The Journey

We went to Lincoln again last night, to accomplish the errand that didn't work out on Thursday.  It was another good trip (Culver's for supper; it was like being back in Wisconsin!).  It was also another beautiful evening.  I drove home since Hubby was tired.  The Nebraska landscape is SO beautiful; I wish I'd had my camera with me.  The sun was beginning its descent toward the western horizon, straight ahead of us.  Cotton-ball-clouds were scattered in the smooth blue sky.  On each side of the highway were fields, green with corn and beans and grass.  Cattle grazed or cooled off in a muddy puddle.  Wildflowers bordered the highway on either side, filling the ditches.  The radio was playing and Hubby and I sang along, alternating between the Christian and country stations, a breeze in our faces.  It was a perfect drive.

And it got me to thinking, how life is great like that sometimes.  Driving along, happy, the sun in my eyes and wind in my hair.  But sometimes life isn't so good, like when I went to get Hubby from the airport in Wisconsin before the wedding.   It was rainy, cloudy, and foggy--I couldn't see far past the car.  My hands gripped the steering wheel, white-knuckled.  I was praying the whole way, alone in the car.  On the way home, with (then-future) Hubby in the passenger beside me, it wasn't so bad.  I was in control of the car, I had an encourager, and I wasn't alone.

But how much better might both drives have been if I wasn't in the passenger seat?  I wouldn't be in control then, of course (as much as I try to be; I'm a terrible passenger-seat-driver).  I wouldn't decide where we were going.  I would just sit back, enjoy the ride, not worry about the mechanics of driving, and trust myself into the care of the driver.  Even in foggy or rainy weather, it wouldn't be so scary if I wasn't behind the wheel.  The driver would be in control, taking care of me.  I would have no need to worry.

Sometimes my journey through life is like that: I try to be in control, and sometimes it works out well, and sometimes (usually) it doesn't.  When I take control of my life, getting in the driver's seat, I'm the one who has to think about where to go, worry about other drivers, follow signs and directions, and keep control of the car.  When I let God get behind the wheel, all those worries are His, and not mine.  I can trust Him and say, "I don't know exactly where I'm going, but that's ok, because You do.  I don't know how I'm going to get there, but You wrote the roadmap, not me.  I don't know what obstacles are going to get in my way, but You do, and You'll get me safely through them.  All I have to do is trust You--and enjoy the ride."

Handing over control like that is kind of scary sometimes.  We as humans want to keep a tight grip on our lives, control our futures, decide where our life will lead us.  But a lot of the time we get confused because we don't know where we're going.  It's just so much easier to let God take control, because that's the way it should be.

I think I'd rather let God be the driver of my life.  He is God, after all.

Quality Time

This weekend Hubby and I have been a little bit (shh!) lazy.  Granted, I've been fairly busy in the kitchen--blueberry muffins, homemade pizza, and for supper tonight the good ol' meat and potatoes (and salad).  The house is in (fairly) good order.  :)  But we have spent a lot of time just being together, being us.  Friday we made the half-hour drive to Lincoln on one errand, which ended up not working out, but we did go out to eat at Applebee's as planned.  It was a fabulous meal, and we decided to take a back road home for the scenery.  Unfortunately, we met with a road block, which meant we had to turn around and drive fifteen minutes back the way we'd come to get to a different route home.  It was okay, though, because it was a beautiful night for a drive.  And it was so good for us to be able to talk--first at the restaurant, we talked about that book I'm reading (Sacred Marriage, see this post).  Then on the ride home, we had no TV, no computers, no radio, no phone--nothing distracting us from just being us.  It was bonding time like we hadn't had in a while.  Saturday was...similar...good couple time.  :)

We've been learning a lot more about each other, how to love each other, how to understand each other.  Marriage really is a constant learning process, which makes it constantly interesting.  I will never, ever know everything about my husband!  There's something new to discover every day.

It's like that with God (here I go again, making those marriage-God connections!).  We will never be able to fully understand God (not till we get to heaven, anyway).  There is so much in His Word that we can't take it all in if we were to spend our entire lives studying and meditating on Scripture.  God desires for us to know him intimately, even more than we know our spouse.  As I seek each day to know my husband more, I pray that I will be as inspired to seek to know God more, in prayer, in His word, and in quietly being in his presence.

Life is Changing

I could make a lot of excuses for why I haven't blogged lately: it's been gorgeous out, I've been busy packing and moving and working and writing papers...all of that is true.  But I haven't been in the Word lately, either--no good excuse for that!

I think I posted recently about all the changes happening in life, but it's really started to hit me.  We moved furniture into our new apartment yesterday, with the help of two friends with pick-up trucks.  The man is moving in this weekend; I'm staying w/ my grandparents here in town till we go to a relative's wedding next weekend, and then I will be back with my parents and sibs.  Then two weeks later I'll be married and moving back here!  As a wife!

It's all happening SO FAST.  As I pack I realize this is the last time I'll have to move out of a dorm room.  Tonight is my last night sleeping in a dorm room, with a roommate who's a girl and who isn't my sister!  She and I will share a room for two precious weeks when I get home, and then I will be a married woman living with my husband.

I can hardly wait.  I know that the transition might be kind of hard to get used to at first, but I'm SO ready to be married and independent!!!

God continues to be absolutely faithful.  I get to work six more days before I leave town and our car is now working with just a new battery.  I'm not nervous about the wedding at all: just excited!

I feel very confidently that God has prepared us in exactly the right way for this new chapter in our lives, both my man's and mine.  He is all-wise, all-loving, and omnicient: no wonder God knows best and does everything for our good! :)

I'd love to write more, but there is still packing and cleaning to be done.  More to come!

White as Snow

I was busy yesterday, all day- no time to post.  (But it was Sunday, so I went to church and Bible study!)

I will read Scripture and post this afternoon.  But this morning, it is so incredibly beautiful outside with all the SNOW!  (I will post some pictures this afternoon.)  Forty-eight hours ago, the Nebraska landscape was beautiful, but sad and dead-looking at the same time.  Now all the gray and brown outside is clean, pure, crisp white- and it's still snowing!

It's a lovely reminder of what Christ has done for us through his death and resurrection.  I was created by God, but in my sinfulness I would be sad and dead--but because Christ has lived, died and risen for me, and thus granted me his forgiveness, I am washed clean!  He has covered me with his pure and righteous blood, and God no longer looks on my sinfulness, but Christ's righteousness.  The most wonderful part is that the forgiveness keeps coming, not like the snow which will end in a few days or less, but I am daily forgiven and renewed by the love of Jesus.

Praise be to God for his mercy, grace and forgiveness!