{"id":16,"date":"2013-03-30T16:22:00","date_gmt":"2013-03-30T16:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/almostjuliet.com\/index.php\/2013\/03\/finding-hidden-treasure-in-surviva\/"},"modified":"2018-04-21T17:22:21","modified_gmt":"2018-04-21T17:22:21","slug":"finding-hidden-treasure-in-surviva","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/almostjuliet.com\/index.php\/2013\/03\/finding-hidden-treasure-in-surviva\/","title":{"rendered":"Finding the Hidden Treasure in Survival."},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m wondering how long \u201csurvival\u201d mode will last.  At 16 weeks, it seems that the worst of my morning sickness is gone, although I still have evenings where all I can eat are saltine crackers and sour jellybeans.  I don\u2019t remember it lasting this long during either of my other pregnancies \u2013 but it could also be that I\u2019m taking care of two children while trying to squeeze in any moment of relaxation I can.  This has been the biggest challenge for me so far.  Any moment I have to myself, anytime they are playing nicely and quietly, any chance I can grab to curl up in bed with my Snoogle and my cat \u2013 well, that\u2019s just it, I\u2019m sailing off to dreamland.  Here\u2019s what I\u2019m not doing: laundry, housecleaning, cooking, de-cluttering, writing\u2026I\u2019ve had words running through my mind for two months but just can\u2019t muster up the energy to sit down at the computer and put it on the \u201cpage\u201d.  Want to know what else?  I haven\u2019t been to church since Christmas \u2013 maybe once or twice.  So it would seem fitting that my soul feels like a little dried-up old prune.  I\u2019m in desperate need of some spiritual food.  My patience has been very thin.  My fuse has been easily well-lit.  It is amazing how the act of \u201cgoing it alone\u201d can leave you feeling so very\u2026directionless.  We\u2019ve had some disappointments recently, things we\u2019ve prayed for that God has simply not answered.  Or maybe he\u2019s just saying, \u201cWait.\u201d  In my heart I know He has the best for us \u2013 we\u2019ve been tithing faithfully since last summer and He has always provided.  I was hoping we\u2019d have that financial freedom back by now \u2013 the days in the city where we had zero debt and lots of money to spare \u2013 but home ownership and spending habits have us stuck in a rut.  I know no \u201cquick fix\u201d will get us out of it \u2013 and so I\u2019ve had to make some hard decisions about my own personal spending habits \u2013 which means getting rid of temptation. Being an adult really sucks sometimes, doesn\u2019t it??  I know these are the years, the long nights with no sleep and little children, tight finances and added stress from things that need to be replaced in our now 12 year old house\u2026these are the years that we\u2019ll look back on and laugh\u2026and yet, back in the day when I was single and living in the city I somehow made $50 stretch for a week and survived.  Because I had to.  I\u2019ve been praying for a heart change about my love for \u201cstuff\u201d.  I know this longing NEVER ends.  NOTHING will ever satisfy it.  I want so badly to be free of it \u2013 to be able to be grateful for what I do have \u2013 to take a break from being a consumer and needing the latest and greatest.  This is so much harder than it looks.  God tells us in Malachi 3: 10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,\u201d says the Lord of Heaven\u2019s Armies, \u201cI will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won\u2019t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test!<\/strong><\/em> and I believe it!  Some months I feel like I can see the tangible result, like an extra bit here and there from selling something in our house we don\u2019t use anymore \u2013 or a nice tax return this time of year.  But some months, it\u2019s enough to make everything work (when my husband makes a great living) and I wonder how it\u2019s gone so quickly and where did it all go??  And so I know this is a time of sharpening for me, and in the end, I will see the fruits of what God is trying to teach me.  It seems fitting that this realization in my heart coincides with the greatest day we as Christians can celebrate, Easter.  Today, the day between Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday, is the \u201cdark night of the soul\u201d.  Today, when it seems utterly hopeless and you feel like you may not survive another trial or another piece of bad news, the morning will come, and with it, Christ\u2019s resurrection from the dead and the hope of all we believe and trust in.  I downloaded the \u201cJesus Calling\u201d app on my phone \u2013 I thought it would be a great way for me to get back into the Word after my long hiatus.  Today\u2019s devotion said this: \u201c\u2026Signs of My Presence brighten even the dullest day when you have eyes that really see.  Search for Me as for hidden treasure.  I will be found by you.\u201d<\/em><\/strong> I love that!  Hidden treasure.  Jeremiah 29:13-14 says: 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,\u201d declares the Lord, \u201cand will bring you back from captivity.[a<\/a>] I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,\u201d declares the Lord, \u201cand will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.\u201d<\/strong><\/em> On this Holiest of Holy weekends, may we remember that He\u2019s already paid the price for our sins.  And the truth is, even if God isn\u2019t answering your prayers in the way YOU think He should be, He\u2019s there, in the quiet, in the doubt and temptation, even in the unfolded laundry. So I\u2019ll keep praying for those things\u2026 God has said \u201cWait\u201d or \u201cBe Patient\u201d\u2026and so I will try.  Happy Easter, all. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m wondering how long \u201csurvival\u201d mode will last.  At 16 weeks, it seems that the worst of my morning sickness is gone, although I still have evenings where all I can eat are saltine crackers and sour jellybeans.  I don\u2019t remember it lasting this long during either of my other pregnancies \u2013 but it could […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/almostjuliet.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/almostjuliet.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/almostjuliet.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/almostjuliet.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/almostjuliet.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/almostjuliet.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1131,"href":"https:\/\/almostjuliet.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16\/revisions\/1131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/almostjuliet.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/almostjuliet.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/almostjuliet.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}