Renewed

Well, I'm back. 

If you're reading this, good for you. But, no offense, I'm not writing this for you anymore. I know that's why I failed before. I was writing for others. For humor or for people to be interested in my life. It's laughable now. Has it really taken this long for my heart to understand what my head has known for years? It's not about me. This blog is not about me. My life is not about me. It's so freeing to finally be able to write that. 

I'm not even sure what I hope to do with this blog yet. I'm not sure I want people to read it, but at the same time, I really want people to read it. Just promise me, if you read it, to remind me from time to time that it's not about me. It's so about our creator and our Savior and our one true God. And if the only person who reads this blog is my sweet husband, then that's okay too. He's really good at reminding me who it's all about.

Provide

Cool story-

Every month Ben and I try really hard to stick to our budget. One of our tightest areas is always the grocery budget, and this month was particularly difficult. We got half way through the month of March when we realized we were going to run out of major groceries with about two weeks left of the month to go. We also realized that we were going to run out of money as well. We prayed about it and decided to just force ourselves to ration out the food that was left in our fridge until I got paid again in April. This meant a lot of meals with no meat, and hungry bellies through out the day. I got creative and searched our cabinets for any leftover cans of veggies or beans and tried to menu plan for the next couple weeks. Although we didn’t know how He would do it, we knew the Lord would provide for us. And provide He did.

On Saturday a friend gave me an entire sack of rolls/bread to take home. On Monday afternoon one of our neighbors sent her daughter over and gave Ben a giant sack of potatoes that they weren’t going to use. Hello potato soup! On Tuesday night a couple from our church invited us over for dinner and sent us home with enough leftovers to get us through lunch and dinner the next day. On Wednesday, the same neighbor that had sent the potatoes on Monday came by with two sacks full of groceries simply stating “The Lord has blessed us this month and we wanted to bless you.”

None of those people knew how much we were struggling or that our food was quickly dwindling! Ben and I have been so overwhelmed with the goodness of God and how he truly provides for our very tangible needs. I imagine this must be a tiny bit what the Israelites felt like when they thought they were going to starve in the desert and God sent the manna to fall from the sky. Thank you God, for the manna you provided us this month.

Does Love Really Win?

Okay. So I'm jumping on the Love Wins bandwagon controversy and am sharing a few of my thoughts/opinions here. Before you judge me for forming an opinion before I've read the book, understand that my thoughts are coming from Rob Bell's quote below, and that I do plan on reading the book when it comes out for a bigger picture of Bell's perspective.

(For those of you who don't know, Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived is Rob Bell's newest book coming out towards the end of March.)

I discovered this quote while reading an excellent article reviewing the book. You can read the full article here: www.challies.com/book-reviews/love-wins-a-review-of-rob-bells-new-book

"A staggering number of people have been taught that a select few Christians will spend forever in a peaceful, joyous place called heaven, while the rest of humanity spends forever in torment and punishment in hell with no chance for anything better…. This is misguided and toxic and ultimately subverts the contagious spread of Jesus’ message of love, peace, forgiveness, and joy that our world desperately needs to hear." (ibid)

Here's the thing that gets me. When Bell states "A staggering number of people have been taught that a select few Christians will spend forever in a peaceful, joyous place called heaven, while the rest of humanity spends forever in torment and punishment in hell..." I wanna shout "YES! That's true! That's why Jesus died for us!"

He died to save us from torment and punishment in hell. It is concerning to me that so many believers seem to buy into Bell's idea that hell is not real. This perspective raises questions like: "Why would our Savior suffer such a terrible death to save us from anything but hell? Why do I want to witness to my neighbors, my colleagues, my friends?" To save them from hell, that's why! The Bible teaches that hell is a horrible place that the Lord does not desire for any of his children to experience. Unfortunately, because of our sin, it is what we deserve. Thank God for Christ reconciling us to him through his work on the cross so that we don't have to spend an eternity in hell! PRAISE THE LORD, PEOPLE!

To me, Bell raises questions that I believe can and should be raised in the church. It is okay to ask questions like: Is hell real? Why would a loving God condemn is children to such a horrible place? etc. Unfortunately, his controversial stance undermines the Word of God and the power of Jesus' work on the cross.

If you would like some Biblical answers to the questions Bell raises, I encourage you to read this book: Hell Under Fire by Christopher W. Morgan and Robert A. Peterson.

Rough Week.

It's been a rough week around these parts, but I thought I would leave you with some inspiration I needed to hear today.

From The Voice of the Martyrs
To preface the quote, a pastor in Columbia, his wife and two children met for church on Sunday morning. At 11:00am a group of guerrillas walked out of the jungle and called the pastor, Manuel, outside. They shot him five times, killing him.

"Gloria (Manuel's wife) ran outside and gathered her husband's body in her arms, kissing his face. With the help of the children, she dragged his body into the shade of a nearby tree. Then she brought her Bible from the house and began to speak to the neighbors who were gathered around the body. With a shaky voice she read from the Gospel of John. 'This is what my husband believed. He didn't do anything wrong, but he was willing to give his life for what he believed. Satan didn't win the battle here today, God did."

Thank you God, for renewed perspective.

Wedding Pictures

We finally got our wedding pictures back! Here are a few of our favorites:

We Done and Got Ourselves Hitched

So we did it. The long awaited day finally arrived, and Ben and I tied the knot. Since then we went on an amazing honeymoon, moved into our fab apartment in Louisville and have started adjusting to living with a member of the opposite sex.

Since moving, I have noticed a few changes in my life that are worth noting; changes I never would have thought possible, and changes my dear husband and members of the Villa will appreciate greatly. Due to a slight cable glitch, we have full cable channels (including the randos like HBO) while only paying for the basic $14.00 a month package. We are considering this an extremely generous wedding present from our good friends at Insight Cable Company. However, we find no need to call their attention to this glitch by sending them a thank you note. Anyways, as a result, I now watch HGTV. What?! This type of tv I only considered acceptable for house wives or old and boring people. Now I watch intently as designers describe what is "in" and what is definitely not, people hunt down houses at ridiculous prices, and professionals pick my least favorite colors to paint a living room. Alas, what is happening to me?

Even more shocking, and certainly more embarrassing to admit, I have on occasion been known to turn on The Food Network. Now before my readers have a heart attack, please note that I ONLY watch the baking shows simply on principle. As a self-proclaimed and very outspoken hater of all things cooking, The Food Network was definitely off my radar prior to the wedding. If I thought shows about decorating a house was for house wives only, cooking shows were considered the ultimate resignation of a fun and excitement and a complete surrender to something resembling a Stepford Wife. I am now forced to admit that I not only watch these channels, but look forward to them. I can only conclude that these drastic changes in my life are due to something I have been vehemently avoiding since birth: Growing Up. Could trading in my former trash tv addiction for HGTV be a tell-tale sign of those dreaded words? Most certainly. But don't worry world, I may be married, may watch HGTV and the occasional Food Network, but I certainly have not lost my fun. My husband won't let me, and I most definitely will not let myself.