Chandra's advice and "thanks!"

Thank you all so much for the special birthday! Michelle, thank you so much for putting those fun pictures up; it means a lot that you went through the trouble to do that - thank you, Michelle! You've also inspired me to put pictures up on the posts more often!

Walt did a great job making me feel special yesterday :) He took time off in the afternoon so that we could go to the zoo, and he also bought me a wide variety of rice to be cooked in our (my) new rice cooker! (many thanks to the Fords for this!)

Rob and Michelle: I'm excited to (finally) try my hand at making a curry dish this week with some jasmine rice; would you mind posting the tasty curry recipe that you guys got while on your honeymoon?

Chandra's Advice
Sorry I'm slow to post on this topic, but my advice to these folks has not as much to do with looking to the future as it does to do with looking at the present.

1) Referencing John Piper's "A Challenge to Women"-
"...That, if you are single, you exploit your singleness to the full in devotion to Christ and not be paralyzed by the desire to be married."

My number one piece of advice is to live your life to the fullest in the situation you've been placed. It makes me sad to think back on times in my life when I looked forward to/anxiously awaited something so much that I felt like I wasted my days waiting. There were people around me who needed help, and I was too selfish with my own desires to even notice (I think of this specifically as I was anxiously awaiting the ending of my job). When you're single, you have a unique opportunity to be flexible with your time and schedule to bless others...TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS TIME FOR THE KINGDOM!

2) In the words of Pete, "If you have a desire to be married, you most likely will be."

3) Also, to summarize the words of Pete to graduating seniors who didn't know where they'd be going/what they'd be doing after graduation. "Don't worry about 'if it's the Lord's will' - do what you want to do, and know that what you do...whatever it is- is in the Lord's plan."

Even though he was talking about a different life situation, it's just as applicable. Go on dates, if you want, and if the relationship ends after 1 date...then that was in the Lord's plan, and if it develops to marriage...then that was in the Lord's plan. Both the relationships we call "bad" and "good" are under the sovereignty of the One who wants to image Himself forth and draw us to Him. Even if it doesn't "work out", belivers in Christ can trust that there was a reason that it happened.

This all sounds pretty hypocritical coming from someone who is prone to worry, but this was one area of my life that the Lord did graciously bless me in not worrying about. (...maybe that's because I knew I wanted to marry Walt when I first saw him in 2004...hahaha. The Lord definitely gave me 'the desires of my heart' concerning my husband =) )

#11 to the previous topic
11) I never, ever thought I'd read the Chronicles of Narnia...and I just read the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. I was pleasantly surprised by how Christ-like the imagery was; this book gave me a new found appreciation for fiction.