You give and take away

Today began with me not wanting to get out of bed, for a myriad of reasons. But once I dragged myself out, I was glad I did. (Isn't that usually the case?) I started my morning listening to a podcast from Mark Driscoll at Mars Hill in Seattle on finding joy in suffering. It had many things I needed to hear. "You will suffer, so suffer well." I then joined my beautiful roommate to make and enjoy a lovely Sunday brunch. Chocolate and peanut butter chip pancakes and cinnamon chip pancakes, fruit salad, and homemade fresh fruit smoothies. If nothing else, that was worth getting out of bed for! We then spent time in prayer. We usually pray together every Sunday night, but we have other plans tonight so we moved it to this morning. It is such a special time. Curled up on my bed, just sharing our burdens and troubles, with no worries of being judged. A time to be completely honest and pour out our hearts. Then lift each other up to the Lord in prayer. Even though things are changing faster than I can keep up with and some things seem to spiraling out of control, the Lord offers small blessings through quiet times such as this morning. And now to do a bit of schoolwork before going to the river and a good-bye party this evening...