So Blessed!

I am loved by three men.

The first to love me cannot be seen.

He calls me His child, and He saved me from a life of sin and death.

I call the second one Daddy.

He provided for me as he taught me about the providence of the One who first loved me.

The third man that loves me is a gift from the first and a blessing to the second.

He will soon get to be the earthly provider and the son the second one never had.

My First Love has so graciously given me these two men on earth who have and will provide for and protect me.

My First Love has richly shown me His unfailing love through the love of these two here on earth.

I could not be more blessed to have been shown the love of my Heavenly Father through the love of my earthly father and my earthly prince.

I am loved by three men.

The First gave me the second and the third.

Oh, what rich love!

The Daily-ness of God

While working on Beth Moore's Breaking Free Bible study tonight, I came across the following story that she penned as a reflection. It really struck a chord with me, so I thought that I would share it with you. (Side note: it starts off sounding very much like the Footprints in the Sand poem, but it's different, so stick with it!)

"Imagine going to heaven and standing by God as He lovingly shows you the calendar of His plan for your earthly life. It begins with the day you are born. Once you received Christ as Savior, every day that follows is outlined in red. You see footprints walking through each day of each week of your life. On many of the days, two sets of footprints appear. You inquire: 'Father, are those my footprints on the calendar every day and is the second set of prints when you joined me?'
He answers, 'No, My precious Child. The consistent footprints on your calendar are Mine. The second set of footprints are when you joined Me.'
'Where are You going, Father?'
'To the destiny I planned for you, hoping you'd follow.'
'But, Father, where are my footprints all those times?'
He answers, 'Sometimes you went back to look at old resentments and habits while I was still going forward, hoping you'd join Me. Sometimes, you departed from My path and chose your own calendar instead. Other times, your footprints can even be seen on another person's calendar because you thought you liked their plan better. At other times, you simply stopped because you would not let go of something you could not take to the next day.'
'But, Father, we ended up OK even if I didn't walk with You every day, didn't we?'
He holds you close and smiles, 'Yes, Child, we ended up OK. But, you see, OK was never what I had in mind for you.'
'Father, what are those golden treasure boxes on certain days?'
'Blessings, My child, I had for you along the way. Those that are open are those you received. Those still closed were days you did not walk with Me.'"

As I get older, I long for more daily-ness in my walk with God-especially in the mundane. This story was so sweet to me and reinforced to me how much I really do long to walk each minute of each day along the calendar that God has in place for me. Just being with Him in His daily presence is enough blessing for me!

"But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him."
2 Corinthians 2:14

His Rule is Right

"God knows our struggles. He knows every authority problem we have. He knows the times our trust has been betrayed. Like a father cupping his rebellious child's face in his strong hands, He says, 'Listen to me...Hear me...I, even I, am he who comforts you...I am the Lord your God!' (Isaiah 51:1, 7, 12, 15)" quoted from Beth Moore

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you. Thank you for your Son through whom I am able to come directly into your presence. Thank you for your continued patience with me as you stretch me and push me to grow even more like your Son. As I spent time today studying your Word, I found myself in awe of your sovereignty. Throughout my life you have been in control, and not only that but your way has been right and best. Father, I can often fight against your way feeling the discomfort of your timing versus mine. But, in the end, your way is still right; and I am infinitely more blessed than imagineable. Lord, I trust you with my whole heart. I lay my future into your hands, and trust you to take care of me. I thank you so much for my relationship with Taylor and for the new job-both rich opportunities and blessings in my life. I lay both of these new and wonderful things before you asking simply that because of them I will bring you glory. I am finding more and more that inexpressible joy is found once pain has been experienced. You have given me a time of inexpressible joy. I pray that when the next trials and hardships come along I continue to find joy in you and worship your name even more whole-heartedly. I love you, dear Lord. In Jesus' name-Amen

"Forget the former things:
do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the desert
and streams in the wasteland."
Isaiah 43:18-19

All Grown Up

About a month ago, my sweet little girl turned 1. Because of all the exciting things happening with Taylor, I have completely forgotten to post pics of her all grown up. So, I was taking pictures of her today after her grooming and realized that I should post a few. The first picture of her was one of the ones the breeder sent to me that convinced me to get her. The second is not long after I brought her home, and the last three are from today. Such a cutie!!

There is No Other

Wow! It's so amazing and awesome what God can do in a period of three weeks. These last three and a half weeks have been transforming in my life. God has just continued to show me over and over that His way and His timing are best and that all things work together for good. Obviously, as I have blogged about recently, Taylor is a HUGE blessing in my life. Our relationship is incredible, and what we see God doing in us as individuals and as a couple continues to blow us away on a daily basis. In addition to this change in my life, I have been praying about taking my career in a different direction. I have been burned out this year, and I have always known I wanted to someday find myself working in a more specialized area. I found out on Tuesday that I have been accepted through my district to be a dyslexia therapist next year! I am so incredibly excited! Like I said, it's amazing and awesome what God can do in a period of three weeks! I was reading tonight about God's right to rule and I came across this verse: "I am the LORD, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God." He has been in control the entire time, and He's always known that these last three weeks would come to be. He simply asked me to be patient, walk by His side, and learn about Him a little more so that I could be ready for this time of my life.

On a different note, I really wanted to share a school story from today. We had major, major storms in the area last night that caused a lot of damage in the neighborhoods around my school. The kids came in today fired up and ready to share their stories of missing trampolines and toppled trees. But, my favorite story of all was from a little boy in another 1st grade classroom. Here's how it went:

Boy: "Miss Roof, a subtraction problem happened in my backyard this morning."
Roof: "Oh no, what happened?"
Boy: "I have 4 chairs. 1 blew into the alley. 1 blew into the pool. And 1 blew into the spa. How many chairs are left?"

I guess we're teaching them something, huh? He came to my class today and shared that with my kids, so that we could use his real-life problem as our problem solving for today. It was fantastic! Happy subtracting!

"I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like me."
Isaiah 46:9

Taylor and Kristi pictures

Taylor came into town this weekend so we could see each other and celebrate his birthday! I met a bunch of his family members. We had a wonderful time! His family welcomed me in like they had known me forever. We laughed until I thought I'd be sick. It was great! Taylor and I enjoyed spending a real life weekend together even though it was so tough to send him back to Midland. We've got another 9 days before I go to Midland to see him again. Such will be our life for the next 2 months, but despite how tough it is, each of us can see how God is blessing us and our relationship even across the distance. Here are some pictures we took over the weekend! The bottom picture is us with some very close friends of mine-the Higgins family! Enjoy!

Becoming like my Savior

I am realizing that my relationship with Taylor pushes me to spend more time with Christ. This is happening for a myriad of reasons, but the one that strikes closest at the moment is as follows: I am becoming more aware that the consequences of not seeking maturity impact not only myself. Now, that has always been the case, but it suddenly seems more tangible. It's like I've tried to convince myself that I can hide a lack of growth from others-which was a lie in itself. But now, the Lord has placed someone in my life that I am allowing myself to become completely transparent before and accountable to, and therefore I have no desire to ever sit before him and say, "I am not taking the time to grow and mature." I'm sure at some point in our life together this kind of conversation will take place, but I'm discovering how freeing it is to be so genuinely and unconditionally loved by a Godly man. Having such a man of God in my life is serving to draw me closer to Christ which in turn is causing me to long to be even more like my Savior.

Dear Father, please do not let this change. Continue to use this relationship to draw me closer to Your side. Continue to create and mold in me the gentle and sweet spirit of a Godly woman.

"A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken."
Ecclesiastes 4:12