Random thoughts from this past week

My random thoughts over the past week or so...

"I realized
No, we're not promised tomorrow
So I'm gonna love you
Like I'm gonna lose you
I'm gonna hold you
Like I'm saying goodbye 
Wherever we're standing
I won't take you for granted 'cause we'll never know when
When we'll run out of time so I'm gonna love you
Like I'm gonna lose you." - Meghan Trainor

This song applies not only to somebody you're dating/married to, but to all friends and family. I don't want to take people for granted.

When we see other people in situations similar to ours, it's funny how easy it is to give them advice that you can't hardly follow yourself, or that you've already failed at. It's easy to say, "Oh, trust me, you should do this. I didn't, and should have." And yet you wonder, if someone had told you that 6 month ago, would you have followed their advice?

To the people who only say or think negative things... can they change? Or are they forever stuck that way? Even if they have depression, can they change the way they see things or say things? Can they search for the positive things, or is their negativity just so deeply ingrained in them that they can't?

Little kids have such excitement over things. They also unashamedly show off. They want you to be impressed with their clothes or shoes, their new ability to write words, their toys... "Watch!" "Look!" "Do you see my new shoes?" "Do you like my dress?" I hope that I never lose my childlike excitement over things. But I also know that sometime the little kids in all of us still want to ask people, "Do you like my dress?" "Did I do well in singing/taking pictures/on my presentation?" "Look at my new car!" "It's my birthday!" We all want the people we love to love us back. We all want to hear words of affirmation and encouragement and compliments. Sometimes we voice that, and sometimes we don't.

This upcoming weekend is our leadership retreat. We go twice a year, and this will be my 4th one. I love these trips. We don't go anywhere after we get to the lake house - on past retreat with bible study people we would go hiking, go into small towns to shop and eat, etc. But on these trips we don't go anywhere else. And I'm totally ok with that. I like playing games, laughing, and just talking to everybody. These weekends do a "quality time" person some good!

"Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus." - Philippians 4:6-7. This verse has been something I've come back to again and again over the past year. Maybe, in hindsight, I'd say it was my verse for the year. I have felt some of the strongest peace from the Lord over this year. That's not to say I haven't battled everything that is the opposite of peace, but I come back to this verse and I come back to the Lord in prayer. And truly, there is this peace that exceeds anything I can understand. Sometimes my brain says, "Hey, THIS IS TERRIBLE. Why am I not freaking out?" For the times when I have peace in the middle of terrible things, I know that it comes from Him. I know that it also comes from prayer that my friends and family have prayed over me. I can't imagine not having this peace, for those who don't know Him. I can only see it in other people's lives, how the tiniest things set them off into panic and anger, and I ache for them to have the peace that God provides.