Another thing I've learned is that God uses suffering for good. I just finished reading the Genesis account of Joseph, who after his father died and his brothers came to him in fear to offer themselves as his slaves because of their treatment of him, actually wept as he explained to them how God used his experience to save many people. God used it for good. Romans 8:28 tells us that the good God speaks of is us becoming more like Christ.
Sometimes I feel like I have a lot to learn. I still have many rough edges to be filed off. But I was encouraged this week as I met with a friend on Saturday morning. She thought I was looking good...like I seemed at peace. And I do feel that way. I think a big difference in turning the corner for me was my acceptance and surrender to God's plan for me. This is really one of the keys to getting through grief - surrender. Holding on tight to my plans and dreams and expectations of how life should be only makes the grief so much harder to heal from. Allowing God to write my story, trusting him to bring good out of every situation, surrendering to his plan - is the only way to find peace.
The peace I've been experiencing has motivated me to be more active in the kitchen. I've enjoyed Chick-Fil-A's avocado lime ranch dressing for their salads but can't find it in any grocery store. So I googled it and found a recipe. I bought the ingredients and voila!!!
It passed the taste test. It has a little kick to it with a serrano pepper as one of the ingredients. I wasn't sure I would like that, but it is very tasty.
Then I also made two strawberry pies to take with us today to celebrate Asher's birthday.
Andy and I went to C & C's church today. Christy and Grace played the offertory and did a fantastic job on one of my favorite hymns: Oh, the Deep Deep Love of Jesus. I was sitting there listening, praising God for the beautiful music, the meaningful words to that song, as well as thanking God that all the money we spent on piano lessons was not wasted!
I would have loved to have recorded them but thought that might be kind of tacky holding up a cell phone in church (even if I am the proud mother and grandmother!).
After church, we went to their house for lunch and pie and giving presents to the birthday boy. He was very happy with everything he got. In fact he was so happy with his presents, he forgot to eat his pie.
Andy seems to be doing better in the car. He's making the effort not to say anything about my driving and I'm making the effort to not drive too fast. (I'm only going 2 miles over the speed limit instead of --------!)
Then at one point, after we went through a toll booth, Andy asked me if I was getting reimbursed for my travel expenses. I said no, but I budget for it and we would be ok. He obviously was trying to process that information, because later he took his wallet out and got out some money to hand it to me. I asked him what he was doing and he said he wanted to help me. Oh boy. It made me wonder if he thought I was someone else providing a ride for him and he needed to reimburse me.
He's been talking to me in the third person at times. One day this week, he told me he wanted to ask Phyllis to drive him over for a hair cut. Then another day, my phone rang while I was in another room. He answered it, then brought it to me and told me it was for Phyllis.
Well, we have a lot of birthdays coming up. This is a busy time in our family. Asher's birthday is today. Tomorrow, Baby Boy Sherf will be born. Then Dawn's birthday is Wednesday, Kasey's is next Monday, Christy's is the 11th and mine is the 13th.
Let the fun begin!
No comments:
Post a Comment