Sunday, June 03, 2007

Be careful what you pray for.

Well it's about 6am here and I can't sleep. You might be thinking, oh 6am, that's not bad, I get up at 5am.... well 6am is just when I decided to actually get out of bed because I got sick of staring at the ceiling for 3 hours!! That's right, I've been up since 3am. Oh, and you may think, well that's not that bad. At least you got a few hours of sleep!! WRONG!! I went to bed around 2isham!! I was trying to prolong the night as much as I could since Eric is leaving for a business trip today! He will be gone for a WHOLE week! I know some of you at this point are rolling your eyes and thinking how pathetic I am! HAHA :) I just really love my husband!

I am heading off to my parents for the week! I am looking forward to my time there! Actually I got a really good idea from my pastor's wife. Once every year her and her husband go their separate ways for a week or maybe just a few days and spend their time of "solitude". Basically they go to a location where it is harder to reach them and where they are less tempted to check email or whatever they do on a daily basis. While they are their they spend time praying, fasting, reading, writing in their journals, basically whatever they can do to get closer to God. So, this next week that's I what I'm going to be doing. Eric and I have had a lot of decisions to make these past few weeks, well really this past year, and I think this is the perfect time to go and pray more about everything!! Before I head off I want to share a really cool story.

So on Friday I got up and did my devotions. God has really been speaking to me lately about the importance of spending time with him first thing in the morning. So I usually get up, let Lucas out then sit at the table and eat my Cheerios and drink my hot green tea and spend my time with God there! Awhile ago I told you about the devotion book I've been reading. It's been awesome! It's called Women of the Bible. Well on Friday my study was about the importance of having other women to guide you and be there for you. As you know, we moved to Ohio about two years ago and it's been challenging to meet new friends. Honestly, it took me about a year to even want to. I made amazing friends in college and I didn't feel that I needed anyone else. I'm glad that I got a new outlook. I have met some pretty amazing people here. My friend Alicia is one. She has been a great friend and really stuck with me through the tough times! :)

So Friday I read this lesson and it read at the bottom to ask God to send you a friend that can keep you accountable and that you can get to know more, so I did. Well I finished up reading and praying and grabbed my backpack and headed for the pool. Little did I know that a storm was following me to the pool. No joke, once I got down working out and I had just laid my towel down beside the pool the rain started coming down. I wondered why everyone was leaving when I was walking in. Everyone left which meant that I was sitting there alone in the pouring rain! HAHA At first this really ticked me off, but then I started enjoying it. I mean how often are you already dressed to get wet when it's pouring! I felt like a little kid jumping in a rain puddle! :) Well pretty soon this lady comes through the gate. She must have felt like a little kid too because she came right in and jumped in the FREEZING cold pool! We both started laughing!

Finally the rain went away and the sun slowly started to peek through the clouds, so I decided to be brave and go put my feet in the water. Well when I did the lady turned around and we started talking. We talked about family, jobs, the pool, vacation.. basically EVERYTHING! Finally I decided to be brave and ask her if she attends church. She said she did! So we started talking about that. This is when I noticed that she seemed to be more serious about church then most people are when you ask this question. Most of the time people say, "oh yes, we are very religious, we attend on Easter, Christmas, Mother's Day"... you get the point. She wasn't like this, she was talking about God and Bible Studies and women and her passions. I started to get a little excited. :) Finally she asked me if I was involved in any women Bible studies. I told her no. So she asked me if I would be interested in joining her Bible study at her apartment on Thursdays!! :) How awesome! After we talked for a while, I asked her if I could tell her something and have her not think I'm crazy. I told her about my devotion book and that I specifically asked God for a friend today and He answered my prayer. It was so amazing! We ended up spending about 4 hours talking IN THE POOL! HAHA I looked like a prune when I got out, not to mention my legs felt like jell-o. But that crazy lady that walked through the gate and jumped in the pool in the pouring down rain just happened to be my new God-sent friend! :)

I'll keep you all updated on how the Bible Studies goes! I am really looking forward to them!!:)

I think I hear Eric stirring around in the other room. I better go check to make sure he's awake and not having another one of those silly dreams of his! HAHA That's a whole other post!!
Happy Sunday everyone!

9 comments:

Teresa said...

We've been up since 4... lol. That's not too odd since we're 3rds. Sometimes that stinks b/c I have half the laundry done, the lawn fertilized already and some other stuff done and it's only 7:30!!!
Anyway, I'd be like that if Alex were gone for a week. We've never spent a day apart like that since we got married (3 yrs in July).
About the friend thing, that's awesome!!

Christy said...

God is AWESOME! Can't wait to spend a week with you!!!

Mrs. H in Costa Rica 2023 said...

Shelly that is so AWESOME! I'm so excited for you about this new friend and Bible study and I can't wait to hear more about how it goes!!!!!

Mrs. H in Costa Rica 2023 said...

How is Fort Wayne treating you? Are you having fun being an Auntie?

Mrs. H in Costa Rica 2023 said...

OH Shelly...so glad you posted that on my blog........

It's okay, I ended up being pretty busy that week too, but we'll have to work something out soon!

Have a wonderful day...is E back yet?

Shell*Belle said...

HAHA!! No problem!! :) E is back! He got back on Friday. :)

Alicia Streicher said...

Shelly!

you never told me this story!!!
that is AMAZING!

and i can just picture you, sitting in the rain, being ticked, until this crazy lady jumps in and you almost want to join her! :)

and thanks for your generous comment about me; i feel the same about you!

love you!

Alicia Streicher said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Shell*Belle said...

Yeah it was pretty amazing! :) HEHE