Hebrew 12:1-3
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Posted by beckay at 7:29 AM 0 comments
Best hour-long conversation with a 4-year-old....
Me: what's your favorite fruit?
Eva-Jolie: bananas!
Me: niiiiice. you should try eating your bananas with peanut butter some time. It's really good.
EJ: Is that how you eat your bananas? I was thinking about mixing banana with blueberry jam. I think it might turn green. Because I'm pretty sure yellow and blue make green
Me: I think you're right. Can you try it when you get home and let me know what happens?
EJ: ok. Um.......do you know your phone number?
Jeremy (clearly jealous): Uh Becky? Are you giving out phone numbers over there?
Had an army of little girls following me around all weekend. Upon first encounters, assigned everyone an excellent nickname: Dora, Boots, Map, Mary Moo Cow, Swiper (Jeremy) and Backpack (Lydia). As tiring as it was to have multiple children simultaneously attached to each and every one of my limbs, I felt so blessed to be a source of entertainment and childish inspiration to them. Attempted to teach them how to skip rocks at the lake...but the Map kept closing her eyes and flinging rocks in the direction of other children. Found a dead fish, named it Pedro, directed children in making proper burial/eulogy preparations, tried to make Pedro a leaf boat to send him off into the lake (fail), had the the Map throw Pedro's body as far as she could (success).
Performed pretty poorly in the corn-shucking competition. Must begin training for next year....
Posted by beckay at 11:14 AM 0 comments
Matt is going off to school tomorrow. It hasn't quite sunk in, but I'm fairly certain I will completely lose it at some point during this week. Good thing I'm crippled and have an excuse to avoid witnessing all the packing and such going on upstairs.
Gave him a high-quality spoon to take with him. I guess that's a pretty good gauge of how much I care for someone - by my willingness to give you one of my spoons.
Posted by beckay at 8:17 PM 0 comments
"Cynicism kills hope. The world of the cynic is fixed and immovable; the cynic believes we are swept along by forces greater than we are. Dreaming feels like so much foolishness. Risk becomes intolerable. Prayer feels pointless, as if we are talking to the wind. But Jesus is all about hope. " - Paul Miller
Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken. My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge. Psalm 62:5-8
Posted by beckay at 7:52 AM 0 comments
Inconceivable. It is August. How is it August? Also...I'm 24 years old. GAH. How is any of this possible?
My 2nd ACL reconstruction + meniscus repair combo surgery. I always have the best times in post-op recovery room. It could and most likely does have something to do with drugs and anesthesia, but I'd like to believe that post-op nurses are the nicest people in the whole entire world. I remember as I slowly regained consciousness, a whole team of them told me I had done a really awesome job (remaining sedated yet not dying in my sleep) and offered me apple juice! There are few things in this world I love more than false compliments and apple juice....so I graciously accepted both (but promptly threw up the apple juice 5 minutes later).
First week back home is all but a blurred memory. I think I drank soup or something. But I also remember waking up at 3am one morning in a drugged, anxious state of mind...and I started pondering life and crying because my knee brace was too heavy of a burden for me to bear at that moment. And then at one point I promised myself I was going to learn about important things in the morning when I woke up. When morning came.....I started reading the Constitution for no other purpose than to fulfill the promise I had made to myself.
Second week....unless I contract anthrax or ebola at some point in my life, i will NEVER again seek aid from antibiotics. I faintly recall having a bad reaction to antibiotics last time I had surgery, but I couldn't quite remember specific adverse effects. Now I do. And now the flames of hatred have been rekindled.
Posted by beckay at 5:01 PM 0 comments
2 Corinthians 12:7-10
To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
I say to the LORD, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.” - Psalm 16:2
Thank you Lord for weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, difficulties, trials, pain, suffering, and failures that point me back to Your all sufficient grace and my perpetual need for an all sufficient Savior that never fails. Father, continue to free me from the fear of failure: Free me from the lies that I'll never be good enough, the need to prove myself worthy, and the pressure to make something of myself. Give me greater confidence in You, Lord. Not in myself. Lord, be my all in all. Enable me to see and believe the freedom I already have in Your Son:
"Because Jesus was strong for me, I am free to be weak;
Because Jesus won for me, I am free to lose;
Because Jesus was Someone, I am free to be no one;
Because Jesus was extraordinary, I am free to be ordinary;
Because Jesus succeeded for me, I am free to fail." - Tullian Tchividjian
Posted by beckay at 8:00 AM 0 comments
Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.....stupefied? Confuzzled? Nauseated? How do I put into words how I am currently feeling? Anyways, strange and coincidental things a-happenin' round here.
Posted by beckay at 7:11 AM 0 comments
