Thursday SHINE.....
Today's Reading: Mark 14:1-25
Happy Thursday, sweet SHINE girls!
This week is an emotional week for so many of us. Not only due to the fact that school is ending, children are growing, and things are changing. Also because of the devastation that has hit Oklahoma. My goodness, such tragedy.
As I brace my heart for the ending of another school year for my children, I rejoice in the fact that I have them! I rejoice in the fact that although they are growing, they are breathing and they are living life!
Yesterday was very emotional. It started with meeting my girlfriends in the same parking lot that we have been meeting for the last 5 years, to have our last run/walk of the school year.
Our cheerleader and leader of our running group, Erin, will be getting a job outside of the home, so we celebrated her last run with us. {tears}
We celebrated her, when we really felt like crying our eyes out together. We chose to focus on the GOOD, not the sad.
Not only Erin, but several other of our dear friends will be beginning new seasons with jobs outside of the home when the new school year approaches.
Needless to say, our group will look different. Smaller.
My heart wants to stop time, to make it stand still. I do not like change. I do not like change. I do not like change.
Do any of us, really?
As I was pondering how different life will be next year without many of the familiar faces I have grown accustomed to seeing every day, I realized something.
I realized that our memory verse applies to this. It really does!
Happy Thursday, sweet SHINE girls!
This week is an emotional week for so many of us. Not only due to the fact that school is ending, children are growing, and things are changing. Also because of the devastation that has hit Oklahoma. My goodness, such tragedy.
As I brace my heart for the ending of another school year for my children, I rejoice in the fact that I have them! I rejoice in the fact that although they are growing, they are breathing and they are living life!
Yesterday was very emotional. It started with meeting my girlfriends in the same parking lot that we have been meeting for the last 5 years, to have our last run/walk of the school year.
Our cheerleader and leader of our running group, Erin, will be getting a job outside of the home, so we celebrated her last run with us. {tears}
We celebrated her, when we really felt like crying our eyes out together. We chose to focus on the GOOD, not the sad.
Not only Erin, but several other of our dear friends will be beginning new seasons with jobs outside of the home when the new school year approaches.
Needless to say, our group will look different. Smaller.
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| From left: Mari and baby Bennett, Jamie Miles, Angie Ludlow, Melissa Martin, Jenifer Fiorenza, Amy Butler, Me front row: Erin Spinks, Ashley Moon, Stephanie Keener |
My heart wants to stop time, to make it stand still. I do not like change. I do not like change. I do not like change.
Do any of us, really?
As I was pondering how different life will be next year without many of the familiar faces I have grown accustomed to seeing every day, I realized something.
I realized that our memory verse applies to this. It really does!
"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world,
but be transformed by the renewing of your mind."
Romans 12:2
Change is inevitable. God created change. Everything that surrounds us changes.
So, when I try to hold on white-knuckled to the past and desperately try to keep things the same, I am conforming to the world.
Conforming to the world and to the past, allows no room for growth, or for HOPE in our present and our future!
We were created for change. I can whole-heartily say PRAISE GOD! I need change. Without God changing me, I would be an utter disaster.
As we all adjust to the changes going on around us, let's remember to let the Lord transform us and renew our minds in the process. Holding on to the ONLY thing that NEVER changes--God!
A song keeps playing in my head as I type. It's "Your Love Never Fails" by Jesus Culture. I think I've posted it before.
Here it is again: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXsWAAhnGhc
My favorite part of the song is this chorus:
You stay the same through the ages
Your love never changes
There may be pain in the night but joy comes in the morning
And when the oceans rage
I don't have to be afraid
Because I know that You love me
Your love never fails
He never changes, friends! What comfort!
Conformity is for the world, change and trust in God's direction is for US!
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This has become one of my favorite things to say when I'm feeling overwhelming change.
Dr. Seuss was a wise, wise man.
smiling because it happened,
jill
