Saturday, September 28, 2013

Five Minute Friday: TRUE

Five Minute Friday: True

Linking up with Lisa Jo Baker for Five Minute Friday.  This week's prompt: True.
Ready, go!

I know some things to be true:
God's love is unconditional.  He loves me exactly as I am.
There is nothing I can do more of, or less of, for Him to love me any more.
I know, all too well, I am far, far, far from being anything near perfect.  God alone is perfect.
So then, why do I spend so much of my time, thoughts, energy, and efforts trying for perfection?  Regardless of what I am doing at school, at home, with family, with friends, so much of the time I feel "less than."  I feel like I'm not doing enough, not doing well enough.  That I can do more, do better.  The enemy invades my thoughts way too often, and if I'm not careful, those thoughts take over my mind.
But then what I know to be true comes back to me again: all I can do is all I can do; all I can ever be is what God made me.  God's love, grace, mercy does not depend upon on me.  Not in the least. Thankfully.
And I need to settle that truth more securely in my heart.

Stop!

Monday, September 9, 2013

Bittersweet Thoughts

If you follow me on Twitter or friend me on Facebook, you already know I had surgery last week.  After many years of suffering with "female" problems, things this summer got to be unbearable.  Following an exceptionally tough week in July, Dave encouraged me to seek a second opinion from an OB/GYN specialist.  I did, and we scheduled the hysterectomy for the first week of September.
Everything went well with the surgery, and my recovery has gone well since then.  Sure, I'm sore, yes, I'm tired of being told lovingly over and over from my husband, "Sit down.  Let me do that."  So I really can't complain too much.
But things are different.
Dave and I were both over 40 when we got married, so we both knew the chances of us ever having children of our own were small.  But there was a chance.  This weekend, as we were talking about my recovery, we were talking about the finality of this surgery.  Even though we had that small chance of conceiving before the surgery, it's gone.
Never will we get to see that little plus sign on the pregnancy test.
Never will we get to decide what color to paint the room for our baby.
Never will we get to debate names.
Never will we get to do the black and white family pictures I love.
Never will we have an excuse to vacation at Disney World.
Never will we be able to do a million other things that other people take for granted.
It's sad, when I let myself think about it.
Yet, it's a little bit of a relief at the same time.
We won't have the sleepless nights worrying about if everything is ok with them.
We won't have to pay ridiculous amounts of money for prom or homecoming.
We won't have to decide whether to do soccer or dance.
We won't have to worry about how to pay for college.
So while we won't have our own child, our nieces and nephews become that much more precious to us.  My kids at school take over a new part of my heart.
Dave and I have no doubt this was absolutely the best course of action for my health.  Finding out after surgery that there were fibroids taking over one of my ovaries and creating their own tendons attaching to internal organs, and discovering my abdomen and uterus was scarred from endometriosis, we definitely know this surgery was the best thing to do.
But it's still a bittersweet recovery right now.  

Friday, September 6, 2013

Five Minute Friday: Red

Every Friday, hundreds of us do a five-minute write on a given prompt.  Then we link up and post on Lisajobaker.com.  Join us!
Today's prompt: Red
GO:
Red was my favorite color for so many years.
To me, red symbolizes strength, courage, boldness.  There's something to notice when we see the color red.  A stop sign, a stop light, a warning.
Or a celebration, like a big top tent at a circus.  The stripes on our American flag.  Or a Nebraska Husker football game when 91,000+ people fill Memorial Stadium in Lincoln.  That's a celebration!!
But red also has another meaning to me.  I was reminded of this yesterday as I came out of surgery.
Red is the color of blood.  And in many ways, blood symbolizes life, as well as death.
So as I was pondering this prompt to write, it hit me that when I consider the blood that was shed by Christ for all of us, red takes on a whole different meaning.
Yes, the blood symbolizes His death, as well as new life for me.  But in addition to strength, and courage, it makes me think of humility, and self-sacrifice.  His life, His blood poured out through a life of self-sacrifice, humility, so that my life can be filled with boldness and courage to live for Him.  
You know, I think I have a new favorite color again.
STOP