Lauren Sparks

The Sparks Notes

Word of the Year Update: Not What I Had in Mind!

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Word of the YearEarlier this year I wrote about my one word focus for 2022.  Rest.  As in, rest in the Lord.  It seemed to go hand in hand with the word I still struggle with from last year:  Trust.  Plus with my husband undergoing cancer treatments, I need God’s all-encompassing peace more than ever before.

 

I bought a Faithful Life Planner.  I haven’t historically used a planner, but I love it (not an affiliate, btw).  And I have filled it with scriptures and prayers about resting and trusting.  I’m also planning my days during my time with Him and find it helps me keep Him at the forefront as I check off my to-do’s.

 

That’s what I had in mind when I chose the word Rest.  Definitely not what I have now – 2 bulging discs at L4 and L5 that sit on top of my sciatic nerve!  So guess what?  I can’t do anything.  Heavy pain meds flow through my blood stream.  I have been sitting or sleeping on a recliner for days, and I had a sedated injection.

 

So Not What I Had in Mind!

 

Before getting my prescription pain meds I had bouts of sobbing and wailing and begging my husband to take me to the ER.  I wish I was exaggerating.  It was the worst pain I’ve ever experienced in my life.  And I have endured many surgeries.  You can’t touch nerve pain.  No rubbing or changing of position helped.  So I am afraid to get off of the pain meds just yet.  I can’t go back to that.  Therefore, I have slept a lot.  Rested, if you will.

 

Not what I had in mind, God.  Especially right now.  It is killing me that my husband is having to wait on me and our special needs daughter between his radiation and chemo appointments.  How is this fair at all?  I need to be taking care of Chuck.  Not the other way around.

 

God gave me the word “rest”.  But He didn’t ask me how I wanted to learn about it.  So I’m back to trust. 

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Trusting that the kids and the house will be taken care of.  That Chuck’s treatments are killing the cancer cells in his body.  Trusting the doctors making the decisions for Chuck and me.  And trusting that God can heal us both – medically or supernaturally.

 

So if you need me, I’ll be in my recliner.  Reading, watching TV, praying, resting.

 

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.
 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways
And My thoughts than your thoughts.  Isaiah 55:8-9 NASB

 

And now for this week’s featured post from the link up!

 

After this whiny post, you will not be surprised that Theresa Boedeker’s How to Stop Focusing on What’s Wrong With You struck me right between the eyes.  She says…

“Because when we are complaining, we are not praising.

When we are whining, we can’t be grateful.

When we are wanting, we are not satisfied.

And when we are criticizing, we can’t be thankful.”

 

I can’t stop thinking about the entire article and the adjustments I need to make personally to my attitude.  Please read it.  It may be just the gentle encouragement you need too!

 

1. Share 1 or 2 of your most recent CHRISTIAN LIVING posts. (No DIY, crafts, recipes, or inappropriate articles.) All links are randomly sorted.

2. Comment on 1 or 2 other links. Grace & Truth linkup encourages community.

3. Every host features one entry from the previous week. To be featured, include this button or link back here on your post (mandatory to be featured, but not to participate).

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We encourage you to follow our hosts on their blogs or social media.

MAREE DEE – Embracing the Unexpected
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LAUREN SPARKS
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LISA BURGESS – Lisa notes
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TAMMY KENNINGTON – Restoring hope. Pursuing peace.
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Praying God’s Word Wednesday #40: Purim

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The celebration of purimToday marks the beginning of the Jewish celebration of Purim.  This holiday commemorates the saving of the Jewish people from Haman.  The biblical book of Esther tells the entire story.

 

In my daily office (time with the Lord) I am currently studying the book of Esther.  I love this story.  I have read it before, but only recently came to know that people still celebrate it today.  And celebrate big!  Folks dress up in silly costumes, lavish money on the poor, send gifts of food to friends, eat a sumptuous meal and drink too much.  It is a time of gaity as Jewish people denounce plots to destroy their people and remember the resilience of their ancestors.

 

What a great time to pray one of my favorite scriptures from the OT book of Esther.  It is probably Esther’s most well known passage as well – especially if you parented during the Veggie Tales craze.  

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“For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place and you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?”

Esther 4:14 NASB

 

Queen Esther’s cousin Haman was pleading with her to go before the king and inform him of the plot to kill the Jews while asking him to spare them (and herself – she was Jewish).  In his appeal he indicates that maybe she was made queen in order to save her people in this very moment.  None of my relatives have royal blood, but I still see parallels.  My prayer:

 

the celebration of purim

 

 

If you have never read the story of Esther for yourself, study it this week (it’s not long).  And while you’re there, look for ways the story points us to Jesus – even though it happened hundreds of years before His birth.  You will be blessed.

 

Replace the pronouns with the appropriate ones for the person (or yourself) that you are praying for.

 

Praying for you in this.  And don’t forget to share on social media or with a friend who could benefit.  It would mean so much to me.  And if you don’t want to miss a Praying God’s Word Wednesday, subscribe over on the right hand side of this page.

Lauren

 

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