Well, today is "The Man's" birthday. This is one thing I mourned during my "pre-fast mourn." Birthday cake. I would like to have the world know that I love birthday cake. OH, how I love birthday cake. I'm the girl that scrapes the swirly edges off of the cake sheet and takes everyone else's flowers when they don't want them. The Man's birthday is in March...and so is my own. SO! I only have to endure one more birthday. Oh. AND, have I mentioned that I love Cadbury Mini Eggs somethin' fierce? They are my all-time favorite candy, and they are ONLY available during Easter time. And, typically, they run out of them in stores weeks beforehand. It's alright. I'll save myself the Cadbury Mini Egg calories this year.
Have I mentioned how much I love my church? Today, we were blessed to hear from The First Lady of Elevation Church, Mrs. Holly Furtick! She was teaching on the topic of Discouragement...EXACTLY what I needed to hear! She taught on Genesis 29, where Jacob had gone to his family to marry his cousin. When he arrived, he saw that Leah (the oldest sister) "had weak eyes," and that Leah's sister, Rachel "was lovely in form, and beautiful." Guess who JACOB wanted to marry! Yep! Rachel...the hot sister. BUT, he was blessed to marry them BOTH (haha!)! Holly went over Genesis 29:31-35. Here's the short version:
Leah realized (I'm sure very quickly) that her husband loved her sister more than he loved her. Leah bore Jacob 4 sons, and then she stopped having children. This is the run-down on what Leah named her sons:
1~Reuben~Leah said, "It is because the LORD has seen my misery. Surely my husband will love me now."
2~Simeon~Leah said, "Because the LORD heard that I am not loved, he gave me this one too."
3~Levi~Leah said, "Now at last my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons."
4~Judah~Leah said, "This time I will praise the LORD."
Holly taught about how you can be "down-and-out" about your circumstances, but EVENTUALLY, you have to take the "THIS TIME I will praise the LORD" mentality! This really struck me because I feel like I have re-run the idea that I miss my close friends in PA, my church family in PA, my house and neighborhood in PA, our soccer complex in PA, our kids' school, comfortable people, running into people that I know everywhere I go, over and over in my head over the last year. At some point, I need to take Leah's attitude on and say, "You know, this hurts. I DO miss a LOT of things about PA," but 'THIS TIME' I will choose to praise the LORD instead of resent Him!" I can't imagine how much wrestling Leah did with the Lord before she chose to change her mind. And, my little sweet moment this morning was in Leah's baby #4...Baby Judah. As Leah FINALLY chose to praise the Lord in her distress, God BLESSED Judah as the tribe that His Son, Jesus, would come from! WHAT AN AMAZING MIRACLE that was prompted by PRAISE! AMEN?!
My mom flew in today from Texas (WHOOP!)! When we picked her up, we went to Cowfish, where I FINALLY got my Spicy Thai Cucumbers! AND, I got TWO ORDERS TO GO! Did I miss my spicy Yellowtail Rolls? YES! Did I want one of those burgers? YES! But, THIS TIME...I will PRAISE THE LORD!
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