The Block
Waiting in Hope
I wrote an Open Letter to Matchmakers in this space this week and then later in the week read this blog post on (in)courage about the reality of how hard singleness can be. Both of these inspired me to write a little about my journey through singleness while dealing with the unrelenting desire to be married. I hope it encourages some of you.
I remember wondering if God was ever going to fulfill this longing in my heart. The desire had never really been so intense as it was when I started to follow hard after Him. Perhaps it was that my priorities were a little different before I chose Jesus, or perhaps I just wasn’t aware of this desire lying dormant waiting to be awakened. Maybe it had something to do with the emphasis the church puts on marriage (right or not is not the purpose of this post). No matter, it was so intense that it lead me to prematurely attempt a walk down the aisle.
Read the rest on The Block today.
Read MoreThe Block: URGENT Prayer Request
{Re-posted from The Block for today}
Friends:
Many of you are friends with one of the three of us that write in this space on Facebook. But for those of you that are not who may check your reader before you check your Facebook account, I write directly to you today, this morning in fact, with an urgent prayer request.
A dear friend of all three of ours has been sick for some time with intense migraines, vertigo and sporadic hearing loss. Over the Christmas holiday she became quite ill with flu-like symptoms. The result of that ended up being intense fatigue with long bouts of sleep and less time awake.
When they were able to have an MRI taken the doctors found an inoperable tumor in the middle of her brain. Immediately they prepped her for a biopsy to help determine the proper course of treatment. I am unclear of every little detail, but the long story short is there is now significant brain swelling and the neuro-surgeon and neuro-oncologist do not see an adequate treatment plan.
My husband and I were out of town this weekend and when we were flying back this is the update Joe, Christen’s husband, sent out:
“Tough day here at the hospital. The drain they put in did what it was supposed to do (drain fluid) but did not get the results desired (relieved pressure). After weighing whether or not to do major surgery, the doctors and I determined that there was no further course of action that could realistically & beneficially be taken. We are now waiting for either the Lord to work a miracle or for Him to take her home. God bless you all in your prayers.”
This is our prayer. That our God, who is has the power to raise people from their sick beds and heal as if nothing ever happened would perform a miracle at this time. Christen has an amazing husband and two beautiful children (5 and 3 years old).
Please pray for a miracle. All I can keep saying, believing and praying is NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR OUR GOD!
And the song, Our God Is Greater keeps running through my head, as well as Healer. Please pray. The Bible says that the effectual fervent prayers of the righteous availeth much! And that is the TRUTH.
Last night my husband I were able to gather with a few to pray for her and her family. We learned that many have been praying Psalm 18 over her. I have included it at the end of this post. Will you join us? I will come back to this space as soon as I can to update you on the status of this sweet sister in Christ when I know anything. Thank you for storming heaven with us.
The Ringle Family
PSALM 18
1 I love you, Lord;
you are my strength.
2 The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my savior;
my God is my rock, in whom I find protection.
He is my shield, the power that saves me,
and my place of safety.
3 I called on the Lord, who is worthy of praise,
and he saved me from my enemies.
4 The ropes of death entangled me;
floods of destruction swept over me.
5 The grave[a] wrapped its ropes around me;
death laid a trap in my path.
6 But in my distress I cried out to the Lord;
yes, I prayed to my God for help.
He heard me from his sanctuary;
my cry to him reached his ears.
7 Then the earth quaked and trembled.
The foundations of the mountains shook;
they quaked because of his anger.
8 Smoke poured from his nostrils;
fierce flames leaped from his mouth.
Glowing coals blazed forth from him.
9 He opened the heavens and came down;
dark storm clouds were beneath his feet.
10 Mounted on a mighty angelic being,[b] he flew,
soaring on the wings of the wind.
11 He shrouded himself in darkness,
veiling his approach with dark rain clouds.
12 Thick clouds shielded the brightness around him
and rained down hail and burning coals.[c]
13 The Lord thundered from heaven;
the voice of the Most High resounded
amid the hail and burning coals.
14 He shot his arrows and scattered his enemies;
his lightning flashed, and they were greatly confused.
15 Then at your command, O Lord,
at the blast of your breath,
the bottom of the sea could be seen,
and the foundations of the earth were laid bare.
16 He reached down from heaven and rescued me;
he drew me out of deep waters.
17 He rescued me from my powerful enemies,
from those who hated me and were too strong for me.
18 They attacked me at a moment when I was in distress,
but the Lord supported me.
19 He led me to a place of safety;
he rescued me because he delights in me.
20 The Lord rewarded me for doing right;
he restored me because of my innocence.
21 For I have kept the ways of the Lord;
I have not turned from my God to follow evil.
22 I have followed all his regulations;
I have never abandoned his decrees.
23 I am blameless before God;
I have kept myself from sin.
24 The Lord rewarded me for doing right.
He has seen my innocence.
25 To the faithful you show yourself faithful;
to those with integrity you show integrity.
26 To the pure you show yourself pure,
but to the wicked you show yourself hostile.
27 You rescue the humble,
but you humiliate the proud.
28 You light a lamp for me.
The Lord, my God, lights up my darkness.
29 In your strength I can crush an army;
with my God I can scale any wall.
30 God’s way is perfect.
All the Lord’s promises prove true.
He is a shield for all who look to him for protection.
31 For who is God except the Lord?
Who but our God is a solid rock?
32 God arms me with strength,
and he makes my way perfect.
33 He makes me as surefooted as a deer,
enabling me to stand on mountain heights.
34 He trains my hands for battle;
he strengthens my arm to draw a bronze bow.
35 You have given me your shield of victory.
Your right hand supports me;
your help has made me great.
36 You have made a wide path for my feet
to keep them from slipping.
37 I chased my enemies and caught them;
I did not stop until they were conquered.
38 I struck them down so they could not get up;
they fell beneath my feet.
39 You have armed me with strength for the battle;
you have subdued my enemies under my feet.
40 You placed my foot on their necks.
I have destroyed all who hated me.
41 They called for help, but no one came to their rescue.
They even cried to the Lord, but he refused to answer.
42 I ground them as fine as dust in the wind.
I swept them into the gutter like dirt.
43 You gave me victory over my accusers.
You appointed me ruler over nations;
people I don’t even know now serve me.
44 As soon as they hear of me, they submit;
foreign nations cringe before me.
45 They all lose their courage
and come trembling from their strongholds.
46 The Lord lives! Praise to my Rock!
May the God of my salvation be exalted!
47 He is the God who pays back those who harm me;
he subdues the nations under me
48 and rescues me from my enemies.
You hold me safe beyond the reach of my enemies;
you save me from violent opponents.
49 For this, O Lord, I will praise you among the nations;
I will sing praises to your name.
50 You give great victories to your king;
you show unfailing love to your anointed,
to David and all his descendants forever.
Holding on with an Open Palm
I’ve blogged about my fear of motherhood, the fear of not being able to “do it all” when I have a child and my fear, due to my improper view of God, that He would simply give and most definitely take. Wow, is fear a struggle for me or what?! I hope I’m not the only one…
What I didn’t share in my post about my view of God was that when He opened my eyes to that realization I made a promise to Him and a plea for Him. I promised I would do whatever it takes in these next nine months to rid myself of these irrational fears as best I could and I pleaded that He impart His grace to enable me to do it. I had become very aware that trusting God with this pregnancy and understanding I have no control was lesson one of parenthood.
Read the rest on The Block today.
Read MoreMy First Christmas
In 32 years of life this Christmas marks this little girl’s first not with her family. Years ago, I think when I was in college we began a tradition of decorating the tree on Christmas Eve so we could all do it together. I will miss pulling out the ornaments from childhood and reminiscing about where they all came from and the stories behind them. I will not watch my niece and nephew anxiously wait at the top of the steps like we did when we were kids just to leap down them to rip into the presents Santa left the night before. I won’t get to snap a photo of my sisters and me in our matching Christmas pajamas {mom, Grandma and Aunts too}. I’ll miss the huge family breakfast after we all open gifts, the breakfast where my sister suddenly turns into a short-order cook and makes eggs however you like.
Read the rest at The Block.
Read MoreSuperwoman Mom
Confession: I enjoy feeling like I’m super woman and am terrified motherhood will rip this right from my hands. Pregnancy already has to a degree.
I enjoy being busy with the things of God, working out and time with friends. I love cooking and baking as long as I am doing it to benefit others (it’s one of my most favorite parts of marriage as my husband loves anything homemade and therefore loves everything I make). I enjoy running from one thing to the next, squeezing in workouts before prayer meeting or dinners with friends. I enjoy buckling down at work, putting in my headphones and focusing to meet a deadline that is quickly approaching. And I love beginning each of these days with my coffee in hand, wrapped in a blanket, reading my Bible and spending time with the Lord.
I’ve been watching this superwoman appeal that I enjoy so much slip from my grip and it makes me nervous. There is a greater part of me that knows this is His gentle touch helping me focus on what’s really important, and ripping away my tendency to find my worth and value in all that I can accomplish in a day—but I wish I could say that makes this transition an easier one to accept, it has not.
My Improper View of God
The day after we discovered I waspregnant we loaded up the car and headed to Michigan as planned. We were eager to enjoy the last weekend of summer. It was a wonderful weekend just the two of us but there was also some unwanted company.
The entire time we were there I kept starting conversations with, “Well, if we’re pregnant…” My husband repeatedly responded, “You are pregnant, you took two pregnancy tests, what else do you need?”
I had this intense fear that I was not going to meet this baby, that in fact we wouldn’t make it out of the first trimester. I had no medical or rational reason for thinking this, it’s just that I have watched so many friends and relatives go through miscarriages and struggle with infertility that I couldn’t believe we might make it through the first trimester.
Read the rest at The Block today.
Read More