Several things have happened since my last post. I injured my shoulder taking me out of the serious summer action for five more weeks and putting me into therapy for at least three more weeks. I cried in the doctor's office when he told me, and like a baby, I called Michael and asked him to come sit with me during my first batch of therapy. He is a champ. He sat there the whole time holding my hand telling me of all the things that I was still going to be able to do this summer despite a bum shoulder. I also turned 26. I was treated to a surprise(ish) birthday celebration from my husband, a random camping and hiking trip, blackberry picking, and a dinner from my dad and his wife. It was lovely. The guitar pictured above was a birthday present. My husband also bought me my very first pair of Chacos. I almost cried I was so excited, and I have worn them non-stop. My mother-in-law gave me some rose petals that she saved from our wedding a little over a year ago. She had placed them in a glass jar, and I was very touched. I was also overly blessed with a beautiful new cheese grater from my sister-in-law. That may not be a big deal to most people, but to me... it was the most thoughtful gift since my went missing over a year ago. I was touched by her kindness. I was touched by a lot of people's kindness. So many people offered their love to me, and I felt very blessed to have so many close people in my life.
God has given so many things to Michael and I. We were invited to the State Capitol the other day to help plan the very first ever Human Trafficking Summit the other day, and I finally had my very first photo shoot. I didn't do horrible, I could have done a lot better. A friend of mine who is an amazing photographer asked me if I wanted to attend a newborn photo shoot with her as an assistant. I think I could fall in love with newborn photography. I had an amazing time.
I have been thinking a lot about joy lately. Before I became a believer I was in such a deep state of depression that it is hard sometimes to remember the girl before my life was sacrificed to the Father. As a new believer, Joy radiated through every fiber of who I was, but has the strain of life became more extreme and I went from carefree college student to employed and married... I felt joy drifting from who I am. However the Bible says, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other." Galatians 5:22-25
We live in such a me focused, self-indulgent world that our own flesh sucks the joy that God promises with the gift of the Spirit right out of us. We give, but then we complain about how much the giving costs us whether that giving is time or money. Then.. heaven forbid we do not receive something in return for our giving. How dare we love on a friend just to have that friend forget about us when feel like that friend should be loving on us. Giving without expectancy is something that this world has not grasped and sadly our self indulgent and prideful desires our denying us pure joy. This year for my birthday I desired something more than gifts. I read a blog post not too long ago about a girl that each year on her birthday did something called random blessings. She took her age and did that many random blessings. I wanted nothing more than to try this out on my birthday, and I waited all year long for my chance to randomly bless people (that sounds so silly now that I see it in black and white. It is as if I believed I could not randomly bless because it was not my birthday).
Either way, I started the morning before my birthday, and I my expectations of what these random blessings would be changed considerably through out the day. I have some most entertaining stories of me attempting, succeeding, and failing at trying to bless people through out the day. I chose people that were friends from family to even complete strangers. I didn't even get through all 26 blessings. I thought this post would be a list of the creative things that I got to do, but when it was all said and done, I was just amazed how joyful I felt. For so long I have felt under the pressure of being an adult, and now here I was trying to chase dogs out of houses and providing water bottles to peole stranded on the road. I got the greater gift. I got joy, and my husband was so blessed by the little blessings that I left for him. He smiled all day long and told me countless times how precious I was to him. What started out as a cool idea became the most amazing journey I have had in awhile.
My prayer now is so simple that I seem like a child. I just want to be more aware... quit being so busy and love on some people because that is the gift of joy from the Father. My old camp director used to tell us everyday to go Make a Difference... I guess as corny as it sounds, I leave you with the same instructions... small or big... go Make a Difference Today.
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