Meet Me Here Monday: House Update, Lessons Learned, and Week 17 Belly Pic

As I sit here on this quiet Monday Morning, I thought I would reward myself for actually writing a blog post today...AND getting it up in a timely manner....with one {ok, maybe two} made-from-scratch Chocolate Chip Cookies. {However, I'm still a little disappointed in the taste because no matter how hard I try, and no matter how close I follow the EXACT SAME recipe, they still don't taste like my mom's. Ughh. Life is so hard sometimes. :) }

But no matter what, today is a great day because today is my first day in two months that I'm totally off work from one of the three jobs I've been juggling this summer.

{Well, technically 4 jobs if you count "criminal investigator" and "insurance paperwork filler-outer" as one. ha. Which have been pretty much full time jobs these last 2 weeks.}

This past weekend I called my parents to see if they would want to come down and help get our house back in order after the break in. I think mentally, this ordeal has had a bigger affect on me than I would have liked to admit, and I just needed a little help getting started in the "make your house feel like a home again" department. My mom and I worked on cleaning up the mess the robbers made {especially the mess they made in my closet} and then also folding and organizing the 8 loads of laundry that had accumulated on our guest room bed, and my dad and Del worked outside cleaning up, and doing yard work to help our house become a little safer.

One of the things I had noticed was that the huge hedge of weeds/bushes that cover the fence on our property line had grown so tall that it created a barrier so that our house had become a little less noticeable from the road. So my dad brought down a gas powered hedge trimmer, and I don't think I've seen Del that happy in months. Ha. He was like a kid in a candy store when using that tool...and I'm pretty sure he hasn't stopped talking about it since. So, problem solved! You can now see our house from all directions while traveling down one of the busiest streets in LR!

My parents stayed Friday night and then went home Saturday evening. It was a great visit and we really enjoyed having them here. On Sunday, Del and I woke up and had a "Snow Day-like Breakfast". It was raining outside, so I thought that was close enough to snow after living through this crazy amount of heat we've been having! :) {Am I the only one in the South that keeps thinking that after each time it rains, it will miraculously be Fall? I may just be setting myself up for disappointment here. ha} So, after we finished eating, we went to church and the sermon couldn't have been any more perfect for what we've been feeling recently.

I've had a lot of people ask recently, "Well, what has God taught you through this break in?" and my initial response was, "Nothing. We are just trying to survive, not live in fear, and take it one day at a time." But the other day when I was doing my Study on the Life of David, we were to the point where David has fled from Saul, and arrives at the first priest's house and asks for 5 loaves of bread. But the Priest only has The Bread of Presence to offer him. And as David ate the bread it was a reminder that the Covenant that God made with David would never be broken because of the Lord's Presence in His life. And as Believers, it's the same for us. We will have His everlasting Presence no matter what we go through. So that was a great reminder for me that day, and it also brought a great amount of comfort knowing that even if people crash into your house with their car, or break in and take your stuff, the Lord's Presence can never be taken from you.

But while sitting at church, I felt like God used Bill Parkinson's words to reach down, and rip the stone out of my heart and mind and replace it with a heart that beats more like His and a mind that is starting to think a little bit more like His. You see, I didn't realize it until the other day, but I really think this break in has really made me a bitter person. And I don't like it one bit! I had been having thoughts that sound a lot like; "I would NEVER do this to someone else!"...."Who do these people think they are?!"...."Why do they think they have the right to come into OUR house and take OUR stuff?!" But when you really break it down, all of those thoughts are really just centered in a very prideful attitude that thinks that I am better than someone else. And the Truth is, I'm not. I'm not any better than the next man, because we are all born sinners. The only difference is, that God has graciously saved me from a life of sin so that I can live my according to His Will and Word and not my own.

I don't know what drove those people to come into our house 2 Monday's ago, but I now know what was driving my emotions up until yesterday morning....pride and anger. But when Bill Parkinson spoke God's Word into my ears yesterday morning, those emotions have now been smashed down and changed to brokenness and humility. He told a story about how years ago, the London Paper sent out an essay topic asking, "What is Wrong with our World Today?" and people could write in whatever they wanted with their solutions. They received multitudes of entries which were long and very detailed essays, but the winner of the essay contest sent in a paper with 2 words written on it, "I Am." The winner was C.S. Lewis' Mentor. It was that story that made me realize that I am no different that any of my neighbors, but I do need to take responsibility for my actions and attitudes towards each one of them.

So, what has God taught us through this trial? That we need to take action and seek Forgiveness.

God graciously, freely, and quickly forgave me of ALL my sins, so why am I so slow and unwilling to forgive someone who sinned once again me? My prayers have now changed from "Lord, please catch these people and lock them up so that they can't do this to anyone else." to "Lord, through discipline, would you bring these people to repentance. And if we get the chance, could we tell them in some way that we forgive them?"

Am I saying that we have officially taken the "high and holy road" on this issue? No. Del and I are a work in progress, just like everyone else. But I am happy to be able to look at this 17 Week Belly Picture {that was taken AFTER church :)} and not see a bitter and scared woman. I'm excited to see all the things the Lord will continue to teach us through this trial, because I know that even though it's an inconvenience in our eyes, this was no accident in His. He works mightily through our trials and has a purpose for each and every one of them. So we are praying that He would continue to work in our lives and hearts as we walk daily in His Presence.

We have been memorizing a verse every week for the baby. This week we were praying that the baby would Seek and Find the Lord as Savior Early in Life, and the verse that corresponds with it was

Psalm 63:1.

"Oh God, you are my God;

earnestly I seek you,

my soul thirsts for you, my flesh faints for you,

as in a dry and weary land where there is no water."