Girl Time is Divine!

(Above--mom and I celebrating our b-days together and hamming it up in Nov)

Ah yes, the importance of girl time in my life is all too often forgotten. With our busy schedule, my rare free moments are spent with my precious hub (which I love!), so time with the gals is all too rare. Except for last night...I enjoy having girl time with friends, and I also love just hanging with my mom. For the first time since we moved here, my mom and I had a girls night all to ourselves. Adam left town for a ministers' retreat, and my dad traveled off shore for his job, so it left just the two of us! We had a ball. Because I have choir on Monday evenings, we met up for an early dinner, ate way too much, and topped it off with Starbucks. I'm surprised I didn't fall asleep in the middle of choir! Once I got back home, she spoiled me with a luxurious bath and we laughed our heads off about random things. We then went to bed (I took my dad's place so I didn't sleep alone!) and I found out this morning that Adam isn't the only one who claims I am a cover-steeler (oops, sorry guys!) To top if off, she correctly assumed that I didn't take my lunch to work today because I wasn't home last night, and surprised me with lunch (and another Starbucks, ahhh, the joy!). Wow, what a treat. I have learned to embrace the moments I have with my mom...it may sound negative, but we don't know when God may decide to take any of us home. Also, in the ministry we don't know when He might move us away from Houston! I have decided to savor these moments with our parents nearby. Mom, I love you! Thanks for being you. I cherish our time together. You are amazing.

Ok, What's Next?

"O Lord, you are the portion of my inheritance and my cup;
You maintain my lot."
---Psalm 16:5---

This is an excerpt from a book I was reading this morning that really encouraged me...

"In my own pictorial view of seeking God's will I see a rushing stream in the mountains or fields, with stones big enough to put a foot on to cross. I picture God showing me on stone big enough to start across on, and then one stone on which to put my foot next. And then the waters whirl around, and I am to stay where I am, on that particular stone, until He shows me the next step. To rush ahead on my own would be disastrous...It is a warning to watch out for impatience in wanting to "get on with it," whatever "it" happens to be. God tells us that to be in a fog, a dark place, to have no clue of what comes next, is to be in a place where we need to trust Him and keep our hand in His hand, waiting for Him to show us where to go or what to do next...
All right--you and I often want to know, "What comes next?" God is saying, "Trust Me." He is saying, "Stay in the place where you are until I show you [in a variety of ways, usually not mystical at all] what comes next." He is saying, "Blessed is the person who waits in the dark, holding My hand." (Edith Schaeffer, Common Sense Christian Living)

This devo summarized our life so well right now. I love how she says God will lead us, and not in some "mystical" way. Adam and I believe that God gave us His word, prayer, and brains to discern His will. Not that miraculous things do not occur, but I think most times the answer we are looking for is right there in scripture, and we are searching in vain, looking everywhere else to find it. And sometimes that answer is simply "no" or "wait". We have been in a place of searching for the next thing, both in our professional lives (although NO, we are NOT looking to leave our church, we love it and Adam loves his job there!) and personal lives. We have been asking, "God, what is next? What do you have for us?" And we have been resting in the place of feeling like we do not know anything, except that God is faithful, and His Word is true, which actually, is knowing everything. I love Wayne's song that says "I'd rather walk through the darkness with Jesus, than walk in the light alone." I am willing to wait, Lord, wait for Your perfect plan to unfold. And we cherish this time in the unknown, because you are with us.

Still Embarrassed....

A really embarrassing thing happened to me this weekend. You know how sometimes people will ask you to share your most embarrassing moment? This one definitely takes the cake for me.
Adam and I led worship for a marriage conference at our church yesterday. There were 4 different sessions, and we led some songs before each one. I was really excited to sing with my sweetie; we love having the opportunity to sing together and dream of doing it more often. We have sung at weddings, youth services and camps, and have talked about wanting to sing at marriage conferences, but this was our first time to do one. Since we had yet to do a marriage conference before, I had no clue what to wear. I knew people coming would be in anything from sweats and jeans to nice outfits, and I figured since we were on stage we should look nice, but not overly nice. My sweet hub sensed my stress and took me shopping Friday night to find the perfect outfit: a pair of dressy jeans and a cute top. Perfect...nice, but not too nice. What a relief--I had found something to wear!
The first session went smoothly, and as my morning coffee hit me, I raced to the bathroom before it was time for us to sing again. I made it back in time, we sang again, and then sat down to listen to the speaker. I grabbed my notes to begin writing, and noticed that the front of my new jeans had a hole in them...no, not a hole...you guessed it, I had left my fly undone!! In my hurry to get back, I totally forgot to zip my pants, and then proceeded to lead worship with my fly open! I was horrified, to say the least. I asked a fellow pastor's wife if she noticed and she insisted no one did, but I can't help but wonder who saw my fly open! I am still embarrassed just thinking about it. I can honestly say that I have never left my fly open in public. Leave it to me to do it for the first time on stage in front of a crowd of people from our church!
I finally started to laugh, and I cracked up at the thought of the Lord saying to me, "It's not about what you wear, Laura. It's about making sure your pants are zipped and you aren't flashing everyone." Ahhh, yes...I will double check my zipper from now on! And maybe not stress as much about what to wear?!?!

Happy Pig Day!!

Ok, it's day late, but Happy Pig Day anyway! At my school, we celebrate pig day by wearing pink and petting pigs. I love it. At home we take a second to celebrate and eat some bacon!