...and i would say that is why i haven’t been blogging. but really i just have been busy living life. trying to get back on the exercise bandwagon (i guess there is no wagon to ride on when you are exercising). trying to keep up with all my kids activities. february is always CRAZY.
but february starts out with one of my favorite weekends of the year. the weekend that these photos are all from... the butt weekend. i could tell you why it is named that.... but then i would have to kill you. or send a baby to poop on you. and obviously i have that kind of power.
the “butt girls” went to rock eagle in eatonton, ga. it is a GREAT place. nothing to do but scrapbook, have other people cook for us, and laugh laugh laugh. we had some sweet visitors this year... theresa’s baby girls. the sweetest twins. three months old. and babies that we have prayed for ... for many years. way before they were conceived. when they were so desperately wanted. when we all wondered why God was so late in keeping His promises. and yet, He was right on time.
today in my beth moore BREAKING FREE Bible study lesson i realized why i LOVE LOVE LOVE being with all these “butt” friends so much. why i have the best friends in the world. some who were there for this weekend. some who weren’t but are included in this posting about friends and beauty and poop. really, i can merge all three of those things into one blog post. just keep reading. and grab a wet wipe.
all of my friends tell such great stories. and not just the ones they tell as we scrapbook. the ones that make me laugh so hard that i can’t breathe. they tell good stories with their lives. interesting stories. with twists and turns. ups and downs. some really really really low points.
not just things like, i don’t have a linen closet (my story)...
things like...
children who break our heart
addictions that break up our world
husbands who break our heart
car crashes who break our husband so that doctors tell you he won’t survive,
and he does
women who deal with years of infertility
women who live through miscarriage after miscarriage after miscarriage
and many other times of breaking hearts, broken promises, shattered spirits...
each of these women have a story of something they thought they couldn’t live through. and they did live. and they do so in beautiful ways. women who say without a doubt that God is good. even when their lives haven’t all been good.
they are all so beautiful. so beautiful to me. the beauty that God gives after the ashes of the fiery furnace has burned off all the dross from their lives.
isaiah 61:3
... and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the LORD for the display of His splendor.
the fire has burned off anything that is false from their lives. only what is real remains. and it is beautiful in the sight of the Lord. and their stories are interesting. sometimes we thing God is harsh when really He is just a really good storyteller. He is writing a masterpiece with our lives.
i have a certain blog reader who is in that furnace right now. God has put desires in her heart to be a mother. and He isn’t giving her the desires of her heart. right now.
she will write a beautiful story. how do i know this? because i know these other women. these beauties. they will never walk across a stage and get a miss america crown given by a panel of judges. but one day they will walk up to the Judge and be given a crown of beauty for all their ashes. and she will too.
a planting of the LORD for the display of His splendor. when i look into their faces, i see splendor indeed. these women who laugh at poop in their lives and know that it happens. and that there is One who cleans it up.
beth moore said that there was one thing more beautiful than a person who is well...
... a person who is healed.
a person who has had her heart broken and then let God heal it.
a person who Satan meant to be scarred and disfigured from these things that break us. things that should make us stink. things that should stain us.
but God heals, He cleans, He makes all things new and fresh. and He brings beauty from ashes. if we let Him...
