I'm pretty sure I have read this article at least five times since I first learned about it a little over a year ago. I have a number of good friends who have read it too, so I know that for some readers this is probably not a new resource. But I have found it extremely helpful. If you are not struggling with infertility yourself, but are close to someone who is, this article provides a clear window into what the infertile person might be feeling and going through.
Thoughts on the Parade of Nations
Like I said on Friday, I really like the Olympics. While I know there are mixed opinions about the opening ceremonies, it is honestly one of my favorite parts of the games. Yes, it drags on a bit. Yes, it can be difficult to interpret at times. But there is something about the parade of nations that gets me every time. I will most likely never visit the majority of the countries who are represented at the Olympics, but for just a brief moment I get to learn a little about them. And I love that. I love seeing the faces of the people from obscure or underrepresented countries. They are so proud. They are so excited. They appreciate the moment in ways we Americans will probably never realize.
Friday is for....the Olympics are coming!
For as long as I can remember, the Olympics have always been a staple of my summer. Every four years everything stops and I am glued to the television, ready to cheer on the great USA. When I was a kid, I had more time to watch because I was home during the summer. Now that I am a teacher, I am back to watching the coverage during the day as well. To say that we are excited would be a huge understatement. We cannot wait!
I Want it All
There has been a lot of talk lately about whether or not women can have it all, and by all people usually mean work full time as a mother. But all this talk about what a woman can or cannot do in her various seasons of life can be applied to any age, any marital status, and any amount of children in the home. A recent Forbes article states that young women today don’t feel as inclined towards leadership because of fear of failure. They have been told their entire lives that they can have it all, and unfortunately they have heard that they must be it all. The author says:
God is On His Own Timetable
True confession: I am an impatient person living in an impatient age. This does not work well when I stop to realize that God’s timetable is often much different than mine. Immediate for him is not immediate for me. For God a day is like a thousand years. That’s a long time for a person who wants things to happen in minutes, not millennia. And I don’t think I am alone in my desire for the immediate. In this digital age, our impatience is even more pronounced.
Lessons from Unanswered Prayers
I have said it before on this blog, and the Lord keeps bringing me back to it. The psalms are filled with tremendous encouragement and hope for the weary Christian. In them we find honest human emotion: joy, pain, sorrow, happiness, and the like. There is something for everyone in the psalms. In the last few years I have repeatedly gone back to this precious book. I have found encouragement, hope, comfort, and peace from God through these inspired writers.
A Surprising Encouragement (at least for me!)
One of the main reasons I enjoy running in the morning is the fact that I can usually make my way through a sermon over the course of my run. It's primarily owing to how slow I run, which is more of a jog than a run. But it serves my soul. I like morning, but I also find that it is in the morning where the greatest battle for my joy happens. I can go to bed feeling pretty good about the next day, and wake up completely discouraged. And all I did was sleep! It is in these dark moments that I have experienced God's kindness through the preaching of his word.
Help a Younger Sister Out
Before I got married, and shortly after, I was regularly told by older couples to enjoy the happy moments of wedded bless because it won’t last. One couple even told us that after we had been married as long as they had (three years) all the excitement would wane and we would be just another married couple like them, hardly touching, bickering constantly, and doing our own separate things.
I Can Do All Things
Like most teenagers I made frequent trips to the orthodontist over the course of a couple of years. My teeth were definitely a piece of work, so I saw my orthodontist regularly. He was a Christian, so it was not uncommon to hear the local Christian radio station playing in the background, or see Bible verses and posters plastered on the walls. And while I would wait in the chair for him to do his work, unable to do much of anything because my mouth was screwed open, I would stare at the posters. At the time I was not a Christian, so even though I was the child of Christians, the verses meant very little to me. But one in particular stands out clearly in my mind.
My First Live Radio Interview
ast Friday, I was interviewed by a Christian radio station in California about my most recent post on Her.meneutics, "Why Jesus is Not Your Boyfriend." I had never been on live radio before and was honored to be asked. To be honest, I had no idea what to expect. But Joe Pursch (the man who interviewed me) was kind, and the callers were gracious and encouraging.