Fabulous Friday

Well, did you miss me? I am officially back from my break from blogging. I will admit, the break was unintentional. Still, it feels good to be back.

Our anniversary in Chicago was great. Someday I will get brave and learn how to post pictures. We had amazing food, a great hotel room, and an overall fabulous time. If we didn't love Columbia so much, it would be easy to move to Chicago. But we do love Columbia and as long as God wants us here, here we will stay. It was nice to retreat to somewhere with fun parks, great sushi, and easy-to-reach eggs bennedict. We are hoping to go back again soon. Plus, having time without any responsibilities allowed us to reflect on how thankful we are for the gift of our marriage. I am so blessed God gave me a great man to spend my life with. It's been a fantastic year and I can't wait for the ones to come.

Getting back to work was good but tiring. It's always hard returning from vacation, even when you love your job. Just catching up and feeling part of things again takes a couple of days. Plus, when I got back, we had two new hires, so I had new people to meet as well. Since then (it has been a week) we had more office changes. Mary Ann got a grant to go back to school full time and Ashley will be taking her position. We will hire one more newbie, leaving me the senior traveling rep. Weird. I also get to choose my territory. I am completely torn. Stay tuned on that.

Yesterday was our last day of Bible study for the summer. What an incredible summer study it has been. I feel like I have learned so much about God, humanity, and myself in the study. Also, it has really left me for a yearning for more God. There is no better yearning in my opinion. The more I learn about God and the more I pay attention to the lives around me, the more I believe in total depravity. We are all a mess. Our pride has us so entangled in ourselves that we sometimes can't see that the only way to get out is to give up. In the past six months, I have spoken to people whose lives are torn with debilitating accidents, cancer, debt, divorce, death, addiction, and so much more. It pains me to see all the hurt in the ones around me, and even in my own life. And yet, through all of this, it only makes me see more our need for Christ. Specifically, for God's grace. In our study last night, we went over how we mistakenly think grace only means forgiveness. But it is everything that Christ did for us... free from pain, from hurt. Comfort from all our ailments. And there is no time more than the present that each of our lives need this Grace. The good news is that our God promises us, "My grace is sufficient." Torn apart lives? My grace is sufficient. Pride that keeps getting in the way? My grace is sufficient. What we do never works, but we keep trying. All along, Jesus keeps saying, "my grace is sufficient." And the part we always forget is without all of that pain, we really never would recognize our need for him.

Here's to grace. Have a great weekend!