It's all a matter of perspective

The topic of the day is anxiety. Today we went to Starbucks and as we were pulling into the parking lot, an older lady yelled at us that we were going too fast. Rob yelled from the backseat, "you're too slow." The funny thing is that my window was down so this woman and her cohorts heard everything we said. Of course, Andrew and I proceeded to laugh uncontrollably, which they also heard. We than entered into this awkward staring contest because we were stuck trying to turn out of the parking lot and they just stood there. Very entertaining.


Speaking of anxiety, I've really been struggling with that a lot lately. If you read this, you can please pray for me.

It is so easy for me to feel consumed at times. Whether it's stuff with the Shelterwood kids, stuff with other staff, stuff going on at home, I get to the point where I feel like I'm juggling the whole world.
Recently, I had the realization that, while more socially acceptable, anxiety and worry hinders my walk with the Lord and my ability to serve Him just as much as drug or sex addictions. In both instances, I am trying to take things into my own hand, I am not trusting the Lord with my life and my circumstances. Pray that I will trust Him with all these things that are going on in my life. Pray that as I continue to learn to be dependent on and confident in Him alone that the work that God wants to use me for will be accomplished.

Bust a move

I need to apologize so badly to my blog readers! I have failed miserably in keeping y'all informed on what is going on in my life. I think that sometimes I feel that unless I can write this amazing blog note, it is not worth writing. Sometimes you just gotta write something.
I will make a post later about this past weekend that will include picture. However, I will go ahead and give a brief synopsis. I traveled to Omaha by way of Des Moines this past weekend for a friend of Jen's wedding. The actual wedding/reception part was fairly miserable but it was a great experience. I want to give major major props to Jen's mom for providing a hotel room for me on Friday night. It was such a blessing!

This weekend made me think a lot about weddings and what I am desiring for that event to look like in my life. I think it is easy when you are on the outside of a wedding to be critical about how they are doing their wedding or their attitudes. I don't want to do that. I have been to several weddings lately and I have seen things that I like and things that I don't like but I definitely do not want to bag on anyone for having a "crappy" wedding.

That being said, the biggest thing I have realized lately is how messed up Christian weddings have become in our culture. There seems to be a huge disconnect between what we say about wanting to submit our lives to the Lord and do everything for His glory, etc. and the focus during a wedding. Really what I see is weddings that are more about the two people than about glorifying God and praising Him for His work. More importantly, we have missed the whole point of what a wedding is to represent. I found this amazing article online talking about Jewish wedding customs and how Jesus fulfilled that in His actions and speech. It is so cool to look back on some of the things He said and did and realize how much wedding imagery He was using. Here is the link. I don't necessarily agree with what they say about the end times but I think it is still really cool to see.
http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/rtg/rtg-rts/rtgrts02.txt

Weddings should be a picture of a) God's provision in bringing these two people together and b) a glorious picture of our union with God through Christ and the fulfillment of that union when Christ comes back to earth and builds His kingdom. The whole world eagerly longed and waited for the Messiah, for redemption as an engaged couple longs to be united. Through His death and resurrection, we become a part of the bride of Christ, the church. It is such a cool and beautiful picture. I long so badly to have this be apparent at my wedding and that it would not be about how cute we are as a couple but about the power and majesty of the Lord.