Hi there! The end of the summer sure has been busy around here! It is hard to believe that Labor Day is coming up, and there is a hint of fall in the air as the days are growing shorter. I thought I would give you a peek into what has been going on in my life the past week....
Remembering: It started with a get-together with some friends that we had not seen for over 20 years! We recently reconnected on Facebook (there ARE some benefits to Facebook!) and then my friend messaged me that she and her husband were going to be in our area and would love to see us again. We set it up and were so excited. It was so strange...the voices and the personalities were the same, but we all looked different! There have been a lot of changes in our lives in 23 years to catch up on, but as we talked it was like time melted away. We just picked right up where we left off. It was a fun time of
remembering the many great times we had shared.
The
remembering continued a couple days later as my hubby and I celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary. Again, it does not seem possible that 40 years could have passed since we said our wedding vows as a very young couple one very hot August day in a church in eastern Pennsylvania. We have been through a lot together - good times, bad times, illnesses, surgeries, deaths of both his parents, many moves and some major life transitions, several house purchases and sales, serving in ministry together, having and raising 3 children, their graduations and weddings, and now 7 grandchildren! We had hoped to celebrate our 40th with a special trip, but due to my husband's knee replacement surgery this summer he was not quite ready for that yet. We will continue our celebration next summer, but for now we had a wonderful time having a special dinner and a sunset cruise aboard a schooner ship. God gave us the perfect evening and a spectacular sunset!
We also have had a week of
rejoicing...for a couple reasons. God answered a prayer for us that we have been praying for almost three years! More about that in a later post. Another time of
rejoicing came as we were able to enjoy the company of one of our sons and his wife and three children for a few days. It was our "last hurrah" before they begin school and we embark on a hectic fall schedule, and what wonderful
times of joy we had! We played on playgrounds, read books, spent a day at an indoor water park, another day in Colonial Williamsburg, and our last day at the beach! My husband was only able to join us for one of these excursions, but we agreed it was a perfect week of fun with our grandkids. God was so good to give us such a wonderful week.
On to the
restoring...last summer when we prepared the home where my husband grew up for sale (see my post The End of An Era, if you missed that), we rescued an old lawn swing that was in their yard which was in very poor condition. We almost decided it was past saving, but we brought it home and my husband set about completely restoring it. It needed to be completely taken apart, stripped and sanded, put back together piece by piece with all new hardware, and totally refinished. It took him almost a year of working on it off and on, but this week he finished it, and it is beautiful!
Why am I thinking and writing about
remembering, rejoicing, and restoring? I think it is partly because we have been through a stormy year. With my mother-in-law's passing, my husband's knee surgery with complications, and a lot of difficult ministry situations this has been one of the hardest years in our 40 years of marriage. It is precious to me to realize that God lovingly brings us times of
rejoicing. Those times are such an encouragement. Even in the midst of storms, we can rejoice in the Lord. It starts with
remembering God's faithfulness to us through the years. In talking about the children of Israel, God said in Deut. 8:2, "And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou would keep His commandments or not." Psalm 143:5 ' "I remember the days of old, I meditate on all thy works, I muse on the works of thy hands." When we
remember all God has done for us, even if we are going through a stormy time we can
rejoice. There are so many good verses on rejoicing I had a hard time picking just a few! Psalm 9:2 - "I will be glad and rejoice in the Lord, I will sing praises to thy name, O most High!" Psalm 35:9 - "And my soul shall be joyful in the Lord, it shall rejoice in his salvation." And then comes
restoring. Just like restoring the swing brought it back to its original good condition, God wants to restore us into a right and close relationship with Him. That's why the Psalmist says in Psalm 51:2 - "Restore unto me the joy of my salvation."
Whether you are in a storm or it is smooth sailing for you right now, remember all God has done for you, rejoice in His goodness, and be restored into a joyful relationship with Him!
Joyfully,
Kathi
No comments:
Post a Comment