I Think I'm Going To Stop Counting

I ask you a question:

Is it okay if I stop counting my days?

(and another question)

Would that go against everything this blog is about?

You see, I spent the other night counting my days in my past entries because I realized I had miscounted somewhere and had to change my days in SO many posts. Which really messed up some of my posts that I mentioned the day in. I think I corrected it all.

Martin wanted to make a cute little spreadsheet for me to figure out my days but I really like counting with my fingers so I politely declined. I need feedback. If you think I should continue counting then I will (this is day 367, by the way).

The last few weeks have happened in a blur. I'm not very organized at this point in my life and it shows by the lack of blogging. The following are ways I'm not organized: my house is messy (not to the naked eye but if you sit down you will see the dust bunnies creeping out from under the couches teasing you). My devotion time has been a bit sporadic. I mean if I sit down at home I'm good. But it's mostly at work for a few minutes when I feel super guilty (which is the old man creeping in - thinking I can win my Father's approval by checking devos off my list). My exercise has stopped. I could give you really, really good excuses. One being work. It's a crazy time for me but I could still find an hour to work out if I really wanted to.

On a positive note, Martin and I are trying to be purposeful and sit at the dining room table for dinner every night and talk. My man is so busy with his big boy job that we go days without talking. We chat but talking is so rare. We're trying to do that at dinner and after. Also, we are being tight tight tight on our money. We are going to have to sacrifice when we have kids and unlike most people we are going to sacrifice to get our kids. SO God has allowed us to be tight which has kicked us both in the pants to do our part. This means Starbucks only as a special occasion (Martin's weakness) and out to eat for dates a couple of times a month (my weakness). We have done some practical things like cut some things off our cell phone and cable bill, canceled Netflix and a few others. That helps our monthly fixed bills.

So one day - will I have all that is unorganized and the great things we are working on all together? Not sure. But I'm sure gonna try.

Day 347 - New Thoughts

I've said it before and I'll say it again! I love sermons. I love lectures. I love to think. It's really weird because fifteen years ago I would have rolled my eyes to those sentences above. But now I find great joy in listening to sermons at work and then thinking through them on my usually silent drive to and from work. And let me tell you, I love music but as I've gotten older I have found that great conversations go on in my head with God and me during those 20 minutes to and from work.

I listened to Beth Moore as she spoke this year to Passion. Passion is a college seminar, if you will. It is tons of speakers and really cool Christian song artist all together down in Atlanta. I've never had the privilege to go and probably never will but they have put the speakers online for us old people and that makes me so very happy.

Beth, that's what I call her. I follow her on Twitter and she puts pictures of her camping trips up so I really feel like I can call her by her first name. She talked about renewing your mind. And then this morning I read about that in Ephesians 5. Something she said hit me and it's given me a new way of looking at things. It's nothing new and I should have known it (and I do know it) and I should be doing it (it's a discipline that doesn't happen by osmosis). Beth said that instead of taking something that has happened in your past or present and purposing yourself to not think about it any longer you need to change the way you think about it.

Have you ever done this before? I will purpose myself not to think about something that happened either going on now or in my past. It's usually something that someone has done to me or someone I love. I get so upset thinking about it and I'm ready to fight. Then I'll get convicted and confess my stupidness and resolve to not think about it any longer. Then I find myself telling someone about it three days later and getting all upset again. And so goes the pattern.

Beth (remember we're good friends) was saying that renewing your mind is not forgetting, it's replacing God's redemption over your life and your past. So it's almost like a filter. And when we filter our past and our circumstances in this way we are seeing them as God does - which is: everything happens because and for His glory (that's what John Piper talked about but that's another day).

Whoop! Whoop! Friends, what is more priceless than gold is a Truth from God's word put into real, everyday practice.

I highly recommend you watch/listen to the speakers at Passion. Ben Terry, one of my favorite bloggers ever has all of the videos up for your viewing pleasure. I think I might watch to them all about 100 times. Click HERE for the link.