Tuesday, November 17, 2009

I want to be a blogger

I want to be a blogger. I really do. I have all sorts of thoughts that swirl around my brain and, sometimes, I think 'I should blog about this.' But then life happens, and I move on, and before I know, I've encountered another big thought or experience, and still haven't blogged.

So I'm going to try (TRY) to be intentional about blogging. Not waiting until I have monumental, life-altering inspirations but, instead, writing about life-living small stuff kinds of things that seem to make the way for the monumental, life-altering inspirations.

For instance, when I was driving to the airport to pick up Allen last Saturday, I was anxious about how and when I would share a bit of hard news that I couldn't tell him through Skype or phone calls while he was in the Philippines. I was trying out my newly acquired Pandora radio station on my i-Phone when the song "Blessed Be Your Name" came on.

Now that song has been quite meaningful to me for years . . . we sang it during our 2005 mission trip to Florianopolis, Brazil . . . we sang it in our first service back in the FBNO sanctuary after Katrina . . . and we have sung it numerous times in between and since. It always reminds me that I have a choice in how I will respond to any and every circumstance.

So, while I had endured a week of 'how will I tell Allen?' 'when will I tell Allen?,' the Holy Spirit gently reminded me that I had been acting like my issue of concern was a terrible thing to find out. But what if I looked at it from the other side? What if I saw that it was a good thing to KNOW what was going on and that we could now act accordingly.

This changed my anticipation completely. It was another experience of God challenging me to leave behind my 'woe is me' attitude, and focus instead on His MANY blessings. T. W. Hunt wrote in DISCIPLES PRAYER LIFE: "If we praise God on the mountaintop but refuse to praise Him in the valley, we are praising NOT God but our feelings." Ouch! That's not my intent!

So, today, I praise Him for what I know, what I don't know, and most of all, for what HE knows. He is in control, and already giving us glimpses of His amazing work. More to come.