driving in my car

One of my favorite things to do with my husband is to drive around and watch the sunset. Maybe it’s because driving is how we fell in love all those years ago…

When I found myself without a car to get to and from work as a teen, my boss asked a co-workers to pick me up and take me home every shift that I was scheduled to work. My co-worker became my boyfriend in a few short months, and about 18 months later we were married. We are approaching our 25th wedding anniversary this March.

It was on those drives to and from work as a teen that we fell in love. The conversation easily flowed, and we talked about nothing and everything all at the same time.

And in these days where life is busy and our teen girls are more like adults than “girls”, it is one of my favorite things do to- jump into the car with my husband and just drive around. We are instantly transported to the care-free days of long ago, when all we had was each other and a pocket full of dreams.

This is a song I wrote about our drives together. It’s usually me driving- because long ago we made a rule- whomever drives gets to choose the music!

“Driving in my car”

Driving in my car with you

There’s nothing else I’d rather do 

Than spend my days siting next to you 

Driving in my car with you 

And we’ve got no where to go 

But I know where we’re going 

We’ve got miles and miles 

Of roads to drive 

As we chase the twilight sky 

Driving in my car with you 

As we reminisce of days gone by 

The setting sun shining in our eyes

But the time with you is my true prize 

Driving in my car with you 

We fix our gaze on He  who knew 

We’d  sit side by side, 

Hand in Hand 

With the Son in view 

Life is grand

stuff gets in the way

Last night’s sunset peeking through the trees…

all these things

get in the way

blocking my clear vision

stuff that I’ve stuffed

here and there

distracts me from my mission

too much stuff

makes me feel stuffy 

every breath becomes a chore

with all this stuff 

stuffed everywhere

I can’t take it anymore!

I often complain about the view from my house.  I can’t see the sunset very clearly due to all the trees around us. I know-it’s a really insignificant problem to have, but I long to be out in the open air where I can gaze at the stars and see the sky for miles and miles.

Lately I have been feeling the same way about my home. I LONG to see open space in my rooms.  I can’t find anything, and I can’t see anything clearly because of all the STUFF that is stuffed everywhere.  We aren’t “hoarders” or anything, but we definitely have way too much stuff.  And all this stuff is consuming me- consuming my time, my thoughts, my energy…and it’s zapping me of my JOY!!

I am spending way too much time trying to find places for things, and way too much time looking for things I have miss-placed!

Having too many things leads to me having to make too many decisions…NO GOOD for a girl who already suffers from being indecisive!

So I am on a mission to GET RID OF STUFF and to restore order to my chaotic home.

less is more–

more time to clearly see and enjoy the things and people I LOVE!

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy,and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven,where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Matthew 6:19-21 

when I dream

when I dream

of what will be-

all I see

is you and me

sitting high

above the trees

as we watch

the setting sun

’till all that’s left

are twinkling lights

of a starry, starry

moonlit night

we dream of what

tomorrow brings-

when we’ll watch

the rising sun

I peeked through my curtains the other evening and all I saw was a cloudless, monochromatic sky.  No color to be seen. Imagine my surprise when I got an email a few minutes later from my hubby (who was at work) with this magnificent sunset picture!  Isn’t it so peculiar that I would see nothing… and yet my husband got this spectacular show of color? On the same night, only a few miles away?

But the beauty was that he knew how much I would appreciate it, and so he took the picture for me.

A picture worth thousand “I love you’s”!

We love because He first loved us.  1 John 4:19

If there were no clouds…

Our church at sunset…

 if there were no clouds

we’d never see the beauty

revealed when they move

From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the LORD is to be praised- Psalm 113:3

 For the last few weeks I have felt clouds looming overhead- obstructing my view. But I am learning to trust Him. He always works things out. Every single time.

 This past weekend, my laptop went crazy.  Just fyi- a blank screen with a flashing question mark on your laptop is never a good sign…

As soon as I realized that this problem was beyond my limited expertise, I started praying. I really needed this laptop to work. I had an assignment due for an online class I am taking, and all my passwords were on it.  I kept praying, and trusting that somehow He was going to work it out for me.

I couldn’t take it anywhere until the next afternoon, and every time I started to get anxious thinking about this computer issue, I prayed.

 I stood in line the next day at the “computer hospital” and prayed some more.  Continuously.  I stepped up to the counter and they told me it would be 12 to 18 days to have it fixed.  They gave me a couple of ideas of what could be wrong with it.  I kept on praying.

“I really need this tonight.” I told them.

“Well, since we are slow right now, we’ll run some more diagnostics on it.”

I stood there and prayed.  And I didn’t stop. I knew that even if it didn’t get fixed that night, that He would guide me in what do to next, but I couldn’t stop hoping.

They took my laptop to the back room for further testing. I felt like I was in a doctor’s waiting room. After what seemed like forever, he came out from the back room.

“I’ve got good news for you. We can fix it. We just received a shipment of the exact part you need this morning and I can have it fixed in the next hour.”

Praise the Lord! 

As I look back on this, and other things that have been a distraction to me lately, I see how He is using these little challenges to draw me closer to Him. He’s working on me-to trust Him more, to have joy in the midst of any circumstance, and to pray continuously- for everything!

When the clouds come my way- Lord, help me to have faith that You’re gonna use them paint a magnificent sunset!

And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.  Philippians 1:6