some coffee and hot chocolate from a nearby vendor to finish off our meal, we wandered down to the WWII Memorial. After that we headed to the Smithsonian to see an exhibit of old, old Bible texts, all before 1000 AD. Although I have a little bit of a hard time fully engaging in exhibits like that, it was pretty fascinating to think how old some of these pages were.

It was pretty cold eating outside!

Dad and Me at the WWII Memorial

Looking Forward...

Hello, Dear Friends. This last week didn't hold a lot of new things on its plate, but I did have a nice visit on Friday with Jessica (Hoffmeier) Lim, a high school friend, and her sweet baby Daniel, who is 6 weeks old. We enjoyed lunch out and then a walk in a nearby park. Thank you, Jess, for the nice visit!

Coming up in the next few weeks, we have several things that we're looking forward to: My parents are coming to visit this weekend, then our good friends Joe and Jeanie Lechner are coming to town for Thanksgiving. It's hard to believe Thanksgiving is next week! How much I have to be thankful for (more on that next week...) I'm also looking forward to a trip down to Charlotte in December for a baby shower, and then to our families for Christmas. When we get back from Christmas break, there will only be 3 weeks until our sweet baby is due! Wow! I should pause here to ask, "am I getting ahead of myself?" I think I can often do that, especially with so many exciting things coming up. In light of meditating on contentment recently, it is good to ask myself if I'm really focused on today. The next few weeks really will fly by with all this activity, and I don't want to look back on these weeks wishing I had invested more fully in each day. That being said, I do think its good to look forward and be excited about God's blessings- time with friends and family, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and January 24. Please pray that God will keep my anticipation in balance with taking delight in TODAY, that my eyes would be ever watching for his mercies and blessings today, not just looking ahead to them.

The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment

If you have never read Jeremiah Burroughs's book "The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment", I highly recommend it! Written in 1648, this book is packed with wonderful truth. It's not a "quick read," but the time is worth it- at least, that has been my experience in reading it so far. Here are two quotes I found particularly meaningful.

"A christian comes to contentment, not so much by way of addition, as by way of subraction...not so much by adding to what he would have, or to what he has...but rather by subrtracting from his desires, so as to make his desires and his circumstances even and equal." (pg. 43)

"I know nothing more effective for quieting a Christian soul and getting contentment than this, setting your heart to work in the duties of the immmediate circumstances that you are now in...." (pg. 52)

What good truths to be challenged by...I certainly am! How often do I find myself looking ahead to the next thing or wishing something else in my life instead of quietly taking joy in the duty that the Lord has given me today.