Presently

Hello there. I have been absent from this space, in returning, it feels empty. However, my head and my heart have not been absent or empty; they have been full of ideas and plans for this space and our lives, but this new year has required my attention and energy be other places.

2012 was a good year for our family, in my opinion. We had grown in discipline, perseverance, and faith, and were beginning to see some of the benefits our work. We had big plans and hopes for 2013.

And so far, 2013 has been... hard. Challenging. There has been illness, disability, insecurity, loss, disappointment. We had told the Lord our plans, and He said "not right now." He made us slow down. Live in the present, spend time with each other, and be thankful. Put our plans and our trust in something we can't fully comprehend.

So we did. And after a time, I seemed to think that the hardship and challenges were subsiding [and perhaps that set of them is]. So I started making some more plans. Not plans of the grandeur scale we had previously, but plans nonetheless. And God said to me, in His way, "Child, why do you so soon forget the lessons I've been teaching you?"

Despite my faith in God and His plan for our lives, there is a disconnect in my mind between destiny and day-to-day. I trust God when it comes to the big picture: that He will ultimately put us where He wants us to be, doing what He wants us to be doing. But when it comes to the menial, mundane details of my life, there's this unfounded idea that these are things too small for Him to care about, and therefore don't include Him. I rely on human logic and worldly wisdom to make these decisions, when I should be consulting the one who transcends it. Luckily, He reminds me, again and again. This is what the Lord has put on my heart, and what I will be meditating on: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths." Proverbs 3:5-6

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On a somewhat related and much lighter note, my friends KK and Emily started the Flourish retreat to encourage women to intentionally and joyfully live in the present, and to connect women with God and each other. 

They have now started the Flourish blog, and I am really excited to be contributing to it, along with some other really amazing women. Posts will be frequent, brief, and uplifting, and the site itself is ethereal and dreamy. Check it out!