are you ready?

tomorrow marks five weeks until session starts.

five short weeks.

and almost everywhere i go, friends {and strangers} ask, "are you ready?"

hmmmmm. that's a loaded question if i've ever heard one.

the short answer is yes. i'm as ready as i'll ever be.

i've come to grips with the fact that i'm not strong enough to brave the storm ahead alone. we're not strong enough.

i've accepted the fact that we have an enemy that is consistently working against us & wants nothing more than for us to fail.

but HE is strong enough. it's HIS will that will prevail - and if we tap into HIS strength and patience and perseverance and humility as this journey starts then we WILL succeed in whatever capacity HE has for us.

sometimes we forget that our idea of success isn't always HIS idea of success.

 
i read and re-read a lengthy passage in my bible this morning as i prayed over all that 2013 is going to bring.

i have a big "becky & jeff  - beach camp '99" noted next to it. crazy how much has happened since then. crazy that i can remember sitting at a picnic table with j after dinner, before our next 'session' in a courtyard between 'cabins' {if you can call them that}.

even more crazy is that it rings true. this is what our prayer for our relationship was. when we were in high school, y'all. and we totally had a high school relationship - complete with high school drama, jealousy, fights, weekly breakups, etc. absolutely outrageous.

but the Lord was working. even then. {insert recurring goosebumps here.}

allow me to share:

"and working together with Him, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain - for He says, 'at the acceptable time I listened to you, and on the day of salvation I helped you.' behold, now is the acceptable time, behold, now is the day of salvation - giving no cause for offense in anything, so that the ministry will not be discredited, but in everything commending ourselves as servants of God, in much endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses, in beatings, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in hunger, in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in genuine love, in the word of truth, in the power of God; by the weapons of righteousness for the right hand & the left, by glory & dishonor, by evil report & good report; regarded as deceivers & yet true; as unknown yet wellknown, as dying yet behold, we live; as punished yet not put to death, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing all things." 2 corinthians 6:1-10

writing this out brought me to tears. to think of all that the Lord has done throughout our relationship... to think that He brought us out of our immature, squabbly, awkward high school relationship to this. HE can do all things. what a sense of humor the Lord must have. we had no concept of what this scripture meant when we "claimed" it as our own over thirteen years ago. we probably still have no idea of what it truly meant when paul wrote this.

but it has wrung true. NOW is the time, sweet hubby. right now.

and i'm so grateful to get to be by your side. on the strong days & on the fragile days. i'm grateful.

happy monday friends.

***pictures are the product of our dear friend sarah avitua***