Lauren Sparks

The Sparks Notes

  • Home
  • About
  • Favorites
  • Policies
  • Contact

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

March 18, 2022 by Lauren 32 Comments

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. 

Click To Tweet
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).

Grace and Truth_Meet Hosts

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

MAREE DEE – Embracing the Unexpected
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

LAUREN SPARKS
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

LISA BURGESS – Lisa notes
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

TAMMY KENNINGTON – Restoring hope. Pursuing peace.
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

Now Let’s Link Up!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

If you liked this post, do me the huge honor of using the buttons below to share it to your favorite social media accounts. And if you want to get these essays emailed to you once a week, subscribe!  Lastly, my posts may contain affiliate links and I earn from qualifying purchases. If you buy anything from one of these links, I receive a few pennies to help offset the cost of this website at no additional charge to you. Thank you in advance for your help.

 

To find some great places where I might share this post, click here.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)

Word of the Year Dilemma

January 21, 2022 by Lauren 37 Comments

Word of the YearLast year, for the first time ever, I chose a word focus for the year.  Several things in my life felt out of control and my anxiety was at an all time time.  I chose the word “trust”.  Or maybe it chose me.  I knew I needed to learn to more functionally trust the God of the Universe with my stuff.

 

I chose 7 Bible verses on trust (one for each day of the week) to focus on and memorize.  Much prayer followed.  I read books on trust.  Praise music on the greatness of God blasted from my speakers.  Everything I faced in 2021 brought me into deeper relationship with God.  I learned to feel my feelings instead of escape from them.  For this I am grateful.

 

Did I Trust?

 

I wish I could say that my anxiety disappeared, but that would be a bald faced lie.  I wish I didn’t have to admit that – if anything – it escalated.  Some of the situations I struggled to place in God’s hands got worse.  And at the end of the year, my husband was diagnosed with cancer.  This is life in a broken world – even when you walk it with a good, good Father.  (I’m typing this from the surgery waiting room as I wait for my husband.)

 

My continued fear and anxiety have much more to do with me being a fallen human than they do with with the delivering power of my God.  Of this I am VERY aware.  And yet I know I have gained much from this focus for prayer and study.  So I definitely wanted to choose a word again this year.  I wrestled for several weeks with whether I should use TRUST again!  I didn’t learn my lesson after all.  But is that really the takeaway from this kind of practice?

 

Rest, Lauren

 

I started reading a book I was supposed to read months ago as a part of an unofficial launch team.  Oops.  Or was it?  God used Rest Girl:  A Journey from Exhausted and Stressed to Entirely Blessed by Jami Amerine to bring me my new word.  REST.  What could possibly be a better expression of trust than resting in His care?  They go hand in hand.  And isn’t God kind to continue to teach me to rely on him without me having to repeat a grade?

 

After more study and prayer, I chose Matthew 11:29 as my guiding verse for the year:  “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”  And God is guiding me to additional verses for meditation and memorization.  (Exodus 14:14, 1 Thessalonians 5:24 and Exodus 33:14 so far).

 

As I continue to pray and meditate on scripture and work through Jami Amerine’s book, I’m excited for the year ahead.  Through every challenge I know God holds me and my family close.  He is so faithful.

 

What About You?

 

I would love to continue this conversation.  If you chose a word for the year, leave it in the comments below (and if it’s not too personal, tell us why you chose it).  If not, give me a favorite verse on the subject of resting in God.  And I would love your prayers as I learn to give it all to the only one big enough to hold it.

 

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

 

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).

Grace and Truth_Meet Hosts

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

MAREE DEE – Embracing the Unexpected
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

LAUREN SPARKS
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

LISA BURGESS – Lisa notes
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

TAMMY KENNINGTON – Restoring hope. Pursuing peace.
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

Now Let’s Link Up!

 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Sharing is caring! If you liked this post, do me the huge honor of using the buttons below to share it to your favorite social media accounts. And if you want to get these essays emailed to you once a week, subscribe!  Lastly, my posts may contain affiliate links and I earn from qualifying purchases. If you buy anything from one of these links, I will receive a few pennies to help offset the cost of this website at no additional charge to you. Thank you in advance for your help.

 

To find some great places where I might be sharing this post, click here.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
« Previous Page
Next Page »

Let’s Connect

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

About Me

I love Jesus, my husband and caffeine. The order of these can change depending on how tired I am. When my two daughters, stepson, and 4 grandchildren get to be too much, I practice yoga. God graciously allows me to share our adventures, victories and flub-ups from my laptop. May He be glorified here.
Read More

Subscribe for Updates

Enter your information below to receive the latest updates from the blog!

Recent Posts

  • I’ve Got Tears in My Ears (and Other Funny Titles)
  • Verse Mapping Joy!
  • Grace Upon Grace
  • First Friday Prayers: Prayer for the Caregiver
  • The Grand Finale of February

Find Devotionals By Me in These Books and Click on Image for Order Information!

A 25-Week Bible Study with Topics from Abide to Zeal
A 26 week journey to a better prayer life.
30 devotionals for faith that moves mountains

For Sharing

Lauren Sparks

Like Podcasts? I’m on This One

…and This One! click to listen.

Click below to get a free trial of my favorite technology monitoring platform

Need More Than Just Monitoring? Find Filters and Accountability Here

Search This Site

Categories

Archives

Copyright © 2023 Lauren Sparks | Design by Traci Michele | Development by MRM

Stop!  Don't Miss Out!

I have a brand new e-book.  This was Not On My Bingo Card:  Essays on Cancer and Related Surprises is available to you FREE by simply subscribing to my blog!  

Invalid email address
I promise not to spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Thanks for subscribing!