The sunset was SO spectacular tonight as we were heading home from play rehearsal. The light was golden all around us, and the colors were so warm and bright.
It was so overwhelming that Caeden asked if we could just pull over and look at it for a few minutes.
So we did!
We knew that photos couldn't capture the real beauty of the sunset, but we took a few so we could savor the memory in the future.
So much of what is going on in our lives right now feels so heavy and sad and difficult. We really felt like this was God reminding us that He is with us, and He is in control, and there IS still beauty in the world and good around us.
There is a lot of unrest in our country right now.
I am not a person of influence. I do not feel I am one who can or should speak on the internet about most of the issues. I truly hate that seemingly all issues have become political. Hatred and injustice of any kind are horrible and disgusting and tragic. The best thing I can do is pray to Jesus, who is the only One who can truly help us spread love in the place of all the hatred, judgement and fear. His love covers everything.
Of course, my favorite way to pray is with music...
I'm pretty sure I've posted this photo/prayer before. It resonates so well with how I feel, well, most of the time. Our prayer pastor sent it in her encouragement email yesterday morning, and it really helped me. I was able to pray for the right words and address a difficult conflict, and praise the Lord have forgiveness, an apology, and resolution! Hallelujah!
The other night, I was really upset and kept waking up in the night. I didn't want my mind to wander or overanalyze a particular situation, so I tried to think of something that had made me laugh recently. I am not really a meme person (Annah gets so frustrated with me not understanding them or not finding them funny when she thinks they're hilarious.) But this one, really made me crack up the other day. It is the Tellytubbies sun from the intro of the show, which usually has a laughing baby in it, but in this case the famous annoyed meme girl's face is in it. It just hit me as hilarious this week, and strangely enough, helped me relax, laugh, and get back to sleep every time I woke last night and focused on it instead of letting negative thoughts run wild in my brain. Whatever it takes, I guess!
Another thing I am going to try to get back to this week is being mindful of the 7 Sacred Pauses or watches of the day/night. Years ago, Pastor Todd bought this book for me and I read and really loved it. (Amazon link on picture)
I need to read it again now.
At one point, I set up Reminders for each of the 7 pauses in my Google Calendar.
I have reset my reminder list to pop up on my phone and remind me to pause 7 times a day. Now, obviously, I am not holding my phone at all 7 times of the day to even notice these, but if I hear the reminder chime, I am going to try pausing to do these. Hopefully this will help me memorize what they are so I can continue to do them throughout my life. I think it is a really beautiful way to reflect throughout the day!
These are the 7 pauses:
6am - Awakening – Focus on God’s goodness. What needs to awaken in me today? Forgiveness, love for others, productivity, rest?
9am - Blessing – 2 things to meditate on: The Holy Spirit’s presence and the work He has set out for me on this day. I am seeing even menial tasks as sacred when done for God’s glory.
noon - Illumination – Being a light. Think about ways to serve and give hope to others.
3pm - Wisdom – Perspective on the shortness of life – what will really matter in the end? Themes for this pause are surrender, forgiveness, and wisdom.
6pm - Twilight – Gratitude. Thanking God as we transition from work to rest.
9pm - Great Silence - A prayer to conclude the day taking time to evaluate what the day has held: strengths, weaknesses, and accomplishments.
midnight (or middle of the night) – Night Watch – prayers offered for those suffering in this world.
Sunday, April 19, 2020
I emailed all my piano and voice students this week, and have loved hearing back from them how they are using their music and what they are doing during this difficulty. One dad responded that he is playing music from different eras and genres for his kids each night! So cool--a little "music history class" in their kitchen and they probably don't even realize they're learning! That same dad said to me "I think this was God's way of reminding everyone what is truly important in this world." Yep, I think he's right.
Another person said to me, "God has a plan in everything, and I pray we can use this time of a slower pace of life to really evaluate where we are in life and how we are using our time in service to Him!" Ohh yes, and did I need to hear that!!!
During this past week I have been able to connect/reconnect with friends I haven't made time for in a while. One morning my friend Kim called me after she sent me and Jeremy a text to check in and I told her I was having a rough morning. We talked for probably 45 minutes, and I bet we haven't talked on the phone in years! She was such a comfort to me!
One day, Pastor Todd issued a Facebook challenge to our church to reach out to 10 people, and I did that. I delivered a couple of the bags I crocheted last week to friends and was able to visit--from 6 feet away--with Jenna and Will (and Martin) for a while. They are such cheerful people, and Jesus' light just shines out of them...such a refreshing joy to just talk with them for a little bit!
I also texted dear friends that are far away that I haven't caught up with in too long, and had sweet conversations with Lori and Cora. Ohhh, that does a heart good!
Friday evening I received a really difficult message from a friend and I have been extremely upset and emotional about it all weekend. I decided to fast my phone for the weekend, and it has helped not to have it in my hand as much as usual.
Saturday morning, the girls and I started an online women's small group with several women from church. We will be studying this book, and I am really excited about it!
For the first couple weeks, we are just chatting and praying together, since we need time for our books to arrive. It was so wonderful to see the faces of some of our closest sisters in Christ on the zoom meeting yesterday, and to hear about what the past weeks have been like for them, and to pray for one another and feel encouraged! Every person is experiencing the situation differently, but we can all appreciate and support one another through it. Such peace and comfort in that! I am so grateful to have the time to be part of this group and study, as it occurs during a time when I would usually be teaching and unable to participate. Thank you for that, God!
We have loved our PoC online worship service each Sunday morning. Sundays have been crazy busy for us for the past I-don't-know-how-many years! It is so refreshing to get up and come to the living room and worship at home, then have lunch and spend the day relaxing together. A beautiful sabbath, really. I know it is still a lot of work for those on the church staff, the worship team that is rehearsing and playing, and especially the technical staff. They are doing a great job, and it is so meaningful and wonderful for our congregation.
Annah recorded this for her recital at school. We've all enjoyed hearing her learn this very difficult piece these past few weeks!
Today was a gorgeous day here, and we all got at least a little time in the sunshine. Jeremy spent a lot of yesterday outside removing a stump in the yard, and starting to fashion a fire pit in the corner of our yard at Annah's request. Today, he and Sylvia threw a little nerf football back and forth for quite a while, and Sylvia spent time skateboarding, of course. Sometimes it would be nice to have a bigger yard, but I am thankful for the little spot we have.
Annah stood on Sylvia's skateboard and has pretty good balance. I got on for about 7 seconds and found it pretty scary, haha.
This evening, I noticed these flowers by the garage looked so pretty in the sun.
What a wonderful sermon at church this morning; the whole series has been so good so far.
We all really needed it.
Pastor Lisa had candy conversation hearts handed out to each person in a baggy. Then we could go forward and smash our hard heart with a hammer and leave it there and pick up a soft [gummy] heart to leave with. It was pretty therapeutic and really meaningful.
After church, Kamoni came with us, and we stopped for lunch at Culver's. The kids were singing the national anthem with Midnight Blues in Peoria at the Rivermen hockey game, and we got there quite early. It was nice outside, so we walked around Peoria for an hour.
We went down to the riverfront, but didn't have enough time to go into the museum and check it out. Caeden and Kamoni found this lookout point and decided to "emulate" the scene from the Titanic movie.
They don't look much like Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslett, but they are funny.
We came upon the giant American Gothic sculpture and they decided to do "heart hands." Oh boys.
They need their own suitcase and pitchfork, I think.
We came upon the Holocaust Memorial and were stunned.
We had noticed this sculpture on our way past the Civic Center at the beginning of our walk, and the boys stopped to read about it on our way back in. It is called "Knockin' on Freedom's Door" by artist Preston Jackson, and it honors Peoria's role in the Underground Railroad.
We went into the Civic Center to wait for the rest of the Midnight Blues crew, and the boys just had to ride the escalator up and down. I love that they enjoy the little things in life.
I enjoy watching the zamboni!
The Rivermen were playing the Evansville Thunderbolts today.
Midnight Blues and some Rivermen folks "backstage" before singing the anthem...
They did an excellent job singing!
Fun in the stands...
It was a really good game!
There were at least 6 intense fights, and the last one was pretty gruesome...One Peoria player had his head repeatedly bashed into the ice until it started bleeding profusely. The Evansville player who did this was ejected from the game, and it took about 10 minutes to try to get the blood off/out of the ice. It was intense, and we hope the guy is ok--definitely concussed at minimum! Yikes!
Peoria won the game, and we went back to Bloomington-Normal. We were going to have supper at Avanti's but it was super busy, so we hit up Monical's instead--no disappointment to me! Yum!
Kamoni was a little tired of having his picture taken, but he should be proud to have survived a whole day with us! We loved having him around!
Today we celebrated as Annah and Caeden were both baptized!!!
Meeting with Pastor Karin before the service to talk about what the service and ceremony involves...
Thrive kids joined the worship team for a special song/dance during the service, and it was awesome!
Pastor Todd praying over the baptizans during the service
VIDEO: Professing our faith in Jesus
I remember the day Annah first gave her heart to Jesus when she was just a toddler, bowing her head in prayer on her little bed in her room with me. She doesn't remember that, but she has many other memories of Jesus' love and saving grace in her life that we celebrate today
as she professes her faith in Him!
VIDEO:
Pastor Zac talked about Caeden's living life with enthusiasm, and it's true. We rejoice that he walks with Jesus and gets his strength and joy from Him!
VIDEO:
"For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives." - Romans 6:4 NLT
We were so blessed to have several wonderful friends and family join us for the baptisms today, along with our church family!
Aunt Marti texted celebrations:
Last night we had a special dinner at home with Gram and Krampa. Today, some of us had a celebratory lunch at Noodles.
What a special, important day! As a mom, I can honestly say there is nothing more wonderful than knowing my children are walking with Jesus!!!
