Happy Friday!

  Today, Friday, I found myself signing on my walk with Ellie Mae, taking pictures of God's wonderful beauty, and actually enjoying doing laundry and dishes.  Now if you know me, you know I HATE doing laundry with a passion!  Its not so much the doing as it is the remembering to change it over and most of all the folding and putting away.  Ugh, I dread it!  But today I was excited about it.  And even though I don't mind doing dishes as much, its still not my favorite thing to do.  But today my heart is, for whatever reason, filled with joy and excitement.  Maybe its just because its Friday and I can't wait to spend the weekend with my hubby or maybe its because I've been taking time to slow down and smell the roses.

  Now don't get me wrong, I am really excited to spend the weekend with my hubby.  I wait all week for those two day we get to have and spend together.  But I was thinking about this last night...I was thinking about the fact that ever since we moved to WI my life has been moving at a slower pace.  Now this is a big thing for me.  I'm use to going a million miles an hour and trying to do a million things at once.  As a retired Starbucks barista of 8 years, I'm use to zooming around and my idle speed being around 80mph.  Yes, I was that annoying girl at Starbucks that greets you right as you walk in the door and your thinking to yourself, "GEEZ!!!  I just woke up and just walked in the door, I know you have had your coffee but I'm here to get mine!!!".  Yep that was me! :)  But since moving my life has been moving at a much slower pace.  And until now, I have hated it.  I NEED to have a million things going on to feel normal...or so I thought!

  Sometimes its just me and the silence....and that can be scary when your use to all the background noise. But I am definitely learning to embrace it.  I actually look forward to it.  I feel like that is the time when God really works on you and speaks to you.  Now that I'm slowing down I have time to, "smell the roses" as they say.  I appreciate things that I use to take for granite.  I see God in everything and know that he really is everywhere.  I feel like I use to be consumed with what was going on around me, who had what, what was the newest thing I needed, gossip....I was getting sucked into the world and worldly things.  I use to always say that I hated to notion of "keeping up with the Jones"but here I was giving into it and trying to be the "Jones".  Now, I'm not saying that I have kicked my shopping addiction and that there aren't still things that I want (an iPad) but what I am saying is that instead of trying to find happiness in all of those things, I'm actually starting to find happiness in the prayer time I have as I walk Ellie each morning, the quietness that I have when I'm doing dishes, the ability to stop and listen to God while I'm folding laundry.  Now I know that I don't have kids and that right now I have the luxury of staying at home and that for people who have "normal" lives with kids and jobs that slowing down is hard to do, but I urge you to try and find time to be alone with the silence.  Find peace in the little tasks and to try and see God in everything!
  Now I know I have been doing a lot of complaining about how hard it is living in WI and how I miss home more then I ever imagined I would....but God is working in my life and I'm really starting to appreciate it and actually kinda like it.  I like slowing down.  I like seeing his plan in action.  I have to admit to you that instead of enjoying the silence while doing dishes this morning I turned on Air 1 and was listening to it on my computer.  Sometimes I just like to worship all by myself.  I like to bust out and full on worship God all by myself.  This most often happens in the car but sometimes when I'm doing dishes and cleaning :)  Anyways, this idea of silence and prayer and taking time to "smell the roses" had been on my heart and then all of the sudden this song came on and the words of it made my eyes well up with tears!  The song is "Listen To The Sound" by Building 429.  It is an AMAZING song, you should listen to it!  But the verse that got me was this:

I hear you say you're alone
I hear you saying that you'll never make it
I've got to tell you you're wrong
Cause I have been down this path you're taking
You never know what faith is
Til you don't understand
Sometimes it takes a silence
To finally hear His plan 

WOW!  "You never know what faith is til you don't understand".  That pretty much sums up the past 3 months here, not understanding.  I have been a Christian for as long as I can remember, I grew up in a Christan home.  I have gone through periods where my faith has been stronger, weaker, where I have strayed from God's path...but this move has really tested my faith.  Why would God take ME away from MY family and MY friends just to move me to a place where I am all alone?  "Sometimes it takes a silence to finally hear his plan".  Would I have been able to stop, listen, and accept God's plan for me in AZ?  To be totally honest, probably not.  I was to busy.  I was to consumed with myself, my wants, and my desires to take time and listen and accept God's plan for me.  Sometimes it takes a silence.  I am having to re-learn that its not all about me and that even though I can do most things on my own, God can always do those things a million times better then I can.  I am having to accept that Gods plan is always better and more important then anything I could ever put together for my life.  I'm still trying to figure out exactly what His plan is for my life, but now I'm actually taking the time to hear and appreciate the silence and listen to Him.   

Happy Friday!  Enjoy your weekend and take time to smell the roses! :)