God's Post-it Note

This year my one word resolution is "rest." It's been such a freeing time in my life to allow myself to rest. That may sound strange to some people, but to a recovering people pleaser/run to the next thing on my list type of person it isn't. I read somewhere that you know you need to re-evaluate life when you don't mind getting sick because it gives you an excuse to get rest without feeling guilty. That's where I was a year or so ago. Thanks be to God that He directs my paths to learn about these areas I need to address in my life to feel peaceful. God says He will take our burdens and His yoke is light, so when I start feeling heavy I know that it's time for some vertical realignment.

 It takes a daily, sometimes hourly, reminding that my spirit being fed first is what will keep my peaceful attitude. My friend Julie encouraged me to sign up for the IF:Equip email each day and read through Acts with the online community. It has been so uplifting and not intimidating at all. In the past I felt I had to read whole chapters or even a book of the bible each day to get my "fill." The ladies with "IF" have broken it down into a few verses each day to read and reflect on. It is amazing how much I miss when I speed read through chapters. These last couple of days it's been focusing on Acts 4 and how boldly uneducated Peter speaks to the people about the miracles he's witnessed. Peter and John are told to stop speaking or teaching about Jesus and then in Acts 4:20 they say "...we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard."

They can't not tell people about the wonders of God's power. And the same is true for anyone who has experienced it. I cannot stop telling anyone who will sit still long enough about the way God carried me from the darkest pit to a place where I can see and appreciate life again on a whole new level. I never would have dreamed that a nightmare could be replaced with such an appreciation for life that I fully embrace it and want others so desperately to know the freedom to be found in God alone.

Ethan is over two months old now. So young that his time is still measured in months, but this precious little boy represents the beauty that can come from ashes. His blue eyes melt me. Thomas can't quit saying "What a little cutie!" and  smothering loving on him. Caroline wants to hold him and change some diapers. We are cherishing this time together as the gift that it is.
I am about 420 months old. Wouldn't it be funny if we continued to talk in months instead of years about our age? I am painfully aware that our days are numbered, yet today several friends of mine are walking the path of being told a specific number of days are left for their loved ones right now and it has been a reminder, even to me, of how ridiculously short the time is we have together here. 420 months so far for me...Acts 4:20 speaking today to me. It's one of God's holy post-it notes He left for me today...I can't not tell someone today about God's faithfulness.