I Wanna be Brave

I snapped this picture about 15 minutes after my girl said one the most amazing thing to me yesterday.

This beautiful thing looked at me - her nose an inch from mine and out of no where, said

"Momma, I want to do something brave with my life!".

Nearly took my breath away.

I couldn't help but think of all the things in my life that fear has stopped me from doing.

Frankly, fear often stops me from writing. Does that surprise you? It's a hard thing to put yourself out there for others to respond to or not.

Fear of rejection, fear of being not good enough "who does she think she is", fear of failure, fear of success.
All those things can stop me if I let them.

After B, said she wanted to do something brave with her life, she began listing what some of those brave things might be.

Big dreams, that yes indeed she'd need to be brave to pursue them.

But, the bravest of all?

"No matter where I go or what I do, I want to tell people about Jesus."

Yes, fear has stopped me from doing that sometimes as well.

For all the same reasons fear keeps me from writing.

I pray she never lets the 'no's' of the world stop her, or even her Momma's fears.

And I pray, I'm as brave as her someday.

What do you want to do that you need to be brave to face?

Leave me a comment and let me know-it's so much easier to brave when you're not alone!

Blessings,

Love and History

Hubby and I celebrated our 22nd wedding anniversary on Saturday.

Twenty-Two. Boy does that make us sound old!

Sometimes, it feels like we blinked and went from being these two kids

Happiness overflowing as we left the church.

(Engagement pic-complete with giant glasses, broach and shoulder pads)

To being grown ups, who are in fact, responsible for the health and well being of three other humans.

Over the years on our anniversary, we've had romantic dinners, taken trips, not left the room for 48 hours (wink wink). . .

This year what did we do??

We painted.  

That's right, we painted.  And no that's not code for something more fun with less clothes.

We painted our bedroom.

Hubby actually had the week off from work, so we scheduled lots of appointments, helped each other pick out glasses  and on Valentines Day we painted our bedroom and on Saturday (our actual anniversary) we shopped.

At one point this week while we were driving to the optical shop, Hubby looked over at me

and said "I am having the best time with you!".

And, he was right.  It was a good week.

I sent him a text later in the day that said "I love our story- That we have a history."

I've been thinking a lot about that girl up there in the pictures.  She would have been shocked and slightly horrified at the thought that nothing 'romantic' or the least bit 'sexy' was happening during our  love week.

But, what she didn't know is that there is something inherently romantic and dare I even say sexy(can a good Christian girl say sexy??)  in history.

History built on time and memories -good and bad:

On babies being born, being so broke you're scrounging for change in seat cushions and between the seat in the car, on trips taken, on slammed doors and raised voices and the delight of making up.

On standing by the graveside of people you love, on sharing a hymnal, laughing at things no else finds funny, packing boxes and buying houses, highs and lows, disappointments and successes, lines around the eyes, and fluff around the middle-the story of Us.

These things can only happen with time.

Our society places a premium on youth and 

on happiness.

J and my youth is gone, and yes there have been days and even months I can say I wasn't 'happy' but chose to stay because I knew that is what was right (and J could say the same)

Can I encourage you today, to stay and fight for your marriage-even when it's hard?

(Please know that I'm not talking about if you're in an abusive situation-if you are GO. Get out and get safe and find help)

I have women tell me at least once a month that they are thinking of leaving because 'they just aren't happy anymore', and although that makes me sad and hurts my heart, it's not a reason to leave.

Hold on. Get on your knees before the God of heaven and FIGHT for you and your man.

If you need to find a godly counselor.

But, don't just walk away. Stop trying to have him 'complete you'. No human can do that -they weren't meant to. Jesus completes us. Nothing/no one more or less.

Only Jesus.

I promise, holding on is so worth it.

My 20 year old self would be shocked that I don't  buy lingerie as much as I used to,  but she'd be even more shocked to know she doesn't need too (wink)

History is a beautiful thing and has more romance than a 20 year old can understand.

Hold on when it's hard, delight and cherish when it's easy and good.

And sometimes painting together is romantic.

XOXOX

When you don't succeed

I retweeted this quote from Timothy Keller today:

"Many times people think if God has called you to something, he's promising you success. He might be calling you to fail to prepare you for something else through the failure."


I thought it was quite freeing, that 'success' as I think of it, isn't always God's goal for my life.

Others disagree. (which, of course, is completely fine- we're certainly not all meant to think alike-I was just surprised)

So I was wondering, what do you, Dear Reader think?

Truth or not?

If God called us to something, is He promising you success?


Inquiring Minds and all that