"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."
{Philippians 4:6-7}
Last night Chris and I tried to prepared our hearts and minds for school to start back up again. We've spent a lot of time reflecting lately about our jobs, living here, liking it here, not liking it here, amazing times, amazingly stressful times, friends and family [of two] here, and friends and family at home. We spent some amazing quality time together over this break, both traveling and staying home. We found ourselves laughing [ a lot ], and seeing more of the beauty and joy in our relationship. Not that those things hadn't been present before, but sometimes they're much harder to see and experience when extra pressures and stress are added to both of us -- and this break was such a retreat from so many of those things! We thank God for that.
We decided that we should take one last time before going back to just sit together and pray - thanking God for that time and the many blessings we're thankful for. Then we wrote down some things that we wanted to give up to God. . . things like stress, worry, perfection, comparison, and the feeling that we haven't done enough [life and teaching related]. We wrote each of these things on a blank piece of paper, and then took turns throwing them off our balcony as a physical representation of letting them go, and trusting in God to help us overcome them and give us His peace that "transcends all understanding" {one of my favorite verses}. I'm thankful for such a godly husband who will lead me in prayer and throwing of objects off our balcony ;]
It was a successful and refreshing activity. . . my condolences for the guy living below us who was the unfortunate recipient of "worry".
I love this post! Sometimes it takes that physical, tangible action as a reminder of what we actually need to mentally, emotionally, and spiritually do. I also think it would be quite humorous finding random airplanes with random words on my porch. You guys are great & I hope this week is full of joy as you return to teaching.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jenna! Since that night we've found some paper airplanes around our apartment complex, and each time start to chuckle thinking they're ours, and then realize they're not! Maybe we inspired our neighbor to throw some too ;)
ReplyDeleteHey, I want to make paper airplanes, too!
ReplyDeleteI love this post, too, but I love you guys more! An inspiring relationship for sure! Makes me think again about the amazing God who made us! Thanks!