Oh, Monday

Mondays are always hard days for me.

It all starts when I say goodbye to John in the morning. We each get into a car and drive away in opposite direction.

Getting back into the routine of work takes time and I find myself wishing I had enough time to do everything I want to do.

Surprisingly, today went by faster than I realized. I left work and drove away, thinking of what I wanted to accomplish tonight. I got home and started the laundry, worked out, showered, ate dinner, edited some photos and talked to a dear friend.

People, I got a lot done tonight!

Oh, and I started exercising again!! It feels so good to be physically active – minus the soreness…

Today, I also spent a lot of time thinking about the future – and I tend to worry when I start thinking about the future. It is time to lay my worries at the foot of the cross, knowing that the Lord has perfect plans for me!

"I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

What is Forgiveness?

I receive weekly emails from Walk in the Word - and this week's topic is not an easy one. I wanted to share this post with you all because I believe I am not the only one that has a hard time forgiving others from time to time.


"Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony" - Colossians 3:12-14


Forgiveness is a decision. It's an act of will to release a person from the obligation that resulted when they injured you.


Unforgiveness sounds like this: "You owe me! I'm going to make you pay by hating you, by slandering you, by returning in kind, by recruiting other people to my bitterness. I'm holding this over you!"


Here's forgiveness: "You don't owe me. I'm not trying to get even. I'm not looking for a chance to pay you back. God didn't make me that way. I choose to forgive."


You say, "James, I can forgive today, but I know by Thursday I'll have that thing back on my back again." I understand that. Get this: forgiveness is a crisis and a process. The first thing you have to do is see your unforgiveness as sin. You have to acknowledge that God's not going to forgive you if you don't forgive others. You've got to have that crisis. You've got to stop explaining, defending, holding onto it, cherishing, and reviewing it. You've got to say, "I don't want this for my life."


The crisis means, "I choose to forgive. I'm letting it go." But the process means, when the painful matter comes into your mind again, you promise yourself to maintain the following process: "I won't bring it up to the person; I won't bring it up to other people;" and most hard by far, "I won't bring it up to myself anymore."


Someone said to me, "James, I can't help myself. As soon as I see the person, Bam! My mind goes right to that thing." That's why forgiveness is a crisis and a process. In the crisis you decide, in the process you live it out.


Now, here's a key: When you fail in the process you have to return to the crisis. When you find yourself flashing back to unforgiveness, realize you failed in the process. You've got to return to the crisis. You've got to get before the Lord and say, "God, forgive me. I want to be a forgiving person and here I'm holding this again, Lord. Help me again. I commit afresh to let it go."


Crisis/process. Over time you'll let it go and you'll be a lot happier because of it.


By James MacDonald

Saturday

It has been a while since I’ve had a relaxing weekend. My previous Saturdays were filled with photography, photo editing, cleaning, cooking, running errands…and family visiting (but since I love spending time with family, I think the lack of quiet time is totally worth it!).

However, today was just perfect – and it is not even over yet.

John and I slept in…woke up…snuggled…and slept again. We had our traditional Saturday breakfast: toast and eggs with feta. We talked about our 3^rd anniversary (which is coming up in 4 months). We went grocery shopping, replaced the car’s headlight, made a trip to the post office, checked out some bikes (for me) and enjoyed the sunshine through the open sun roof!


We are currently baking Chicken Marbella, which smells heavenly and we’ll be joining some friends for a game night soon.


I hope that you too get a chance to relax this weekend. Read a book, take a nap, talk to a friend or spend some time talking to the Father. Slow down and take a deep breath before Monday comes along.


Happy Saturday!

Hope for Japan

In the last post I mentioned that I have been thinking a lot about Japan and the people who survived the earthquake and tsunami. Well, I am not the only one thinking of Japan these days.

I want to introduce you to Ella, a six year old girl who decided to do something to help the people of Japan.
If you would like to help Ella help others, please visit her website for more information.


***I work with Ella's mom and I am very proud of the way these two ladies are being intentional about making a difference in the lives of those who need it the most!

Daylight Saving Time

I welcomed Daylight Saving Time with open arms this weekend! While I did not enjoy losing an hour of sleep, I thoroughly enjoyed the sun kiss I received when I left work.

For the first time in many months, I took off my wool coat, opened the sun roof and drove home while wearing my sunglasses. What a wonderful feeling! Can you tell I am looking forward to summer? I always make the mistake of expecting summer to begin long before it is supposed to – the Pacific Northwest is a bit slow when it comes to summer.

***I have also been thinking a whole lot about Japan. The footages of the tsunami invading roads and farms keep playing in my head – and my heart goes out to the people impacted by such tragedy.

Counting My Blessings

A friend of mine recently reminded me to count my blessings – something I often forget to do. Krista, thank you for helping me focus on what is important!

Here are some things I am especially thankful for today:

1.      A Tank of Gas: I REALLY don’t like to wait until the gas light comes on for me to get gas. If I was not married to John, I think the car would never be less than half way full. John keeps telling me that going to the gas station multiple time a week is very inefficient – and he is right, but knowing that I have plenty of gas to get to wherever I am going gives me some weird kind of peace. Today I drove 30 miles with the gas light on – and I must have aged a whole year during this drive. But the tank is now full and there is no more reason to worry.

2.     Photography: I have had great photography opportunities and I continue to be just as excited about it as ever!

3.     The Vacuum: I have often said that our vacuum cleaner was the best wedding gift we received – and I say that only partly joking. Seriously, there is nothing like an awesome vacuum cleaner when you have very little time to clean hair that manages to somehow get into every corner of our home.

4.     A Clean Bathtub Thanks to John: I have mentioned before that I hate cleaning the bathroom (especially the bathtub). Well, I recently came home to find a very sparkly bathtub!

5.     My Marriage: I am so thankful for the relationship John and I have! Believe me when I say that our marriage is far from perfect – but I wouldn’t trade it for anything in this world. This past weekend John and I went on a ‘kind of a date’. I don’t really know what to call it…When John started his new job and we found out we were going to be apart for three weeks in a row, I told him we had to plan something special to look forward to. I am not sure how this idea came up, but we agreed that we would both go get a pedicure in March. I am constantly complaining about how dry and ugly my feet look – and I am sure John gets pretty tired of my complaints. Well, after this weekend’s pedicure, I can now say that my feet are soft and cute (with red nail polish). John’s feet are manly AND soft. Love, thank you for getting a pedicure with me!!