Lies

"He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies."

John 8:44

Oops...it's been 4 months since my last blog post. Life has been busy! I will do a life update in an upcoming entry (hopefully later this week) but there has been something on my heart that I want to share today.
Several of my friends have confided in me over the past few months and what they are going through is really rough. I'm talking 'life will never be the same' rough. I have been thinking and praying for them often, but I can't help but think, "What if they never told me?" What if they never shared what was going on behind the scenes? What if they would have just kept on living like nothing was tearing them up inside?
I fall into this trap all too often, I think I can handle everything on my own and keep pushing through internalizing my fears, worries, anxieties, and struggles until it's too much and I completely breakdown. This was most evident during a few seasons of life when depression took over, but I still struggle with it on a smaller scale day to day.
Ultimately, it boils down to this - Satan's Lies.  I think that we are all told and internalize some sort of lie that keeps us from being open and vulnerable with others around us.  My lies tend to be that no one can understand what I am going through, everyone else has their own issues to deal with and so they don't need mine, or I will be judged for not being able to handle things on my own.  I'm sure you can think of other lies that you have been told, perhaps that other people won't care about your problems because you're not worth the battle or that whomever you trust with your fears and failures will betray that trust.  I know there are many lies we are told, but what I have learned about these lies is that as soon as they are identified they melt away.  I don't mean to say that issues we have dealt with for years magically disappear - trust takes a long time to build (or rebuild), building self-worth and confidence can only be done one brick at a time, and pride continues to draw us back into ourselves and tempt us to keep everything tucked away for no one else to see.  But, when we choose to ignore the lies that Satan tells us and break barriers by becoming vulnerable and telling others about what is going on inside our heads and hearts the freedom of Christ can be revealed.

"In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence"

Ephesians 3:12

What typically happens with me is that a small issue crops up - I become stressed with an issue at work, I can't get a good night's rest, I am worrying about things out of my control - I start by trying to handle it on my own.  I do pray, I ask the Lord for help, read my Bible, but still the problem persists.  After several days (or weeks) of frustration and anxiety, I break down (usually to Bryan) a teary mess and ask him to pray for me...suddenly I can sleep, the anxiety is lifted, and Satan's lies are broken.
I continually try (key word try) to identify Satan's lies. Instead of dealing with it on my own, I concentrate on verbalizing these lies to trusted friends and family around me who can help me by praying for me and asking me about how I am dealing with whatever lie might be thrown at me that week.  I would encourage you to find people in  your life to verbalize the hard stuff to and work to become vulnerable on a daily basis.  I think that vulnerability is the hardest and best thing we can do for each other.
I am thankful that my friends decided to tell me about the tough stuff going on in their lives so that I can continue to pray for them and ask them how they are doing.  I know that it was difficult for them to tell me what was really going on, but I can see the relief on their faces once they have told other people. This is an inspiration to me to keep talking and being vulnerable. I hope that you will do so, too!
Cheers,
Amy

Welcome Watson!

So we've had our dear Watson for three weeks now....and he is wonderful! We have really enjoyed having him around and we know that Saphira likes having a buddy around. They just play and play and wrestle and play. They love being outside in the snow, but will usually come in and hang out with us later in the evening. They are both just great dogs and get a long really well. Not to mention, now Saphira doesn't bark at us all the time so that's another bonus :)

 

The last picture here is them staring down squirrels in one of our backyard trees. They love our backyard! Thank goodness for fences.

 

Everything else here in the Twin Cities is going well. Nothing new to report, we have continued to do some exploring and found some more good restaurants. Bryan has been able to pick up steady hours at the Group Home and has been able to put his CNA to good use.  We are waiting to hear if he gets an interview for nursing school this week - crossing our fingers that the Lord would provide in this!! We found a church that we really like so we are hoping to get plugged into a community group there. We've also been painting the house, both of the guest rooms are done so that's exciting! Now we are moving onto the living room, basement, and bathroom. So, overall, we are settling in nicely...which probably means I will be asked to move next week....

 

Everyone needs to come visit!! We are ready for guests! :)

Oops - It has been a few months....

I realized I hadn't posted in awhile, but I did find this draft from December that somehow never got published:

So I apologize - it has been a few weeks since my last update! In that time we had our first thanksgiving at the house and have put up all our Christmas decorations (which I realized we do not have very much of). We are settling into our house nicely, it definitely feels like home! We hang out mostly in the basement, our big sectional couch fits down there. Saphira sleeps in the basement, but prefers to hang out in the front living room, mostly because its the coldest room in the house....and she's allowed on the chairs in there, so I guess that's appealing as well. So far we have put in glass block windows in the basement and had the backyard fenced in...and that's it. We haven't painted or anything. It's definitely in the plans, but hanging pictures is about as far as we have gotten. And we're okay with that because it feels like we just finished the house in MI before we left. Update on that house - there is a contract on the house! The inspection was last week. We haven't heard an update since that, but we are hoping that the sale goes through. It would be nice to know that the house is sold. We don't have to pay for it or anything, but the mortgage stays in our name until the house sells so I would like it to just be over with. So here are some pictures of the house and our Turkey Day and Christmas decorations.

 

So now an update more recent! We were busy these last few weeks, we went home for Christmas and then again last weekend to celebrate our birthdays with family and friends. Thanks so much to everyone who made our time at home so wonderful! The house in Michigan DID sell!! YAY! We were pleased to hear that. We haven't really done much with the house yet, but we are starting to work on painting rooms and giving the house our touch. Expect more updates with changes and pictures of rooms in the weeks to come! We are also trying to get involved with a local YL group to do leader support. We are hoping to meet with someone this week to start getting involved.  Bryan has started both jobs and is busy, but glad to be working and bringing in a paycheck. He submitted both nursing applications, but we will have to wait until the spring to find out if he got in. Please pray for him to be accepted to the accelerated program for the U! My work is going well, I really like the office and the people I am working with.  Overall, the move to MN has been good! It is hard to be far away from our loved ones, but Minneapolis is pretty cool, and we've been blessed to be able to go home a few times already.  We're looking forward to seeing what the Lord has in store for us while we are here! More to come!

Amy