Psalm 116

Psalm 116:1-14

New Living Translation (NLT)

Psalm 116

¹ I love the Lord because he hears my voice
    and my prayer for mercy.
² Because he bends down to listen,
    I will pray as long as I have breath!
³ Death wrapped its ropes around me;
    the terrors of the grave^[a] overtook me.
    I saw only trouble and sorrow.
⁴ Then I called on the name of the Lord:
    “Please, Lord, save me!”
⁵ How kind the Lord is! How good he is!
    So merciful, this God of ours!
⁶ The Lord protects those of childlike faith;
    I was facing death, and he saved me.
⁷ Let my soul be at rest again,
    for the Lord has been good to me.
⁸ He has saved me from death,
    my eyes from tears,
    my feet from stumbling.
⁹ And so I walk in the Lord’s presence
    as I live here on earth!
¹⁰ I believed in you, so I said,
    “I am deeply troubled, Lord.”
¹¹ In my anxiety I cried out to you,
    “These people are all liars!”
¹² What can I offer the Lord
    for all he has done for me?
¹³ I will lift up the cup of salvation
    and praise the Lord’s name for saving me.
¹⁴ I will keep my promises to the Lord
    in the presence of all his people.

This Psalm is very personal to me right now. I discovered it in my daily reading a few days ago and it leaped off the page at me. It seems as though every few years I go through a bit of a spiritual crises. I want to have that childlike faith in verse 6, the soul at rest in verse 7, and I absolutely do recognize that He has saved me from death. It's okay to be deeply troubled, to be swayed and confused by what this world seems to offer but I will praise the Lord's name for saving me. He is kind, good, merciful (verse 5) and He hears my voice. Knows my heart. Praise the Lord. There is an old Newsboys song that has sort of been an anthem of mine. I can't quote all the verses but my heart always returns to these lines. . .

"I just believe, I just believe it, sometimes I don't know why, gotta go with my gut again on this one. Not just a feelin' it's a reason, we know a line is crooked 'cause we know what's straight, that little voice inside."

Funny Little Tidbits

okay so my sister gave me this darling book for writing down my children's quotes and I think I have about three written in it. poo. guilty mom. Here are two funnies from earlier this week. On Tuesday on the way to bible study the sun was out and spring was in full force so I was obliged to put on stepping up to the microphone by Newsboys and sing at full voice. Blake says "is this your favorite music?" I said "Yep, I listened to them all the time in high school, they were my favorite when I was a teenager". He responds with "oh yeah, we do this one in church, they were my favorite when I was a teenager too". "Oh really?" I say. He seems to know something is not quite right so he says "yes, well, when I was a young one". hee hee. Then on mother's day as we were driving to Rattlesnake Lake Trinity had piped up from the back seat, "Mom I wish I could go to church with Jesus every day!", "I do to!" I reply, just loving that my little girl loves time with Jesus. "So can we go today?" she asks. "Church is over sweetie, we can't go until next week." "MOooom, I said Chuck-E-Cheeses". *little mommy bubble burst "Oh, yeah baby no Chuck-E-Cheeses today." Stupid noisy minivan. hee hee.

Happy Mothers Day to Me!

 

Well I must say that Isaac kicked off my mothers day perfectly by sleeping through the night for the FIRST time in his life!!!! 8:30 p.m. to 7:20 a.m.  ahhhhhh. I made Jeremy get up and check him at 6 because of course I was awake waiting for him to need me. So the sleeping through the night was great and even better Jeremy got up with him and stayed up with him until he napped at 9:30. I slept until 10, showered, took the two older kids to Starbucks and enjoyed a wonderful Sunday morning coffee and kiddo time and was back before Isaac woke up because he napped for TWO HOURS. (Who took my baby??) Then we packed up a picnic lunch and headed to Rattlesnake Lake which is nearby. I am trying to get to know the area we have lived in for a year a little better which means more exploring! The parking was RIDICULOUS because everyone had our same idea but Jeremy scored a spot in the shade at an odd angle that squeezed us in with plenty of room. He was quite proud and took pics as proof. The lake is small but very blue and pretty in the way teensy lakes are. The kids had fun splashing and we all had Henry Weinhards as a special treat. Isaac is so chill about everything. The other two as babies would have screamed or jerked their feet out of the water if we tried to dangle them in but Isaac stood right in the water and was totally relaxed about it. He is that way with animals too whereas my other two would have been afraid. I hope that points to a chill personality! Anyway back to my day. Jeremy changed all the poopy daiperss, and we had dinner at Flying Saucer Pizza, a totally fun sci-fi themed pizza joint in Redmond. Jeremy also got me an ACTUAL mother's day card. NO jokes or cheesy lines. Perfection. I worked out four days this week, and finished memorizing James Chapter 3, yay me! I am so blessed to have this amazing family. You can't shout loud enough some days that God is good and although we didn't make it to church because Isaac has thrush and I can't let him chew on their toys I was still singing God's praises all day long. Pics of our good time. . .

 it's funny how you always get funny looks drinking these root beers

 Blake kept saying he wanted to go home because of the bugs. Me thinks he doth protest too much.

 two weeks from 9 years of wedded bliss.

 people had actually hiked up there. you could see them. scary.

 itty

 bitty

 Rattlesnake Lake

 so easygoing

 shoes off and in the water. progress.

 oh yeah, loving it now

 turn head away. throw rock. probably not the best plan.

 yeah! I love lakes!

 blow a kiss?

 yay!

 how cute am I??

 thiiiiiiis cute!

 cool old tree thingy

 the fabulous parking spot

 as you can see we didn't exactly parallel park like the rest

Luxury??

So I'm sure that not many of you remember my uneasy truce with public enemy #1 (my post baby body). Well I have decided that the truce is over. Isaac turned 11 mo. yesterday and I actually WANTED to begin exercising again, and when your body tells you to do it, it's GO TIME. I have worked out the past two days and am planning to start eating healthier and chopping my "I'm nursing so extra calories don't matter" ice cream because Isaac will be weaned at a year. I want to ask a question. How do you feel about exercising? Do you love it? Can't live without it? Is it a chore that you detest but you do because you "know you should?" Here is the weird thing with me. I feel guilty when I exercise. I feel almost like it's a luxury. Crazy right? In my mind though, there is always 10 other things I could be doing. If I wait for the baby to be sleeping, than I SHOULD be having quiet time with Blake right? Bible study, laundry, crafts with children, meal planning, bills; there is a multitude of  things that are always on my to-do list and I'm sorry but it seems almost selfish to take that hour to exercise. Now I know this is a little bit illogical. You have to be healthy for your kids, for quality of life, as a steward of what God has given you, so many reasons! I just can't help but feel that it's a selfish choice. I've never wanted to be one of those stay at home moms that can't wait to get their kids off to school and hit a gym. Somehow it SEEMS to be all about doing your errands in your fancy brand workout gear (and yes this is a bit of a dig at ridiculously expensive exercise brands *cough, lululemon*). What is the purpose of keeping your body in shape? to show off? to be a status symbol? I don't know and I'm sure I'm making judgements completely without foundation about many of the women I see dressed in this manner but sometimes something just rubs a person the wrong way and that is my reaction in this situation. James warns us in chapter two about the dangers of being impressed by money and perhaps it's because I know my own propensity to seek worldly affirmation through material possessions that I react this way. However, James also immediately says that we should be careful not to judge or discriminate based on money. He said it to protect the poor but sometimes my attitude is worse about the wealthy and I have to watch myself because God blesses whomever He chooses. Before I get too off topic I want to bring it back to my main point which is this; am I redeeming the time as a stay at home mom if I spend it working out? I am trying to tell myself the answer is yes but my heart tells me no. Exercise still seems indulgent.  There is nothing growing me spiritually while I do planks. I am not instilling truths or speaking words of affirmation over/to my children during some well spent quality time. I am hooking blake up to yet another hour of tv time. I am not having any impact on my community or my church body. I don't want to be the stay at home mom that can't think of anything better to do. I feel like I have failed somewhere if exercise is a priority. I think this is just an issue I am going to have to work through. We only get this one body. It's super important to keep it healthy. It's also super important to set a healthy example for my children so. . .the battle with post baby body begins again.
Goals:
1. be happy with what I've got.
2. be strong for the task at hand (motherhood/wife).
3. don't ever bad mouth my body in front of kids/spouse.
4. use time super-wisely so both exercise and quality time might happen.
5. have energy.
6. have abs.