Grace's Space

Right now, life is pretty..um..abundant. Jesus said that He came so that we might have life and have it abundantly. I think it's safe to say that we are experiencing that abundance right now in all areas of our life except perhaps for sleep. Sleep seems to be the one thing that we could always use more of around here.

Some wise people have said that before God calls you into something new, you first have to be called out of where you are. That phrase could probably be used to sum up our fall journey. Over the course of a month or so, I was catapulted out of my church bubble and into the real world. Before, the majority of my relationship time was spent with friends from within the church. Now, most of my friendships are with people in my community. Some of these relationships have been in process for several years, while others are brand new.

Three years ago, my kids and I followed a young mom through our complex so we could meet her baby. About two weeks ago, she asked me to be one of her bridesmaids. Yesterday we started shopping for her wedding dress. May I say how much I love looking for wedding dresses?

Yesterday we had an impromptu dinner party with our neighbors. We were celebrating one month of them being in Canada. Although this is a brand spanking new friendship, I think we have shared more meals with them in the past month than with any of our other friends. Over the past several months, having people over for dinner has become a constant. I think we're averaging about once a week, but I'm not quite sure. Either way, I am having a lot of fun feeding both new and old friends. Our home is becoming a safe welcoming place for people to drop in and be fed. Unfortunately, I'm still working on the clean part.

After attending a birth in November, I stepped out in faith and registered for a doula training course. Although this has been the next step in my long-term plans, I was scared. Much of the process calls for me to step out of my comfort zone, something that has been becoming smaller and smaller over the last couple of years. My wonderful husband really came alongside me to help this happen. He's arranged childcare for when I had a birth, went with me to Toronto for the training, encouraged me when I was discouraged, prayed for me often and has just generally been wonderful. I attended my first birth as a doula in March and am currently on call for the next. After the March birth, I have become much more confident in many areas of my life, including driving. I have two years in which to complete the certification requirements which include attending 3 births. In November, I worried about how I would get my births in, but now it looks like I may have all three by fall. That boggles my mind! God is good!

As my life picks up speed, I'm struggling to maintain balance. Please pray for me that I will develop good habits, especially around rest and nutrition. As I have added more children to my life, finding and maintaining a quiet place has been challenging. After sustaining a head trauma this fall, my headaches/migraines have become more frequent. I would greatly appreciate prayer for physical, emotional and spiritual health.