rain and other happy things

Thankful rain. Love this beautiful stuff

Thankful for those friends who don't mind the stupidity of your mind when it comes to math and turn math sessions into insane fits of hysterical laughter.

Thankful for homework accomplished and to do lists getting shorter.

Thankful truth. and I will now quote my own paper...umm well yes I do understand that is a very strange and vain thing to do. No worries I have never cited myself as source in my own paper :). 

"Lies are the prison that keeps me locked away from being able to grow in God’s will for my life. Truth is the beautiful freedom of truly understanding God for who he is and all he has done for me."

Thankful for this verse. 

2 Peter 2:24  “and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed” (NASB). 

Thankful for leaves. Oh my heart. Cannot get enough of these leaves. 

 And so very thankful that just around the corner lies the season of thankfulness. Thanksgiving hurry up and get here please. 

A letter to Pastors

A letter to pastors,

October is pastor appreciation month, a holiday which probably could fall in the same category as mothers day in the fact we need to be appreciating our pastors every day not just one month of the year.

Truthfully while I may think about the appreciation I have for my pastor I may not always state the words and so this month gives me the direly needed kick in the pants to do what I should have done long ago.

Let me just thank you for doing your job well.

You are the who one who not only has to spend hours researching a sermon, but you are the one who has dropped everything at a moment's notice to tend to a parishioner.

You are the one always available to listen. Sitting in sterile hospital waiting rooms drinking stale coffee you pray for the hurting. You are the one meeting with members of your flock in the early in the morning for coffee.

You are the one hastily making copies of the Sunday bulletin 10 minutes before Sunday school when you could be brushing up on your sermon.

You are the one who teaches the Sunday school class, preaches the sermon, greets the congregation, preaches at the nursing home, and then preaches a final time in the evening.

You are the one who people admire how easy of a job you must have to only have to prepare sermons and preach, but you are the one who maybe will have Monday off, but will work hard core all the rest of the week and hope you will be ready for Sunday.

You are the one who has slaved over a sermon for hours, only to watch someone in your congregation sleep through the entire message.

You are the pastor of the tiny congregation, where you not only preach, but also organize the social events, clean the church when the janitor is sick...you are the glue that keeps the church running.

You are the one locking yourself away on Saturday night while your children play and your friends socialize.

And I just have to say thank you.

For preaching those words that pricked my heart. For taking time to search the scriptures and not just taking the easy route.

Thank you for preaching words that shaped my worldview.

I know you have faults. You have the same sin nature I have, but thank you for admitting your mistakes and for continually striving for Christ likeness. 

I know you have good Sundays and bad Sundays, but I also know you trust God who is going to use everything you do.

To you my pastor, the one using the gift God has given you to teach and exhort. The one who is taking a risk by preaching the words you know are truth, but may cause a stir in the congregation. You are the one who is not any different than the rest of us, but is simply using the gifts God has given you.

Thank you for not be silent, but for serving God first and those around you next.


 A special thank you to every pastor who has been a part of my life. You know who you are, but you don't know that you have been God's instrument in my life. Thank you. 

Seasons

Feeling the crisp Autumn air on my checks and cramming my hands deeper into my pockets to ward off the chill.

Seeing crimson red leaves covering the green grass. Leaves of mustard color fall from the trees. scoop of leaves and carry them off to my room as if I can some how recreate atmosphere the tree n my humble room.

Cravings arising within me to bake pies with flaky buttery crusts and cinnamon apples for the filling.

Days grow shorter and the bed becomes a ball and chain not willing to release its prisoner on chilly mornings. Not that prisoner desires to leave the place of such delight.

Me dislikes cold, especially my feet which never seem to obtain a level of warmth in the winter

But the change of seasons makes me happy. All those little adventures that a new season brings. So much anticipation of things to come

"For everything there is a time and a season "

Seasons of life. Seasons of struggle and learning and seasons of deep happiness. Seasons of unending weariness and seasons of so much joy that everything spills over into a wonderful sea of blessings.

Whatever the season may be let us embrace it.

Perhaps it is a season of trial and pain, but know this, it is only for a season.

 Perhaps it is a season of beautiful happy times, but know this, God is to be clung just as tightly too in those times of pleasure.

For in every season God has His purposes in our lives and no season is better than the other. Perhaps we know not the purpose, but we do know the character of our God and we can know we will always be taken care of.

Every perfect thing is from our Father. Every thing...and that is what makes each season, so lovely.

And so I will drink lots of tea and wear three pairs of socks and savor every pleasant and every unpleasant thing about this season and some how my wandering heart will learn to do the same with God.

Please excuse while I go fetch some more socks :) .

thoughts

Just some thoughts...

Listen to the gut feeling that is warning you to use the other road. On the other hand a little off road mudding can be quite fun, never mind we were right square in the middle of the road.

Sometimes being around elderly people can be explained as getting equally excited about the same statement multiple times in a 10 minute span. Maybe a better plan would be to keep talking to avoid repetitive comments.

Oh you want to hear me brag about my big brothers? Awesome. The end.

Do not attempt to sit through a hour half lecture without a steaming cup of coffee.

God's Word is going to have more super power than any feeble words I could blurt out.

Never underestimate the power of shutting up and just listening someone share their struggles.

Never let yourself be above being humbled.

Never lose sight of the course ahead and never get tangled in what lies behind.

Never miss a opportunity to turn a negative thought into a thought for God's glory.

Favorite song from today. Which may or may not be because it contains the word Cornerstone. 

Verse 1-
My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness
I dare not trust the sweetest frame
but wholly trust in Jesus' name

[Verse 1]

-Chorus-
Christ alone, Cornerstone
Weak made strong, in the Savior's love
Through the storm
He is Lord, Lord of All

-Verse 2-
When darkness seems to hide His face
I rest on His unchanging grace
In every high and stormy gale
My anchor holds within the veil

My anchor holds within the veil

He is Lord, Lord of all

-Verse 3-
Then He shall come with trumpets sound
Oh, may I then in Him be found
Dressed in His righteousness alone
faultless, stand before the throne

Lyrics by Hillsong 

From the desk of the transfer student

Hello, my name is Bethanne, and I am the awkward transfer student.

Honestly there nothing more strangely bizarre than showing up at college with the rest of the freshmen, but trying to explain how your not really a freshmen. Upperclassmen may give you the look and you can see the self control they exhibit as they hold back the eye roll.

"Oh really I think freshmen are so cool" said no upperclassman ever. Been there done that. 

Strangely its the freshmen who are asking you questions, because in their minds you look like a older student. You know the thoughts of the upperclassmen and what they think. Quite possibly because I had the very same thoughts myself about the silly funny freshmen. Maybe people think I'm a freshmen, but I don't think myself a freshmen.

 I remember the lovely insecure, crazy feeling of being a freshman and the 2nd time around most defiantly lacks those awful attacks of nervousness about little things like what is the proper amount time to arrive before first hour without being too early. 

Professors with concerned looks wonder how you are handling the homework load. The expected answer is that you are filled with dread and panic, but no you calmly answer everything is really just fine. Homework lost its awe striking terror factor a long time ago.

Oddly you are the one consoling new students and assuring them homework always gets done. Really and truly every single semester every last page is read and every word gets written on those papers. Research papers of 10 pages that seem eternally long to the novice paper writer. Try writing 20 pages on biblical food and see how much perseverance that teaches you.

Encouraging people not to procrastinate feels pretty hypocritical when you yourself are looking for the accelerating feeling of motivation. Taking a year sabbatical from school really should make you filled with goosebumps of excitement at the very thought of writing a paper. Unfortunately no quite the opposite feeling settles over you and nothing gets done.

Being a freshman, but not a freshman is not entirely all terrible.  I am reminded why I never want to forget the year I was freshmen. Never want to forget how insecure I felt. Never want to forget how awkward it feels to be the new person. Never want to forget how I held back my personality and in the end robbed myself. When the freshmen year is over you are stripped down and suddenly you realize its time to live life with abandon. Let the craziness ensue and let the realness replace the mask.


To be terribly blunt its the most amazing thing to start school again and have a chance to do things a little differently than before. Yes, its awkward and yes its strange, but yes its also a extraordinary adventure I wouldn't miss for the world.

Here is to the transfer students. You know who you are and only you know what its like to be new kid on the block in  a sea of seasoned vets and only you will know what is like to be a freshmen and the upperclassmen all in the same year.

And pretty much it doesn't matter how much years you have been to college...there is still heaps more to learn about how not to be awkward. Maybe I speak from personal experience maybe I don't :) 

Pieces

 Overwhelmed by the greatness of our God.

  God, the one, who does not see our lives as pieces, but instead the larger picture that we cannot even fathom.

Chapel ended with the simple prayer "God please Hold us" and I swallowed hard, because the thought was too overpowering to even think.

He is holding us and not even for one moment does God ever stop holding us up. Honestly in our self centered desire to be in control we just sometimes neglect to acknowledge His power.

He is always there.

Listening to these words tonight and praying for some dear friends of mine as they prepare to bring into the world a baby that will need a coffin instead of a cradle. 

Two months is too little.
They let him go.
They had no sudden healing.
To think that providence would
Take a child from his mother while she prays
Is appalling.

Who told us we'd be rescued?
What has changed and why should we be saved from nightmares?
We're asking why this happens
To us who have died to live?
It's unfair.

This hand is bitterness.
We want to taste it, let the hatred NUMB our sorrow.
The wise hands opens slowly to lilies of the valley and tomorrow.
 
 If hope is born of suffering.
If this is only the beginning.
Can we not wait for one hour watching for our Savior?

 This is what it means to be held.
How it feels when the sacred is torn from your life
And you survive.
This is what it is to be loved.
And to know that the promise was
When everything fell we'd be held.
---Natalie Grant  

God is always, always holding us.

And those pieces of pain? God is holding them in His sovereign hand and not for one instant is God thrown for a loop. 

What do I know

This week has been good. Really good. Oh Monday morning started out terrible enough, but then there was the verses in my inbox and my day was encouraged by God's Word.

I sipped tea and had time to read my Bible without worrying about the clock.

The night air was beautiful and cool, but not too cool. Warmth kept my skin from having goosebumps, but our conversation strengthened my heart far more than the lovely evening. I crawled under the soft flannel sheets later and felt truly blessed to have Christan fellowship.

Class hours were cancelled and I gained extra sleep.

I walked outside and the weather had gone from balmy to crisp and excitement tingled in my veins. Fall and I have a very lovely relationship and I never hate the change of seasons.

Good, good life has seemed so good.

A new text message. She needs prayer, it hasn't been the best of times.

Another friend is struggling.

Two close friends of mine were to welcome their first child right around Christmas time. When the baby is born in a few days there will be no cries and no first breath.

My life has been good this week, but tonight my heart aches.

I ache for those who are grieving.

I ache for those who are feeling lonely

I ache for those with disappointments


Life may be pleasant for me right now, but I never want to get so caught up in my enjoyment of the beautiful to forget that  there are those having a ugly time.

I can have sympathy. I can hurt. I can long to change the circumstances of those I know.

But I can't teach people what God is going to show them through their battles.

I want to have power to change things, but what do I know. What do I know of God's plans? The bigger picture.

Perhaps if I could I would make the hurt go away, but my lofty ideas would hinder a greater plan. A plan to show God's glory.

While the small trials and the big trials of this life are hard. God will always be there shaping us and making His love known to those around us through our circumstances.

While I cannot say that I'm happy that my friends are suffering I can say that I'm thankful for a God who hurts with them and will care for them.

God is good and I pray those I know will find God's goodness to be ever prevalent to them.

Tonight I wish I could change circumstances, but what do I know of our holy God? 

I'll tell you what I know...His way is always, always  perfection.

Of Fog

Misty fog envelops the morning and I hardly dare to take a step for fear that the luscious cloak of the morning will dissipate.

Fog makes me smile, because of its transforming power. One moment you see and the next moment you can't. When I see fog it reminds me how often in this life I can't see.

The next step is blurred. Life is covered with uncertainty and fear, but hidden in the depths of life is beauty. The beauty of God being in control. The beauty of knowing my God will always be faithful.

Fog can be eerie and creepy when your driving down that strange windy road and your not sure what sort of creatures are going to jump out at you.

Suddenly the beauty is gone and mad terror is your only thought.

Perspective. Viewpoints changed and your attitude is changed. Fog can be full of mystical beauty or it can send frightening shivers down your back.

Life can be full awestruck wonder at our faithful God or it can be frustrating moments of wondering why and when something will change.

And its simply perspective that is so easily swayed by the power of our own thoughts.

We are never going to see the next thing in this life, but we are going to choose how we see the life we are living right now. 

What do I want to see...faithfulness or frustration?