This week...

Has been busy with doctor appointments (most requiring an hour + drive to get there and an hour + drive to get home).  

This entire month has been/will be like that. (book review at bottom)

But the neatest thing happened.  In the midst of all of the busy preparation and waiting in doctor offices etc;,  I hopped onto Inst*gr*m and saw that Amy Hale had a post.  She shared about this conference that was free through today (Enjoy God's Word by Katie Orr).  I have watched some AWESOME teachings, but by far my favorites have been Katie Orr's teaching on what it means to abide and Summer Saldana's session on suffering.  

When Katie shared this - it was if my mindset totally shifted and a lightbulb went on : (I am paraphrasing from the notes I took) 

God is always, ALWAYS with us.  When we abide with Him in His Word - we turn to Him, acknowledge His presence and talk to Him about everything - where we are right now (He already knows), the questions we have (He is the One with the answers).  

But abiding is literally our turning to Him and acknowledging what is already true - His ever-present Presence.  I don't know if everyone else already "got" that - but for me - for years (decades actually), the word abiding has created some confusion - I have gotten close to understanding it, but practically was never able to grab ahold of it and say "THIS IS ABIDING.  THIS is how you do it." - I bet I have heard this definition before (I have sat under some amazing teachers!) but for some reason, this moment in Katie's talk - it was like a lightbulb went off and now I know - now I can confidentially teach my girls - THIS IS WHAT abiding looks like walked out.  God is so faithful to teach us and patient with us when it takes us a while to "get" something.  

Summer's session on suffering was AMAZING. And this was my favorite quote from it: "Sometimes God doesn't take away the suffering, BUT He ALWAYS gives us more of Himself through it."

Isn't that beautiful?  And ultimately what we crave when we are hurting?

I did read one book and listen to another one this week: Of Hoaxes and Homicide by Anastasia Hastings (was ok, didn't like it as much as I liked the first one) and The Princess Pact: A Twist on Rumpelstiltskin by Melanie Cellier.  This is Marie's story (we meet her in the first book The Princess Companion.  My favorite part of listening to this series (they are free on audible right now) is that each story so far has been a deeper dive into a character you met in a previous one.  She has done a really good job with continuity!!

One of my girls shared her book with me...

And I loved it.  She read DC Superhero Girls Spaced Out - a graphic novel.  Immediately she brought it to me and asked that I read it too.  I did and was surprised by how much I liked it.  I don't usually read graphic novels, but I enjoyed it.  It was made so much for special because she shared her book with me.

Read two lovely books this week

Miss Buncle's Book by D.E. Stevenson.  I first heard about this book from Sarah Mackenzie (Read Aloud Revival).  It is SUCH a delightful little story.

Of Manners and Murder by Anastasia Hastings.  I initially got this book simply for the narrator.  Mia Hutchinson- Shaw has become one of my VERY favorite narrators.  She narrated the first two books from the Soul Cold as Frost series (in my opinion, the audible series was ruined by the narrator of the last two).  As I began to listen to the story, I realized this was SUCH a cute, cozy mystery - I LOVED it.

It has been a long week

Buddy came home late Tuesday.  I am SO thankful that he is ok and that his incision is healing nicely.  

It has been a looong week - between his meds and the chronic medical conditions of others in our household - I am SUPER tired. 

I re-read (actually re-listened to) Sense and Second-Degree Murder this week during the nights as I stayed up to keep Buddy from bothering his incision and to give him meds and in the mornings - as he slept more and I was able to sleep more - I have been reading the book of Mark.  All of my Lent reading plans went out the window, so I chose to read through Mark to help keep my mind focused on the entire reason we are celebrating anything this week.  

And the neatest thing happened.

As I got to the end of Mark 9, I noted something I had never noticed before.  Jesus says "For everyone will be salted with fire.  Salt is good, but if salt loses its saltiness, with what will you season it?  Have salt among yourselves and be at peace with one another."  

As I puzzled this out, I decided to pull up the commentary on Bible Hub to see if I could get a better grasp on this passage of scripture.  Normally when I am reading this passage I am totally zeroed in on the father and his desperation to help his child.  He prays the BEST prayer - I believe, help me in my unbelief.  But this time through verses 49-50 jumped out at me.

I utilized Bible Hub and read through MacLaren's Expositions and spent every early morning I could taking notes and thinking through what he said.  If you have time - I included the link (click on MacLaren's name) - 

Happy Holy Week - tomorrow morning is Resurrection morning.  

*sigh*

This year has been brutal so far.  

This past week our beloved chihuahua started throwing up.  

Every other day would find us at the vet until he had surgery on Saturday.  

He had eaten several pieces of fabric.  

Unbeknownst to us.

I truly thought he was dying yesterday morning.  But our vet (she has actually performed every single surgery on our pets - from rabbits to dogs) came in on her day off and examined, x-rayed, and then stayed to do the surgery for him.  I am so incredibly thankful.

This little guy is our whole world.  He will be 13 next month and while I know he won't live forever, I am so thankful for more time with him.  

I am so behind on everything.

My reading challenge.

School and cleaning and Bible plans - everything is moving at a snails pace right now.  Every day I wake up thinking today will be the day when things calm down and get back to more of a normal cadence and then something else happens.  Ironically (or not so much if you stop and really think about it) the thing that God has been teaching me this year is that I need to learn to trust Him.  

Not my circumstances.  

Not the plan I made.  

But Him.

And each day I see His hand.  Like the fact that our vet was in town, available, and willing to come in on her day off to take care of our fur-baby.  That's such a gift from Him.  And we are SO incredibly thankful for our vet.  She truly cares about our pets.  So - although I missed another book blog post this week, and although I am still in the book of Numbers for my reading plan, and although we are still in chapter three of a book we started two weeks ago...it is all going to be ok.  

Not because the circumstances are going to magically change.

But because God is good.  

And He is trustworthy.  

So I can hang on to Him and let Him teach me how that is more than enough.

Running behind

It has been a very, very looooong and trying week.

I am so far behind on every thing that I almost missed another book post.

I read The Princess Companion by Melanie Cellier - a retelling of "The Princess and the Pea'.  Highly recommend.  

Hoping this next week goes smoother.  

Hesed

by Michael Card

I re-read this book because in the course of our covenant study, this word has (not surprisingly) made a common re-appearance.  

I LOVE this book.  

I LOVE this word.  

It is a Hebrew word that means so many things, but is often-times summarized as the phrase "loving-kindness".  But truly, there is no accurate word to word translation for Hesed.  

Hesed isn't just an ideal, it is an action.  This quote sums it up the best :

"Hesed is not simply a Hebrew word - it is a Hebrew ideal.  Befitting the more verbal Hebrew mind, it is always looked on as something you do.  You come to understand Hesed not by defining it, but by doing it." pg. 128-9

Each chapter dives a bit deeper into this word, straining to get our hearts around what this word fully means.  Part one focuses on the God of Hesed, part two pulls out people (both in the author's personal life and from the Bible) who either experienced or demonstrated Hesed.  And part three shows how Jesus embodied Hesed to the fullest.  

As the book wraps up the author gives a more full-bodied definition of Hesed and then ends with an awesome section of appendixes.  My favorite being the list of Scriptures in which Hesed is mentioned and/or demonstrated.  He uses the CSB, but you can pull out your Bible and go through and mark them in your favorite translation.

I also read the (very) short and sweet book by Susan J. Heck : A Call to Scripture Memory.  This book doesn't tell you anything you might not have already learned about memorizing, but it is AWESOME in the fact that it is basically a pint-sized cheerleader/encourager you can whip out at any point on your journey.