June Update

How is it already the end of June?  I can't make that compute, but apparently, I've read a lot since the last update.  More on that below.

What Made Me Smile

Pistachio White Chocolate Bread Pudding with Salted Caramel Sauce and Bing Cherries at Magnolia Cheese Company.  Wish I could say I shared this with someone, but alas there was not even a bite left because it was THAT good.

Seeing the Body of Christ come together in a trailer food park to support a family who lost their home in the Granbury tornados.

Dinner with Ally and her fifteen-month-old cutie Jude, who sat right beside her even without a booster seat.

Arranging garden roses.

Dinner with a friend before she moved to Virginia.

Brunch with one of my young friends and hearing all that God is doing in her life.

Lunches and dinners to celebrate friends' birthdays.

Dinner with my friend who was in town from England.

A Pancake Breakfast for Melissa.  It was a joint celebration of her birthday and a time of covering her in prayer as she and her family are moving to Thailand for a year.  In December 2007, we took this picture at her wedding shower.




And recreating the moment almost seven years later. 

Coffee with a friend and talking so long that we closed down Barnes and Noble on a weeknight.

What I've Learned

In addition to my post from earlier this month, I've learned that essential oils have some great healing properties.  Peppermint oil has been helpful in staving off headaches.

I've learned that waiting until the weekend after Memorial Day to plant vinca is a recipe for disaster.  Out of 18, I have 2.5 that are still alive.  There might have also been a lack of watering.

I learned from Emily Freeman's blog that the volume button on the side of the iphone can be used to take a picture, which comes in handy when you are trying to take a selfie and can't see the button on the back of the bottom of the phone's screen.

I learned that only plastic frames should be put on your head because metal frames tend to get stuck in hair, which explains why my prescription sunglasses don't rip my hair out and why my nonprescription Ray Bans do.

I learned that I'd rather have to skip vacation due to a pipe bursting before I was scheduled to leave than to have had it happen while I was away.  These were my lifesavers.

Even though my bathroom now looks like this and will have to undergo some major work in the coming weeks.

What I've Read

Gift from the Sea  by Anne Morrow Lindbergh.  I've already loaned this book to my mom; it was that good.  It's a quick read that was written in the 1950s and contains nuggets of wisdom that are still applicable today.

The Real Win by Colt McCoy and Matt Carter.  It was a given that I was going to read this book because I'm a big Colt fan and I enjoy listening to sermons from his pastor Matt Carter of The Austin Stone.  This is a great book for men and women, defining biblical manhood and what that should look like in our culture, and it contains entertaining stories from both men's lives. 

The Autobiography of George Muller.  If your prayer life needs a boost, this is a great book as it contains journal entries from a man who counted on God to provide his daily bread and every pound that came into his wallet.

A Little Salty to Cut the Sweet by Sophie Hudson.  I dedicated a whole post to this book.  Lots of funny here.

A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg.  I've already loaned this book to a friend.  Shauna Niequist references this book in Bread and Wine, and it is similar in many ways.  It contains great stories and recipes, but God is completely absent from this book.

Your Beautiful Purpose by Susie Larson.  This author spoke at a women's retreat that I attended earlier this year, but I didn't pick up the book until Ann Voskamp recommended it on her blog.  I loved Larson's openness and her writing style.  Lots underlined in this book.

Quitter by Jon Acuff.  I've followed Acuff on Twitter for quite a while.  He's hilarious.  In this book, he talks about how to develop a dream while you work 40 hours a week.  Lots of food for thought here.

Anything by Jennie Allen.  Jennie and her husband Zac prayed, "God, we will do anything."  This book is a small part of following what God showed them after they prayed that prayer.  She puts into words what I've felt on numerous occasions but have been too afraid to say.  This is one courageous book, but it's also one that we're all called to live out.  Lots to process after reading this book.



Whew!  What a fast and furious month!  And with the holiday ahead, I'm hoping to process some of what I've recently read.  What books are you enjoying?

His Grace in Wasting Nothing

I know sometimes it's scary to think that you might do the wrong thing.  It's terrifying to imagine wasting your "one shot."  But let me assure you, nothing you do will be wasted.  Every decision you make, every path you take, has the ability to contribute something you need to succeed at your dream. (From p.81 of Quitter by Jon Acuff)

During my last year in grad school, I took a paid internship to learn how to put into practice what I had been studying in the classroom for the previous two years.  I did a few projects, but mostly, I got paid to sit and do homework because they didn't have that much work for an intern to do.  And while I was grateful for the money, I concluded that it had been a waste of a year of my time.

Three years later, I quit the job that I had gone to grad school for and began looking for a contract position.  I applied with several temp companies and was offered contract work with a firm in Dallas.  After a few weeks on the job, I was talking with my supervisor about grad school because we had attended the same one.  During that conversation, he shared that he had hired me because of the internship that I had done in grad school; he said that he had completed an internship there and knew that I must be "okay" if they had hired me.

I often think that I am not using my time wisely - that maybe there's something else that the Lord wants me to do or that maybe I'm not making the best use of the gifts and talents that He has given me.  And yet, I go back to the above scenario and see how God can (and does) use the most unlikely experiences in the past to equip us for the future. 

I have to remind myself that when I gave my life to Him, I gave Him the use of all of my time - that same time that He holds from beginning to end as the Alpha and the Omega - and sometimes He ordains that time to be used in what appears to be a mundane way.  But just because it feels mundane doesn't mean that it can't be used.

As I think about that, it compels me to pray that I wouldn't miss what He has for me right now.  That He would enable me to grasp the lessons that I need to learn from today in order to thrive in the future.  And that He would redeem the time that it feels like the locusts have eaten.  (Joel 2:25)

May the Lord remind each of us that not one experience is wasted or cannot be redeemed.