As a Newly-Wed…

…I have been learning a few things.  Over the last month and a half, Isaac and I have laughed over various things as we set up house and figure out life together as a couple. Here are a few tips for those of you who are not married yet:

1.  It is not always worth it to go for the cheapest quality in order to save money.  Even though many times one cannot tell any difference between a name brand product and a generic brand product, at least in the area of can openers, do not skimp.  I now have two different kinds of can openers in the kitchen drawer, and neither one works.  I am now forced to resort to the faithful Leatherman. 

2.  There is a reason for those sometimes intricate, sometimes simple, designs on silverware: It helps that spoon, fork, and occasional knife, from sliding down the edge of the plate and into your food or off the plate.  Trust me—I speak from experience.  

3.  Do not try baking while the sun beats outside.  I nearly drove Isaac out of the house it was so warm inside.  Fortunately, I think I redeemed myself with the fresh bread that we had for supper.

4.  It is fun to work on a project together.  Isaac and I arrived in Hot Springs, South Dakota the middle of June, a little late for doing much of a garden, but we decided to try on anyway.  We are now coaxing a small 8x8-foot garden into producing some kind of fresh garden goods.  So far, it looks like we’ll have a bunch of radishes and cucumbers, as well as a few tomatoes.

5.  Learn how to cook before you get married.  I may be blessed with a husband who is particularly enthusiastic and verbal about his appreciation for food, but I think the saying about “The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach” is quite true. Sometime soon, I’ll share the recipe for the bread I made that is seriously the easiest and most amazing bread recipe ever!  

6. Turned-off electric ovens do not lose their heat very quickly. I found this out the hard way: Keeping pizza warm in the oven for an hour is a bad idea, even with the oven turned off. The result of such an attempt? The worst pizza I’ve ever made. Or, to be more extreme, something that can barely qualify as pizza. Fortunately, Isaac was a good sport about it and ate it all anyway! 

I am sure there are many more entertaining moments to come... :)

Still Learning

Why does it seem like almost every lesson God brings into my life involves trusting Him?   I have been thinking about that question and here are a few conclusions I have came to (not necessarily in the order of importance and not necessarily with chapter and verse to back them up) regarding why God continues to place "Learn to Trust" on my daily list of spiritual homework. 

1.  Learning to trust the Lord demands a continual dependence on Him.  If I were to master trusting in the Lord, where would that place humility and dependence on the all-sufficiency of the Lord in the life of the believer?

2.  The continual need to trust in the Lord results in a constant reminder of who I am in comparison to Who God is:  God is the One who remains the same.  He is the One Who is faithful to His never-changing Word.  He is the One Who has promised and will fulfill His promises.  In contrast, however, I am the one who constantly doubts.  I am the one who is fickle in my relationship with Him.  I am the one who may say one things one minute, and then do something totally contrary to what I just said the next minute.  God is the One Who is never-changing.  I can trust Him. 

3.  Learning to trust the Lord is not something unique to my life:  Trusting is a part of my spiritual walk with the Lord.  All throughout the Bible, we find account after account of individuals who struggled with understanding and following God's plan...and God had to remind them of Who He is-- that they could trust Him.  Way back in Genesis, Abraham and Sarah, both mentioned in the famous chapter of faith, had to learn to trust the Lord.  The wandering Israelites, and then the conquering Israelites, produced countless incidences in areas where they trusted (or failed to trust) the Lord. The Apostle Paul gives testimony of when he really did not understand why God would allow the "thorn in his flesh", but even in not fully understanding, Paul  had the deep-seated trust and confidence in God's grace and strength: He could continue to trust the Lord. 

No, I don't think I will ever hand in my final exam for the course "Trusting God 101." But...as each test comes and goes, it is wonderful to be able to testify of God's incredible faithfulness and then to grow in a confidence that not only could I trust Him in the past, but I can continue to trust Him in the future! 

Because of the lack of a title...

Sooo, I started this post like three weeks ago and have worked on it a dozen times since then. I think that I just need to to click the "publish now" button, or it shall never get posted... :)

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Ahhh...Senior year at Cornerstone has proven already to be providing a plethora of new experiences, or perhaps they are more appropriately called blessings. Just the other day I was thinking of all the ways that God has blessed me, and the song "Count Your Blessings" came to mind.... Yes, God's blessings are numerous and I do not have much to complain about in life.

The lesson in Sunday school one of the first weeks that I was back at school was on trusting God. The timing could not have been better. (By the way, have you ever stopped to think about how God brings something into your life at just the time that you need it? It is pretty incredible sometimes!) Yes, I believe that the more a believer grows in his relationship with the Lord, the more he will trust in Him. A couple points were mentioned concerning reasons for why we so frequently fail to trust God.

Perhaps one of the reasons for our lack of trust is because it is an issue of time: whatever it is, we want it now and we are not willing to wait on the Lord to bring His plan to pass in His perfect timing. Or another aspect could be that we may have "the end" in mind and so flawlessly planned out that we fail to even think of trusting in the Lord to bring it to pass. It may also be that we so often fail to trust God because we have the idea that if we do give it over to Him, the end result may be drastically different from what we imagined it to be (which is all too often mistakenly equated with being an unpleasant thing . If only we could learn once and for all that God's ways are soo much better than ours...life would be so much easier.) Or perhaps a further reason, in all honesty, may be that we simply prefer to do things in our own way. To trust God would suggest a possible modification....

For some reason, as I have been writing this, the second verse of the song Satisfied keeps running through my mind, even though it doesn't really talk about trusting...perhaps it is because of the mindset of looking to Him instead of around me that the words communicate:

Feeding on the husks around me, till my strength was almost gone,

Longed my soul for something better, only still to hunger on.

Hallelujah! I have found Him whom my soul so long has craved!

Jesus satisfies my longings -- Thru His blood I now am saved."

As has been alluded to, somewhat, in one of my previous posts, I am very thankful for the way that God continues to work in my life, that He is not done with me yet, that there remains posted in my life a "construction zone" sign because of His continual work to conform me to His image! Unfortunately, it's not always very fun to be experiencing God's work zones... (The results are definitely worth it, however!)