Day 566 of Giving Thanks

Our weekends are so full of “things to do”; and this one is no different. I thought we were going to take it a little easier since it was raining… I thought wrong. Chris spent the afternoon taking down more of the hill in preparation for the continued building of the retaining wall. I did some housework, not much mind you, and painted one of the four doors in the house and the frame.

And, it wouldn’t be a complete weekend without me doing something new – today, I used a powered post-hole digger with Chris. What took him 2 hours to do manually, we did in under five minutes with the amazing piece of equipment. Our list, of “things to do” goes on and on, however, after all the work we did last week with what will be done by tomorrow, the list is getting smaller, and finally feels achievable. Thankfully, we have been able to do all the work ourselves, and we are learning how to do things together.

How things have changed. How we have changed.

Almost a year ago, we were two married people living very separate lives. And today, with a major change – one which was forced by God – we are living and building a life together.

Wow, how things have changed. Amazing, how we have changed. Because of God’s wonderful grace, God’s tender mercies and God’s outpouring of favor, I have changed.

If you had looked from the outside, all would have “looked” normal and right. I played my part well; the wife of an unbeliever, living a tough existence in my mind. Reality was, I was living a life of resistance; resisting this urgings of God, through my husband. But all along, inside, God was doing a major work on me. I was justifying many things, and the more I justified, the more things were not working well.

Do you know the enemy loves strife and disconnection in marriage? The more those two things happen, the more in-tune to the couple the enemy becomes. During this time, I was using my faith as justification for many things, like I said. Then, one day (or in a season), God made it very clear what I needed to do – I am grateful that I was cured of my disobedience, my idolization of something in my life, for the opening of my eyes and most of all, the changing of my heart.

How did all this happen? It happened as an answer to prayer – my prayer was, “Whatever it takes Lord, show me how to fix this”.  I placed my life into God’s hands, willingly, completely… It is something I work on every day.

Place Your Life Before God“So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.” ~Romans 12:1-2 (The Message)

No matter what I need to go through physically, due to this illness, “it” is all worth it, because today, I have something back that I would have otherwise lost.

“Anyone who belongs to Christ is a new person. The past is forgotten, and everything is new.” ~2 Corinthians 5:17 (CEV)

How things have changed. How we have changed. How I have changed. How God has stayed the same, never changing and always changing me.

“Every good gift and every perfect present comes from heaven; it comes down from God, the Creator of the heavenly lights, who does not change or cause darkness by turning.” ~James 1:17 (GNT)