My Valentine (yes, a few days late, so what!)

I am continually humbled by the fact that God answered my prayers for my husband. Graham has always been a good man, but now he is a New Man. I am not an emotional girl, but my heart seriously overflows with gratefulness, unworthiness, and a deep desire that all marriages can be genuinely rooted in God. I write not to boast in Graham, but to boast only in the Lord, who had mercy on us both.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

2 Corinthians 5:17

The new man leads his family to church. He models the love of Jesus. He does not seek his own glory. The new man asks for forgiveness when he is wrong. He extends mercy to his wife when she fails. He leads his daughter in prayer when she is afraid. The new man encourages his son to seek God and not the things of this world. He sets the Word of God as his standard. The new man runs to the peace of God, not the temorary escape of this world. He loves to guide conversations to God, and enjoys the company of like-minded friends and family. The new man encourages his wife to feed her spirit, not her flesh (which, honestly, she would rather not hear, lol). He realizes his own stength is not enough, and knows he is nothing without Christ. He inspires little children to be passionate about the Lord, and feels compassion for the lost. The new man humbles himself before the Lord, and does not apologize for his sensitivity to the Spirit. He worships the Lord for his handiwork, and stands in awe of the one true God. He cries out for a pure heart, and knows this world is not his home. The new man realizes that God's ways are much higher than his own, and is willing to go against the flow in obedience to Him. He admits when he has stepped outside of God's will, and feels repentant for doing so. He devours the Word for wisdom, passionate about storing it in his heart. The new man does not seek wealth from this world, but desires to store up treasures in heaven. He doesn't always get it right, but ultimately knows that his Victory is in the Lord. The new man sees with His eyes, tries to be God's hands, and loves unconditionally. He plans with diligence, pursues righteousness, craves unity, wants more than anything to see His glory known. He is my Psalm 1 man. And I, I am learning to lean on him as God's covering for me, and I love him much more than I can express.

Graham and I are loving this song lately. Our praise team sings it at church, and they do an awesome job of it. And now they play Michael W. Smith's version of it on Klove all the time. We can't get enough of it. The lyrics are powerful. You can't hear it and not worship Him. My God is mighty to save, Author of my salvation. He conquered the grave! He is the hope of the nations. He takes me as I am, all my stinkin' fears and failures. I love the end of the song, picturing that one of these days we really will be gathered around His throne, all of us, all nations, singing for the glory of the Risen King.

Zephaniah 3: 16-17 "Do not fear, O Zion; do not let your hands hang limp. The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing."

My life is over...

....or half-over rather. Today my man described me as "middle-aged." Really? Middle aged? I will not claim that. thankyouverymuch.

Living and Active

Isaiah 40:28-31

"Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."

The Truth. My Life Sustained. Scriptures that I've heard since before I could read them for myself. How is it that they continue to give me encouragement and strength? How is that His Word continues to convict and break my heart? I've always questioned how. "Child-like faith" has never come easily to me. Luckily the Lord totally gets my skepticism and accepts me just the same. He teaches me to be at peace with questions that have no earthly answer. So, we Continue to hope in the Lord. Continue to Run. Because, Hello? Don't you know? Haven't you heard? My God is everlasting. He doesn't grow tired of me. My weak faith does not make Him weary. He is totally cool with the fact that I can't begin to fathom His understanding.

Thank you God for daily Renewal.

A New Knowing

Who knew a new year would bring so much change? "Not I," said the sickeningly happily married thirty-something mom of two, living contently in a pint-sized Skamper camper that is appropriately decorated inside and out with the shade of dirt. Or is it poop? And did I say contently?
So all the change creates many post-worthy blogs (in my mind atleast), but not really blog-worthy time slots in my schedule as of yet. A month after selling our house and moving everything we own into a still-not-ready-to-live-in quonset barn, whilst we make the Skamper home and bum showers and laundry appliances (and Christmas trees) from sweet family, we are finally beginning to create a new normal for the little Eudey family. Each of us is being stretched, learning lots, digging deep for patience, and holding on to the "light at the end of the tunnel," (as one friend so aptly suggested should be the theme song of the quonset phase of our project.) Of course, the only one of us workin' his buns off is my man. Can I just say that he is awesome? I mean he is putting a roof over my head with his own two hands.
Though the changes have made us closer as a family, both literally and figuratively, my God-time has suffered. Thankfully, His grace and strength are sufficient. I actually did read my Bible Sunday morning (though I skipped church), and found my scripture for the new year. Joel 2:13
says "Rend your heart..." I like that word "rend." It means to tear or split apart. Rend my heart from the world, from my flesh and give it wholly and completely to Him; not just "rend my garments" so others will see and think I'm so "Christian", but to daily with purpose and repentance be broken before my God knowing the mercy and kindness He extends toward inadequate, sinful me. That's my resolution. Change and Rend. Rend and Change.

Sum Favorites.

1. My new fav TV preacher, Pastor Andy. He is fo' real. Most of the stuff I have heard has been on marriage and relationships. He is hilarious, but tells the Truth.

2. The Lord Reigns My fav praise song of the moment. I love jammin' when I clean house, just so ya know.

3. The mothering moments I have enjoyed the most lately are when Season is being an artist (I think she is quite good), and Grayson is trying to find Waldo. Definite Christmas gifts.

4. Frank Peretti books have overtaken my life lately. If I start a book I like, it supercedes everything else. Not good when you are 13 and your mom wants you to fold the clothes (She actually grounded me from books!), or when you are 31 and you need to get in bed in order to function as mom the next morning.

5. I subscribed to a (free) 30-day True Woman makeover at Revive our Hearts (I know...like I need it lol). Anyway, I have really enjoyed the teaching. And you can choose to read the daily radio program instead of listen, which is helpful for this visual learner... It's some good stuff that I wish Christian women could truly get and live their lives in light of. (oh, I hate ending a sentence with a preposition, but I'm gonna do it anyway)

6. Cooking and Baking have become more fun lately. I want to be good at it, but I still have lots to learn. I like allrecipes.com because you can read reviews from other people and search for pretty much anything. Pioneer Woman is always inspiring of course and she also enlightened me to Bakerella. I can't wait to try some of that fun stuff!

7. My Rocket Dogs still rockit as far as I am concerned. I could use a new pair, but they def. define who I am if ya know what I mean. They are my go-to shoes.

8. Graham and I went out this weekend for our anniversary. We had fun just being together, but mostly he just followed me around while I shopped. I am blessed with a good man. He's my fav. But my favorite find of the weekend was two spiderman masks at Hot Topic, a store I would not dare dark the doors of had the masks not caught my eye. I was so proud of them 'cause they were like 90% off. Cheap is my fav too.

Rip-Off

If the make-shift carnival rolls into town, DO NOT take your children, no matter how pathetically your 3-year-old begs you. If you are blinded by the bright lights that shine amidst the carny stereotypes, you will be forced to pay three (freakin') dollars per ride. If you make the mistake of buying tickets (no refunds mind you) even after you realize there are only like four other carnival-goers there, your children will not ride the roller coaster or the spinny thingy as they manuever at speeds that should be outlawed for riders under 42 inches. If your daughter refuses to ride anything, you will resort to force, threatening her to either ride the slide or not be able to play a game so she can win a prize. If you pay ten dollars for the tickets under the guise that you can use the tickets to throw darts at balloons as well, you will be disappointingly aggravated and want to grab the carny by the throat and shove the tickets down her throat. Er, I mean smile sweetly and pull the five out of your pocket so your screaming kids can shove a dart into a balloon. And if you do that, your son will win the thrill of choosing either a 1-inch stuffed heart or a black rose as his prize. If you begin to feel the carnival germs seeping into your pores after less than ten minutes, you will drag your children back to the car saying "you better be thankful you got to come at all!" If your daughter taunts your son telling him a heart is a girl prize, your son will step out of the car and throw it on the ground declaring "Hearts are stupid!" If your husband is waiting for you when you get home, be warned he will not be sympathetic to your tale but will laugh mockingly and say "I told you so."