Combating my short memory

How nice to sit on the couch and have time to gather myself... even if I don't feel 100% right now.

And then I thought... I haven't updated my blog in a bit... better get on it.  ... ... Eh, I don't have anything to write about, really.

Wait.

Back up.

Of course I do.

How about how God totally got me through this week at work?
We were down a two nurses Monday, and down our most experienced nurse the whole week,  I had end of month paperwork to do, our secretary had been out three days last week so I was doing parts of her job to catch her up, I was prepping to be gone the next two weeks, we were suddenly training two new patients and I (the newbie!!) was in charge of decisions... and as the week avalanched to an end, my paperwork was piling up to insurmountable levels and just to fulfill a basic part of my job, since no one else was willing to contribute to training this one patient, I was going to have to go into overtime (which is highly frowned upon to the highest levels right now). Sigh. What was I going to do?

Long story short... that one patient transferred to another clinic due to outside circumstances... and suddenly I had Thursday afternoon and Friday morning to do paperwork and take care of the few patients that dropped in to the office!!

What a blessing... and I say this especially because I sent myself home with a weird stomach bug thing Friday afternoon. Not only did I not have overtime... I had under-time :)

I need to do a better job of remembering what He's done for me. Not just in my current circumstances, but for all aspects of His saving grace. I think it would do wonders for daily attitude struggles, and those pesky momentary doubts in my thought patterns.

in the waiting

There's an element to this waiting that I did not expect as we anticipate his graduation date... and as we have started this adoption process... and as I step fully into my third decade instead of just hovering at the edge...

And that is all these questions!

What kind of work will he look for? Church or secular or both (you know, bivocational ministry)? Will we still be in Louisville? What kind of income will that leave us at? Will I finally be able to leave this nursing gig, or will I have to figure out how to steel myself into continuing? If we wait much longer, will I still be able to have my own children? How much of a priority is it for us, or are we good with just adoption? Are we doing international or domestic adoption? (I would happily go either way) What kind of parents are we going to be? What does that even remotely look like (I know we won't know till it happens, but I can't even remotely imagine what we would look like as parents)?

I'm grateful for blog posts... and most recently John Piper's decision to rehash a 1983 sermon on how to find strength in the strength of God. I have not even begun to start internalizing the message... and this nowhere near answers any of the above questions... but I want to begin memorizing these promises of God now as we look to the future.

1. “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” (Isaiah 41:10)
2. “My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19)
3. “God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.” (2 Corinthians 9:8)
4. “‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we can confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?’” (Hebrews 13:5–6)
5. “The Lᴏʀᴅ God is a sun and shield; the Lᴏʀᴅ bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.” (Psalms 84:11)
6. “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32)
7. “Surely goodness and mercy shall pursue me all the days of my life.” (Psalms 23:6)
8. “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7)
9. “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)
10. “Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.” (Psalms 50:15)

http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/how-to-find-strength-in-the-strength-of-god