October 2012 – Meagan Louise

Modern Woman

I had a rough realization this morning. I AM NOT AT HOME. But, how can I be “at home” when my life demands that I be elsewhere?!

Let me explain my lingo. We are going through a “journey” at church called “A Journey Home.” It’s a series designed to help us understand how we view God and how we view ourselves all through this idea of feeling at home. The first week, we listed places that made us feel at home, like being surrounded by people we know, being with my husband, being alone in the woods. When you feel “at home”, you feel peaceful, known & loved, fully dependent on God, joyful, patient, trusting, building into friendships…When you don’t feel at home, you feel anxious, jealous, judgmental, power driven, manipulative,worried you’ll run out, passive aggressive, insecure, abandoned, alone.

This morning, Geoff had to prepare our crock pot meal while I was getting ready for work. The morning ran by fast and I just didn’t have time to put everything together. I stood in the bathroom feeling terrible. One of my GREATEST desires is to be a wife and a homemaker. Geoff gets to provide by working hard, paying for our home and providing physically. I desire to provide for our family by making meals, keeping up our house and making it into a home. But I can’t do that if I have to spend 9 hours of my day sitting at a desk in some stuffy office that makes me feel uneasy. I certainly do not feel at home here.

It is SO FRUSTRATING to feel like my only purpose right now is to pay for my student loans and I can’t do a lot of things that bring me joy. I never thought I’d say this, but I actually love cooking meals. I like learning about seasonings and how to prepare different types of food. I love being able to eat and enjoy what I prepared and seeing the look of satisfaction as my company enjoys what I made. I hate getting off work and feeling too exhausted to wipe down baseboards, do laundry or even cook dinner. How do women do it all?!

Maybe I’m just not superwoman. Maybe I’m weak or incapable of working and keeping a home. But I certainly feel like I’m failing at what brings me the most satisfaction. I know that staying at home and practicing home-cooked meals is not the fire that burns in all womens hearts, and I get that. But for me, this has been a very new and very real discovery. I see Ree Drummond (thepioneerwoman.com) and think about how BEAUTIFUL that life is! She LOVES to cook for her family and take pictures of them, soaking in the stories and moments that just happen. And she was even able to find a way to provide for them by doing so! Seems like a wild and crazy fantasy.

I want to be in a place that feels like home. But, I don’t know how to do that when I feel required to be somewhere else. I feel required to be in a job that pays well but doesn’t necessarily feed ME. If I do what I love or what I would like, then we crash financially. I’m sure there are lessons to be learned in this, but I’m mostly waiting for it to be over. Hospitality fuels me. And I feel forced away from it. Like I’m looking at this delicious apple pie and being forced to eat crackers.

There’s a lot of holes in my thoughts and a lot of things that I think / feel that I can look back on and offer my own “wisdom.” Like when Paul said that he was content whatever the circumstances. Or in Phillipiannes, when it says to be anxious about nothing, but rejoice in everything. Or when God tells us that if we delight ourselves in Him, then He will give us the desires of our hearts. Those are all the things I know, but they are not what I FEEL. I’ve always wanted people to see me as a woman who was close to God and sought his heart. Full of wisdom and knowledge. I’m kinda getting over it. If I’m never REAL, then I’m never going to be able to work through the ugly. And then it just get’s uglier. I am NOT okay with that. So, here it is, my UGLY.

I feel abandoned. I feel like God blesses all these other people and opens doors for them that help them feel satisfied and fulfilled, and I’m swimming against the current to keep my head above water. I wonder if God will ever allow me to be in a place of pure contentment; If I am worthy of providing help to people. I feel like I have to EARN EVERYTHING and if I have SOMETHING, if I don’t keep working to pay it off, it will be taken away. So this morning, I was angry at God because I feel like He is holding back on me. I don’t feel good enough to eat the Apple Pie.

A comment was left on my blog yesterday by my WONDERFUL mother-in-law that just came to mind. “When life is heavy and hard to take, go off by yourself. Enter the silence. Bow in prayer. Don’t ask questions; wait for hope to appear.” Lam 3:28, 29. And the scripture in Luke, “Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied.” Yes, God is good. I believe that He will give me hope and satisfy me. I need to lean into Him a little more and a little more often.

***P.S. If you’d like to check out more of this “Journey” I’m babbling about, you can view it here: http://makethejourneyhome.com/

Glimpse into Parenthood

This morning, I got a beautiful and terrifying look into what kind of Mom I might be someday. And THIS my friends, is another wonderful reason why I think every married couple should have some sort of demanding pet before they have children. It’s INCREDIBLY insightful.

For the first time, we decided to take Oakley to a professional groomer. We’ve been bathing and grooming her in our home, but the weather’s a bit chilly (thus eliminating the backyard scrubdowns) and she’s a whole heck of a lot bigger and furrier than when we we first brought her home! The groomer is close to work, so Oakley and I had a lovely 30 minute car ride at 7:30 in the morning. With the windows down to air out her farts and satisfy her need to see and experience everything, we whipped up to the groomer. As we drove, I was excited…Excited to spend some more time with her on the way to work, excited for her to get super squeaky clean, excited we found a place close to my job. But the moment we pulled into the parking lot, my maternal instincts must have kicked in. Which, BTW, am I COMPLETELY CRAZY for having such protection over a DOG?! I hope not. Because I don’t think that’s changing anytime soon…

We walked in, I looked around, quickly trying to observe the surrounding, the staff, the set-up, the dogs . A lady came up and without a word, quickly dropped Oakley’s collar and replaced it with her own leash. Wait, it was much more dramatic than that. I was feeling the re-assuring tug of her leash as I was trying to figure out what was going on and suddenly the leash fell, along with my sense of calm. The lady (who abruptly took my dog-child away) walked Oakley back and through a door where I could no longer see my puppy anymore. I hear barking and yelping of dogs who are certainly violent and may bully my precious and sweet little puppy. Her tail tucked between her legs as she was escorted away, all I wanted was to walk back with her and be re-assured that she felt comfortable and I felt secure in the care that was given.

I walked away nearly in tears. TEARS PEOPLE! For what? My dog. Oh Lord, if I am this emotional and this protective about my dog, what do my own children have to face? I would like to think that I would be a carefree mother who doesn’t panic at every potential danger or harm, but the evidence of this morning suggests that this may not be the case. Perhaps my children will grow to laugh and become fond of my crazy motherly tendencies and feel all the more loved and cared for because of it. Or perhaps with time, and some wine, I will relax a little more. In any case, I am certain that I will love with such intensity and I cannot wait for that.

Grace In Hardship

A lot of times in my life, and in the life of my community, it seems like God works in themes. In my small group last week, we talked a lot about hardship, and it is most definitely a concept that I have been walking through. A lot of times, I feel like hardship is unfair and nothing but difficult. But I’m learning to understand that God sees it differently. Scripture says that God works all things for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28) and the further I press into God the more I see that to be true.

Take hardship. We all have it, we all experience it. It is not something that we experience once and then never again. Hardship will weave in and out of our lives in different intensities with different circumstances. And God allows it. I don’t believe that God allows it because He is cruel, or because we are unprotected even; I think God allows it because we are flawed and there are lessons to be learned from it.

Have you ever met an adult that grew up in a wealthy distant family, who had no struggles, nothing he had to work for, no cares in the world. Now how many of those people, who raised that way, have you met that were loving, kind and giving? Not many. Check this out:

“You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus…Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs – he wants to please his commanding officer. Similarly, if anyone competes as an athelete, he does not receive the victors crown unless he competes according to the rules. The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops. Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into this.” (2nd Timothy 2:1-7)

What does this say to you? To me, it says 4 things:

1.) God gives us grace. There is a special grace that is available to us in the midst of hardship! God wants us to lean into Him and receive this from Him. He loves us and will see us through.

2.) Hardship clarifies our mission. We are soldiers of Christ, and our mission is to serve Him. Whatever our commander wants us to do, wherever He wants us to be, that’s where we’re at. Something about going through difficulty sobers us. Helps us snap back to reality that we are here to serve Christ and to love others.

3.) Hardship develops personal & spiritual discipline. Whenever I’m going through something difficult, that’s when I lean into God the most. It’s when I grow the most. God uses these times to draw us close to Him, because that’s where we find freedom and grace. Embrace it 🙂

4.) There are rewards. Think back in this past year of your life. What were some of the best parts and the worst parts? It was funny to me how some of the most troubling times led to some of the best things. We work hard, we receive a share of the crops.

GOD IS GOOD.

Can I Believe In The Bible?

Can I believe in the Bible?

I had a conversation yesterday with a friend who created a small paradigm shift in my thinking. The concept that the Bible contradicts itself, and not just in small, ironic ways, like instructing you to be a servant and in the same passage instructing you to be a leader. See, to be a leader is to serve. But that’s not what we’re talking about. We’re talking about historical “facts” being told differently by different people. Not personal accounts on stories, but things like the amount of time between Adam and Abraham.He was saying how the Bible is imperfect, and its not the bible in which we place our faith. This is odd, I was always, and still am told to “stand on the Word of God” and the “Word of God” being the Bible. So I ask the question, if event “A” is untrue, how can I believe anything else to be true? Because it makes sense? That’s not a very solid point to stand on. His response is, faith. I feel like that’s the answer to any unanswerable question and while I go with it, I’m not always okay with it. Feels like a religious cop-out.

When it comes down to it though, it’s not and never has been the Bible that roots my faith. It’s my relationship. It’s the experiences that I’ve had and personal life-change that fuel my faith. Scripture, I believe, is God breathed. But it’s God breathed THROUGH MAN, who is imperfect. Making it the perfectly imperfect account. It’s interesting how God works and mind boggling. Who am I to try to figure it out?

I will always rely on scripture and stand on God’s Word, but when people point out discrepancies, it won’t be a point of discouragement or confusion. It’s an honor that God is using His creation to communicate His heart towards us. He believes in us that much, and trusts that if we follow Him we will be LIKE him and a living example of the Word that is God.