Happy November

Oh my!  It is November already.  The trees are changing and so we have been enjoying absolutely drop dead gorgeous fall days.  I love, love, love fall.  Life has continued to trickle by, time passing unnoticed.  I have to be honest and say I am so, so glad to see this year drawing to a close.  This has been one of the most difficult years that my family and I have faced in a long time.  I have found myself struggling to truly rest in Who God is and at the same point come to grips with who I am not.   

I am reading through the Bible in 90 days and doing a daily Bible reading program.  It is neat to do the parallel.  I was going to throw in the towel on Bible in 90 days because I started off behind (like waaaaaaaaaay behind!).  But then when I went to the cardiologist appointments for myself and multiple doctor appointments for my child, I walked away from those appointments wanting nothing more than to be as deep in His Word as I could be and as close to His presence as I could be.  So, I have grasped both plans with both hands and have been so so blessed by them.  God is so much bigger than I can wrap my mind around. I read and come away with more questions than I do answers!  But instead of frustrating me, it intrigues me and makes me want to dig deeper.  This will be the first time that I have a daily reading plan to carry me after Bible in 90 days ends at the beginning of December.  I love the daily plan Bible that was given to me for my 37th birthday!  Reading straight through you get a "big picture" perspective, but lose a lot of the important moments of letting it marinate and seep in slowly to your heart. 

I read a quote somewhere recently (I wish I had paid attention to who wrote it and what is said exactly, but I was rushing from point a to point b), it said something to this effect : let every moment of conflict today be an opportunity to see how fast you can forgive someone who has hurt you, lavish grace upon them, especially if they do not deserve it.  I thought "oh wow that is an AWESOME idea".  Well I had NO idea God was going to provide me with AMPLE opportunity to practice that.  It is so simple really, the concept of forgiveness.  But it is gut wrenchingly hard to surrender my feelings and thoughts (especially when it seems unfair!) and do life His way.  SO so hard.  But as I am reading through the Bible I keep getting smacked in the face with my own sin.  I want God to be quick to forgive me and smooth over my rough edges, so why wouldn't I be willing to do that for others, especially those that I love?

Well I hope your November's are off to an amazing start!