We are grateful for…
Last night was one of those nights that every couples needs and that we have gotten to experience much more now that TV has been removed from our lives. Charlie and I sat together and just talked for a couple of hours. We vented to each other about some frustrations that we are currently working through and then we each encouraged each other in those areas. I am blessed beyond measure to be married to a man that will sit with me like that. It is why I truly am married to my best friend.
One of the things I shared with him was something that God had really been convicting me about in the last few days. You see, our lease at our apartment expires at the end of March and we had been going back and forth about what to do. Our rent is going up quite a bit and, while we love where we live, there seemed to be an opportunity to move closer to Charlie’s job and save some money. After a lot of talking and praying through it separately and together we both really felt like God was leading us to stay. We are both at peace and looking forward to doing some things are here that need to be done rather than packing up boxes for a move in just over a month! But during our searching I ended up looking at a lot of townhomes, a lot of condos and a lot of apartments, too. We even took a drive the other day through a community that I would love to settle in when the time is right for us to buy a home. There are some beautiful homes in this community. Really, they are all beautiful. But then there are those homes… You know. The massive ones where everything is custom and “just so”. Well, between all of the condos, townhomes and apartments and looking at pictures of all of these massive homes I found myself drifting into that ugly place of discontentment.
When we first moved into our apartment we were moving from a trailer that was parked in my parent’s RV parking. We suddenly had a walk in closet in our master bedroom that could have fit our previous bedroom inside of it! We were blown away by our new home and everything that this community had to offer. So where did that excitement go? I was loosing it and the Lord was getting my attention.
When we first moved in, Charlie and I had wanted to make a list of all of the things we were grateful for now that we lived here. Well, we never did. It was one of those “great ideas” that we never really made a priority. So last night we made it a priority! We sat there and laughed together as we remembered all of the little things about the trailer that we were not sad to say good bye to. Don’t get me wrong… that trailer blessed us beyond what we could have asked for! God’s timing was perfect and we were completely taken care of with a roof over our heads and amazing neighbors ;) But I’ll be honest, I enjoy having a toilet that I can flush and then not know where the “contents” of that flush will end up!
We are going to print and frame the lists (we have one for each room) and then hang them as reminders in their designated place. Each list will read “We are grateful for…” at the top. The Lord has SO richly blessed us and I never want to take my eyes off of that. Today as I sat down to have a little quiet time to myself and read some more of Dr. Dobson’s The New Strong-Willed Child I came across something that just reiterated what Charlie and I had talked about last night.
“David never had a roof over his head until his family finally moved into an abandoned chicken coop. His mother covered the boarded walls with cheap wallpaper, and David thought they were living in luxury. Then the city of San Jose condemned the area, and David’s “house” was torn down. He couldn’t understand why the community would destroy so fine a place.”
“Have you found honey? Eat only as much as you need, lest you be filled with it and vomit.” - Proverbs 25:16
