Let's see...lately we've been enjoying beautiful weather here in NM. Highs in the 70s and lows in the ?? I don't remember, I'm not usually out in it. After our house guests left (it was so fun to have them!) Jack headed to work and I had a lazy day of cleaning up around the house. This past weekend I was in training to become PALS certified. PALS = Pediatric Advanced Life Support. This is required for my job working in the ICU because our ICU sees everything from 3 week old babies (yep, have had one of those) all the way up to the 90+ yo. I like it. It's a neat experience where I get to see a lot of things that I've never seen before or worked with before. HUGE learning experience for me. PALS went pretty well...it's a lot like ACLS (thankfully) which is Advanced Cardiac Life Support so I felt like already being certified in that helped out. The first day of the classes we went from station to station working out scenarios that might come into our hospital. I liked that part because I got to hear some crazy stories of actual patients that have come in and then got to talk/walk through what I would do in those situations. The second day (Sunday) we worked through more scenarios before we tested out. I was thankful it was a shorter day (finished my test first and got a 100, woohoo) so I jetted over to church and was able to sneak in right as the sermon started.
Our pastor was finishing up a series on generosity and giving. It was definitely a convicting series. Main point I remember and have taken away to let stew in my heart and brain from the whole series is: Does my standard of living dictate my giving or does my giving dictate my standard of living? God prospers us not to raise our standard of living but to raise our standard of giving. Fundamentally when we say we can't afford to give, it really shows our real view of God, our lack of faith and/or lack of trust. Pretty powerful stuff! Jack and I have definitely started to examine our finances, where we can get rid of lingering debt, and how we can start giving more. Yay! Looking forward to giving more. It always makes me so happy to get to give, not just tithe but over and above.
After church on Sunday, Jack headed down to Santa Fe to meet up with our friend J for some accountability and to work through a book J, J, K and I are doing called A Call To Spiritual Reformation, by D.A. Carson (awesome book, highly recommend it). I met up with K and we did a workout together (which killed both of us) and then I headed home. Sunday evening was a nice relaxing time with Jack where we enjoyed our back patio furniture and our new sunbrella! It was awesome (except for the time that it almost blew over on me and as I leaped out of my chair to catch it my Bible went spilling to the ground, oops!).
Monday Jack headed off to work while I relaxed at home (man, the schedule of a nurse sure is nice!) then made a cake and some salad to take to dinner with J&K up in LA. We enjoyed some yummy chicken alfredo, salad (topped with pomegranate seeds which were SO enjoyable), garlic toast, and Chilean white wine, mmm! After dinner the four of us discussed what we've been learning from A Call To Spiritual Reformation, challenged each other to do practical things to jump start our prayer lives and set up accountability with that. SUCH an encouraging and challenging time together. We spent some time in prayer and then Jack and I headed home. What a great start to the week.
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So what are you learning from the Word lately? From your church? Have you struggled in your prayer life? If so, what are practical things you've tried that have worked to help keep you on track in praying regularly?
2 comments:
i like it! i totally agree about the standard of living thing. Not to brag on us or anything, hehe.... but we've always chosen to buy a house that is below what we would qualify for. Multiple reasons, like we could still afford it if one of us lost our job, but also because we find that it frees up more money for giving. Or skipping out on cable or driving old cars. It's pretty tempting to get caught up in the next thing that we "need", and then realize that it's really not necessary. I'm still trying to avoid the smart phone! :)
We upgrade phones in 3 days! Now to make a wise decision. Thanks for the comment, Julie. Living below your means can be very hard for many people but we are striving to do that to free up money for more giving! BTW, we are loving our 1989 Camry...we'll drive it 'til it dies!!!
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