As I walk on the treadmill my mind wanders a lot. This morning I listened to my devotions and a podcast hoping to focus my mind while moving my body, killing two birds with one stone. Eventually, I realized that my thoughts had drifted to the city of Jericho and all that marching. Gee, I wonder what inspired that...
-How long did it take to walk around the city of Jericho? -What were they thinking about as they walked around the city silently? -Did they have to be silent the whole way or just when near Jericho? -How far was their base camp from Jericho anyway? -On the seventh day when they had to walk around seven times how hard was it not to whisper to a buddy? This train of thought inspired me to do some digging. I normally walk for an hour or about 3 miles to keep the joints lubricated and my sanity intact. My thoughts ramble disjointed and numerous. The city of Jericho with its protective walls is said to have been about 9 acres. Thank you, Google! So math whiz that I am... (haha) I figured out it would take me only about ten minutes to walk around the city itself. Ten minutes of silence is totally doable, but when I found out their base camp was in Gilgal it changed the whole picture. I had to tack on 9 or so miles from Gilgal to Jericho! So add three hours to that ten minutes and that is just one way! We are talking a 6+ hour walk every day for 6 days and then about 7+ hours on the last day silently before the walls fell down! That is a lot of time to think! I wonder if they were allowed to talk until Jericho came into sight? Imagine walking with thousands of people around without making any conversation. Eerie! Ten minutes of silently circling Jericho had to have those soldiers imagining what God was going to do... if anything. There had to be at least one doubter in a crowd that big. Most periods of waiting aren't easy. Our brains fill the silence with worst-case scenarios, doubts, hopes, fear, anxiety, and prayer. Unknowns allow room for God to show off and with Jericho he definitely did. That seventh day is worth waiting for! I know, I know - I wish we could always know the waiting ended after seven days. Unknowns also allow fear to creep in. The end probably won't go in any of the hundred scenarios we run through our minds anyway. Countless times the end "battle" turns out so much better than I could have hoped. Unforeseen consequences come and bless my socks off. The end result may be great, but the interim is the best place for me. Clinging to faith increases my spiritual muscle. No pain no gain! It also makes a greater testimony to God's glory! Even when I feel like the end result was more massacre than victory I know I don't walk through it alone. I have learned to trust. Trust is something that is earned and learned through history together. God uses all things together for good. I like to add an eventually to this statement because His timing is not ours. Waiting is often the main point. In the valley, we get to choose to trust. We get to choose our focus. If we recall our history with God rather than our fears - that is our battle to fight. Our battle is in the heart and head! Choose to trust He will take care of the rest and walk with us through it. In the midst, I feel like I can't make it through, but with His help I will. The waiting is still unpleasant. I mean who likes waiting? Uncertainty is still uncomfortable. Each valley of testing makes my faith grow and my certainty in God's love, protection, sustenance increases step by step. My last random thoughts were on armor. How much did it psyche out the rulers of Jericho to see a massive army prepared for battle circle them day after day? They had no idea what God was doing. Maybe they were confident in their walls the first day, but some doubt had to be niggling in their mind with each passing day. I don't want to be waiting around unarmed. I want to keep Satan on his toes. God wants my head protected with the knowledge of my salvation. My heart is safe, behind the breastplate of righteousness, knowing that God approves of me thanks to Jesus' sacrifice. Truth is my support knowing it should be shared in love. I am ready to share the Good news of peace with God wherever I go. I raise the shield of faith to block the arrows of doubt, shame, and fear Satan sends my way. The sword of the Spirit, the word of God, fights for me against the lies of Satan. Let's keep growing in our waiting by asking questions and digging deeper into the word, so we will be stronger for the next valley. A good march makes the victory all the sweeter.
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Summer is ideally a time to relax and try fun things; I think we accomplished that! We had a lot of firsts this summer and a lot of fun! We started off with several trips to an indoor trampoline place with friends to celebrate the end of our homeschool year. Then, the summer got a lot cooler when Aunt Carolyn and Uncle John brought over a pool for us. Thank you!! The perfect depth for Naiah to start learning to swim and mommy not to worry about drowning, as much. (Yes, I know they can drown in a couple inches of water, so don't email me warnings - I am still vigilant!) We celebrated some birthdays with family at Chuck E Cheese. Thanks Nini! My kids had never been before and were totally awed by the games and tickets. It felt like a childhood right of passage moment. ;) 1st Summer Camps Beanie spent a week learning how to pick hooves, wash and brush horses, and ride. She got to try bareback, Western style and English style. She found out posting is harder than it looks. She hopes to continue helping out at the local barn, because she really loves horses despite the hot, sweaty work involved. Keikei spent a week dancing away. If you know her, you know this is pretty normal for her; the girl never stops moving or talking. She is my bold one. She loved ballet, jazz, lyrical, and yoga. The Under the Sea theme was right up her mermaid-loving alley. I can definitely see more dancing in her future. We also planned play-dates to water parks with cousins, took advantage of the free kids bowling program with friends, went to the local library events and Daddy even joined us for some free kid movies at the Cobb theater. Summer wouldn't be complete with a lot of ice cream or Italian-ice trips to stay cool.
We had many lazy days too where the kids whined for things to do and I said, Go read a book! Raising extroverts is not always easy for this introvert! I know being bored is important for creativity to flourish, so I occasionally had to restrict media for fear of their brain development. 🤪 I am secretly relieved that homeschool starts again soon because we need the structure. Soak up the fortnight while you can kids, because the countdown has begun. *evil laugh What did you do this summer? We hope you got to try some fun new things too! Josh and one of his best friends, Luke, opened the supplies for their new joint venture last weekend. Look at those smiles! It was exciting to be a part of their celebration. One of the things that got Josh through ten years in the lawn service was listening to hours and hours of podcasts. He listened to everyone from hunters to pastors. In fact, he and Luke talked over a year ago about starting their own podcast. Late night conversations they had while biking together around town will be coming soon in their very own podcast series. Dream are gifts from the dream giver. A generous donation came in specifically for the purpose of making their dream a reality. Wow! Many hours of research have gone into this idea. As the equipment arrived, we wives were delighted to get a front row seat to the unwrapping. Laura grabbed her phone and captured those first smiles. Those smiles led to laughter. As the first microphone went live the first question popped, "What do you think we will be doing in ten years?" Eyes lit with joy as an easy conversation started. As Josh and Luke move forward from the research-and-prayer stage to the production-and-prayer one, we ask for your partnership. Pray for clear direction, lots of Holy-Spirit-moments, and faithful listeners. They hope to have links up soon. My new venture is actually a repeat venture, but I am very excited about it anyway. Five years ago I went through my first step study. God revealed some suppressed hurts in my life and some unhealthy tendencies toward perfectionism and food.
This is the first time I have been able to facilitate other ladies through the steps and I am very excited to journey through the steps again. It is an incredible privilege to journey with others! Not only does God knit hearts together, but you get to be a front seat witness of their freedom journey. The beatitudes of Jesus are so key to restoring our relationship with Christ and accepting Him as your higher power unlocks incredible freedom and power. Our faith journey continues on as He continues to shape us in the image of His Son. I am looking forward to seeing what areas in addition to healthy boundaries God will have me working on. So, as the guys and I start our new ventures we invite those around to join in on the journey: be praying for us, be looking for NAM - the podcast and join us at Celebrate Recovery on Friday nights. When I first started my blog I struggled to find a name. I finally settled on Misty Megaccino Moments. Megaccino was a nickname that friend gave me in Ukraine a long time ago. I feel called to share my journey so moments felt right, but the misty part came after reading the verse about how we see things hazy as through a glass. After taking a theology class I concluded that the more you get to know God the more you realize you don't know. More answers lead to more question and thus starts a lifetime of seeking. I don't claim to have all the answers. In fact, I hope it comes across loud and clear that I am a seeker, not a teacher. If you have found something useful or touching in one of my blogs then that is because the Lord saw fit to use it. God's Spirit is the teacher, not me. I started this blog for a few reasons: one, I wanted a record of things God has done because I have a poor memory. I knew I would need to go back and remind myself of His faithfulness. Two, I wanted my kids to have a chronicle of my life. Rather than an emotionally-charged diary that I wrote in when upset, I chose a public forum that helps me keep a more balanced perspective. And Lastly, I process by writing things out, so it is a therapeutic process. During a conversation I had this morning, I bemoaned my tendency to cry. I especially hate crying in front of others. It seems I cry when attempting to speak about anything of importance; I hate confrontation, because people matter. I tear up in empathy when anyone else does. Waterworks should dissipate with maturity or time, right? I am still hoping, but this doesn't seem to be the case. At eleven, emotions choked me as I tried to give my simple testimony at summer camp. In college speech class I read aloud a fictitious story and sobbed like it was true. I had to fight through tears to even finish the assignment because I had gotten too deep into my own story. Crazy! Talk about embarrassing! No doubt I looked like a crazy person which makes my logical brain mad. As a young adult, I co-lead a study about the book Lies Women Believe and balled my way through that. Vulnerability equals tears in my body at least. Ugh... For years I have struggled with this - I see it as a weakness. I feel like it is Satan's attempt to silence me. He likes to keep people isolated instead of openly sharing their faith journeys with each other. Shame and fear like the dark, so the best way to get rid of them is to expose it to the light! Others have tried to convince me that my tears are a strength?... yeah um OK, I still don't see it, but thanks! Maybe, I am incapable of relating what the Lord had done or is revealing to me without leaking, but at least with writing, no one can see the tears. Haha! Mostly, it is annoying to have the meaning behind your tears be misread. I even cry when I am angry and that is extremely aggravating! Every opportunity of speaking has left me choking through tears. No matter how much I prepare or outline, my emotions of gratitude and freedom overwhelm me. I can think it dry-eyed in my head, but as soon as I break my silence tears flow. I will not be silenced though. If God compels me to speak despite my tears, I must. So anyways... this morning as I was driving home, I had an epiphany. God spoke deeper meaning into the word MISTY. The moments I am sharing with you all are my misty moments. Here I lay out personal miracles and struggles, both of which have come with tears. Whether the meaning behind the tears is nostalgia, pain or gratitude matters not, God knows. All these years I thought the name originated from the hazy mist of our inability to understand an infinite God, but more deeply it is all the moments God collected my tears in a bottle. Psalm 56:8 I love that God has layers and he is showing me my own layers. I learn things and then learn them again at a whole-other-level. He takes us deeper in. He didn't take away the original meaning of Misty - that is still a huge revelation in my journey of how big God is! But, he added a deeper meaning of embracing who he created me to be - a woman chronicling her misty moments for whoever he brings to read them. May he be glorified by every tear and every moment!
I love that God has a sense of humor. He is so wise in timing. He knows when we are ready or in need of a revelation. He knows what we can handle and what we can't. I know that is why He enjoys blowing my mind with epiphanies that are personal and perfect in His timing. Haha - well played God! Have you had an epiphany lately? Share it with me! This is my current read. After finishing Jen's Of Mess and Moxie book I knew I had to read her previous one. I am only a few pages in but already her witty humor is a huge draw for me. I'll post at the end of the summer with a further review. Below are two groups of titles. One group I have already read this summer and thoroughly enjoyed. Most are fiction because summer is for chilling, but several nonfiction found their way into my library bag. And boy am I glad they did! The second group is my current random grab from the library and online, so we shall see how they work out. From left to right: My summer started with a tale about connection on a flight, continued through a historical piece on Jewish midwifery, followed by a spiritual visit at an Amish bed and breakfast and - oh how I enjoyed the diversity! After that, I was introduced to two new-to-me authors. One had me shouting Amen! The other's work astounded me. The internal dialogue was authentic and the spiritual journey was alongside Frank Peretti or Ted Dekker. The last in this group was probably the most beneficial. I know a reread of this book is the only way for it to be fully absorbed, so this one I purchased! I enjoyed my random library grabs so much! (I have three kids, so I will admit to judging covers and only reading the back of a few of these ahead of time!) I only ended up returning two to the library that I was unable to get into at this time - So yay for the random grab method!! I am a big believer in timing. Sometimes you attempt to read a highly recommended book and nothing resonates, but you read the same book in another season of life and you can't get enough! If it doesn't grab you, don't sweat it - maybe next time! These are the titles that I random-grabbed this last library visit. The last two were offline. One is a new author to me. Another is second in a series. Two of these are actually the same author but different genres. ;) These should keep me busy for the next week or two, but then I will need some more suggestions.
Another handy tool of busy moms is putting things on hold to pick up at the desk! So,what is on your summer list? Comment below with your suggestions!! |
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