Rejoice!

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 

Philippians 4:4-7

Wow. So much has been going on in my tiny little mind and soul over the past several weeks. I have felt many different emotions including joy and thankfulness yet also feeling anxiousness and even confusion. I obviously haven't put much effort into the blog world in quite awhile because I haven't really felt like I knew where my thoughts were going. More to come soon on some really exciting life adventures that have been unfolding for me.

For now I want to tell you this story:

Just yesterday I decided that I needed to quit complaining about my lack of x,y, and z in Abilene, Kansas. I often tell people that I enjoy the activities I'm pursuing here, yet feel like a few key things in life are missing. So enough of just talking about it, I decided that I need to start being proactive and lay all my wants and desires at the feet of Jesus. I decided to go for a prayer walk. I walk often and yesterday I decided to actually pray out loud to Jesus as I walked around town. I was actually inspired to take this action after spending time with a dear friend in Philadelphia who walks weekly in prayer for her neighborhood. I walked past our community garden and prayed that the space would come together and we would fill all our garden spots with excited neighborhood people wanting to garden. I then walked around town and simply prayed that God would provide other like-minded people right here to invest in this town. I know that I'm here right now for a specific reason and it would be really great if I had a few other people as excited about the things that I am excited about. I also prayed for a great number of others things and people but I want to tell you about how God has already provided.

Today, I met an amazing like-minded lady. One of my co-workers introduced us as we apparently share many things in common. In the short 10 minutes of a conversation I learned that she is writing a grant with hopes of starting another community garden at a local church. She mentioned she tries to eat as much organic food as possible and has her entire yard in edible landscape. She also is involved in natural healing and acupuncture as her career. Wow!

I am simply amazed at how quickly God speaks when we ask. Rejoice. I say it again, Rejoice!

Rain Down

Today I'm thankful for:

• Rain! It is finally raining and it has been for most of the day. I actually rode my bike today to work not being fully confident that it was going to rain today. It did and I seriously debated toughing it out and riding home in the pouring rain and wind. However, I took the advice of all the ladies in the office and accepted a ride home. But praise God for rain! 
• I got home and enjoyed a delightful cup of my new mint tea. This tea bag is a genius invention. Check out the picture. I'm not so sure it's really all that necessary and the bag says, New Eco-friendly design. Looks like a lot of extra paper processing to me, but it sure is pretty fun!

• I will be heading out soon to play some more volleyball. I got to play on a fall rec team with some wonderful new friends and we're playing another season. I'm excited!
• Tonight I enjoyed a lovely dinner of eggs with chard and a beautiful market tomato. This made me realize that I need to be thankful for these fresh eggs and embrace them because........We had another CHICKEN MASSACRE! This time they all got wiped out. No more fresh eggs until next spring. 

Thankful

Now that it is November and the month of Thanksgiving is upon us, I think it time to join others in expressing my thankfulness. 

"Be joyful always, pray continuously, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." I Thessalonians 5:16-18 

This one of my favorite passages and tells us to give thanks in all things. It's easy to be thankful when things are going beautifully, but to be give thanks for even the crummy days, this I need to work on. I've come to realize it's really all about perspective. Many times we think we have it bad, yet honestly, we are living the dream.

Today I'm substitute teaching in my alma mater, Chapman Middle School. I don't know very many of the students, yet some of them take me back to the past when I knew them when they were small children. I don't know very many of the teachers anymore either as most of my teachers have retired or moved on to other things. I also am not familiar with this school because it's brand new, clean and shiny, and definitely not the CMS I ran around in. But I'm super thankful to be here. I'm thankful that I have a flexible part-time real job that allows me to do random substitute teaching jobs on Friday. I'm thankful that I live close to my hometown, so I can get out my green clothing on Fridays and fit right in with the other teachers. I'm also thankful that these students in general are really good kids. There has only been one student that had really bad breath that continued to stand close to me and tell me stories about video games. He seemed disappointed when I told him I didn't believe in video games nor thought that him telling me about his newest game was very educational. I tried really hard though to listen, knowing that this was the social outcast student and most people simply ignored him. 

I'm thankful today for the beautiful sunshine that is shining in the windows. They have really great natural light in this building and I'm thankful to be here.

What are you thankful for?

Thankful

This morning I made my very first attempt at a 10-mile run. Now I don't run with headphones and I also run solo so I have had plenty of time to think. I always think that during my runs I should spend more time praying. That usually lasts about a sentence or two of thought before I have to focus on continuing to pick up my feet and move. Occasionally my prayers or thoughts get audible and this morning would be one of those times. I was gone for about 2 hours this morning and in that time there were numerous times when I said, "Okay Lord, thank you for giving me a body that can move, legs and arms that go back and forth and a heart that can handle it. However, right now I really need extra help in the strength to continue moving. Lord, I need help! Please and thank you!"

This coming week is my taper week before the big half-marathon on Sunday the 25th. Although today was definitely a little rough and my legs were definitely sore afterwards, I'm going for it; 13 miles here I come!

On another random note, tonight I'm also thankful for the internet that I seem to be snatching from a kind neighbor. I turned on my computer in just this spot on my kitchen table to listen to music and I have seemed to find some wireless internet. The clouds must be positioned in just the right spot, because I've picked up this internet before for only a matter of moments, but tonight it's going strong for me. Yah!

Thankful

Every year at harvest time I take the time to express my thanks to the farmers that work so hard year round. Growing up on the farm the harvest has always been a part of our lives but we've never been the actual farmers that complete it. When I was younger I remember making banana bread to take to the farmers in our fields. For the past several years making pies during harvest has been my tradition. Imagine that this year I almost forgot! The simple fact of being in town, I suppose that being removed from the sight of combines in the fields allowed me to merely forget that it was time for me to get out my pie baking skills. Not to worry, a little late is definitely better than never so yesterday I got out my skills and the cherries in the freezer and went to work. So thank you to all the farmers that work so hard so that I can be a happy baker and use the product of their toil!