There is no wisdom, no understand, no counsel that can avail against the Lord - Proverbs 21:30
Welcome to Friday!
Shout triumphantly to the LORD , all the earth. - Psalm 100:1
Shout with triumphant. Be bold, excited, joyful, and unceasing in praise and childlike anticipation. Today is Friday and today is going to be an absolutely stunning and captivating day. I am expecting something good today, and praying that something even better than the blessings of all of our many yesterdays will come to pass on our behalf. I'm praying that God's unmatched and tremendous favor will open doors, tear through our trials, demolish all obstacles, and set us up for victory and triumph.
So, how are you doing? How have you been over the last week or so? I really meant to write to you last week, but the time just seemed to fly by and before I knew it, Sunday was here. How did last week go for you? Did the good breaks, goodness, and joy from last week carry over into this week? How was this week for that matter? Did you manage to make and achieve all of your goals, enjoy time with those you love, and get time to recharge and re-energize? Tell me, how are things going for you and your family? I hope that you are doing well. I hope that the last two weeks have featured a tremendous flood of love, grace, and unexpected favor in your life. I hope that during this week, in some way small or large, you were able to see, feel, and to know just how much God loves you.
My first thoughts about this week was that it was challenging. That is the word that popped into mind initially. Challenging came to my because of how hard it was to come back from vacation and an exciting and worship filled weekend. It is hard enough to get back into the mindset for work after a normal day off, but add a spirit packed weekend, birthday and Memorial Day to the picture, and back to work was a bit of a challenge. Secondly, challenging came to mind because of just how high the bar was set by the previous week. The high bar from last week included such joys and blessings as:
- lunch w/ Trish
- time w/ the girls at the mall
- free Aunt Annie's pretzel
- Going to my first rodeo
- A fun and funny visit from my nephew Matthew
- It was a joy to have him at the house
- He even stayed for dinner
- Ava enjoyed him tremendously, especially for not telling on her a few times
- Emma put on quite the show
- Gabbi's birthday cake and birthday dinner
- Working out w/ Paige in the morning at the YMCA and then having breakfast
- Sydney's concert at school and her solo during the concert
- worship service on Sunday and the title "Drop it like its hot!"
- preparing and then attending a 72 hour men's event from Thursday - Sunday
- making new friends at the 72 hour men's event
- completing a very emotional talk about our lifelong walk in faith
- competing in all of the basketball games during the week
- winning more than we lost
- Even winning when we played 30 and over versus 25 and younger
- finishing key assignments at work
When I went to bed last night my word for the week was challenging, but this morning I woke up and I had a different word: blessed.
Blessed! I thought about how many wonderful and amazing things happened this week and I began to realize that this week was as they say, "blessed and highly favored!" How many people can have back to back weeks of fun, family, friends, faith, and great food. This week started with the conclusion of the 72 hour men's event. It was a weekend complete with moving testimonies from men who spoke about feeling, seeing and receiving God's love for the first time, or for the first time in years. I got to see hard hearts that arrived on Thursday night, thawed into smiles and laughter. Not to mention that I was able to celebrate my birthday with cake, ice cream and family after it was all over.
Monday was a great day of rest, and I really needed it more than I imagined. I was worn out from all of the late nights running around at the camp and the early mornings trying to get things ready for the men's event. I think I woke up Monday about an hour later than normal and then stayed in bed for another half hour. Once I got up, Trish took me out for my birthday and to pick up some presents. I went around and picked up all the free birthday offers that I could. We got a free dinner at Fatz, a free burger from Ruby Tuesdays, and a free coffee from Starbucks. I will probably pick up my birthday cookie from Panera tomorrow, and try to use my coupon for Denny's too. I had a lot of fun cashing in on free stuff, and then crashing on the couch for a short nap before going out with Trish to run errands. We also had a great time cooking out. We had hotdogs, grilled chicken, veggies, and some shrimp for our pescatarian (Sydney).
The rest of the week was blessed with excitement from the girls and polishing off the rest of the cake from two birthdays, a dash out for 1/2 price shakes during an exam study break, and rounds of laughter.
Sydney and Paige had concerts, performances, school reports, talent shows and award performances. Gabbi and Cassarra were keeping us on our toes as we had to remind them about exams. They both have finals, re-takes, and end of the year projects to complete before the last day of school. Sydney and Paige have awards programs today. Paige received all A's and so did Sydney.
Ava and Emma are doing well. As always the two of them keep us busy and manage to keep things lively. Ava is so excited that school is coming to a close. She has been to the girls awards programs and you can just sense that she knows the summer is coming. I hope the older girls are prepared for an all day play-a-thon with Ava and Emma.
Trish is doing well. She was able to hold down the fort while I was gone at Emmaus. She listened to me gush with excitement over the weekend events, good food, and jokes that were shared. She was glad that I enjoyed things, and I was glad that she was able to make it through the weekend without incident. I'm also glad the other girls helped, and that the little ones seemed to behave. The time away also helped me see more clearly that Trish is an amazing woman, and that her faith is powerful and effective. This week she has been very busy between school shows and performances, pictures and photo albums, and getting ready for summer. She has also helped encourage all of us w/ her Bible study reading and journal entries. I tell her all the time that she has a great witness, powerful story, and very amazing spirit of understanding.
This week's blessings include:
- birthday cake and ice cream
- lunch w/ Trish
- freebies (burgers, chicken tenders, and coffee)
- extra sleep on Monday
- two days off from work
- time w/ Ava and Emma
- fixing some issues at work
- working on my writing
- milkshakes w/ the girls
- an exam breaker w/ the high school crew
- The Cavaliers winning their series
- safe travel
- making new friends at the Emmaus men's event
- delivering a devotional at the weekend
- I managed to stay under 15 minutes
- I managed not to cry
- I only lost my place once
- being encouraged by friends and family
- prayers of friends
- working out w/ Paige at the YMCA
- breakfast w/ Paige
- splitting the week series in basketball 1 and 1
- taking the high road w/ a co-worker at work
- great homemade dinners from Thursday - Wednesday
- watching the girls reap the rewards of hard work in school
- spending time dreaming
- hearing good clean jokes over the weekend
- touring office spaces in Columbia and getting to see the city from a penthouse view
Maybe the week would be challenging if I only looked at it once, and only looked at it from one angle. But, upon further review - this week was blessed. I hope that you have had a wonderful week and that you are doing well. I hope that you weekend will bring with it blessings, refreshment, renewal, and loads of fun.
God be with you to bless and nourish you.
God be with you to shine his light upon you.
God be with you to give you wisdom and strength.
God be with you pouring out his love and grace upon you.
God be with you to make this Friday fantastic!
And above all - God be with you always!
Welcome to Friday!
But the unfailing love of the Eternal is always
and eternal for those who reverently run after Him.
He extends His justice on and on to future generations,
To those who will keep His bond of love and
remember to walk in the guidance of His commands.
Psalm 103:17-18 (VOICE)
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