Remembrancy

¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

This is a verse I learned as a teenager and would quote as your favorite verse when asked. Years later, I think it’s very important to include the next couple of verses (Jeremiah 29:12-14 a) along with verse 11.

¹² Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back from captivity.”

What a beautiful promise!! My life hasn’t turned out as I had planned. I mean, when I was in high school, I thought I wanted to be a veterinarian. Then, I ended graduating college with an English degree and I am working for a mortgage company. I would have never guessed that at this point in my life, I would be working at this job. I would have never guessed that I would be living in Nashville (and loving it). But, all along the way, God has known that this is the path He has chosen for me.

When I call out to God, he hears me. When I seek his will for my life, He will provide me with the answers. It’s reassuring to know that even if I’m thousands of miles away from my family, God is there for me. God has my life in His hands and He cares for me so much that He is in even what I might consider the smallest details.

(This is my “I” post for Saturday. I’m not sure I will be near a computer but wanted to get my blog post up)

A few years ago my sister asked me about the movie “A Beautiful Mind.” She asked me if I remembered the part of the movie where the main character was submitting a bunch of patents and she wanted to know if I came up with a bunch of ideas like that. She was saying that sometimes she comes up with a lot of ideas like the character in that movie.

While I don’t necessarily come up with ideas of inventions and things that would need patents, I do often have very random ideas. I started a book (writing one) when I was in college and every so often I think I would like to come back to that.

A couple of years ago I came up with another idea for a book of compilations of stories of people who were married for the first time in their 30s and 40s (for more information about why I chose this specific topic, see my “Frustrations” post). I actually had accumulated several of those stories and right now they are just sitting in a file folder on my computer.

In addition to the big ideas, those things I would like to accomplish at some point in my life, I also have those day to day small ideas. Sometimes I follow through on them and find out they were not such great ideas, sometimes I follow through on them to find it was a great idea and sometimes I don’t even get to the follow through part.

What do you think it is that keeps us from pursuing our ideas and our dreams? Are we afraid of failure? Do we let the busyness of life overwhelm us so much that we don’t have time to put the idea into action?

I am sure some of the most successful people in the world are successful only because they had a vision and they executed a plan to make that vision a reality. I wish I were more like that in some areas of my life.

If you have noticed the blog address I chose, some of you have probably guessed that the name comes from the Nashville Hockey Team—the Nashville Predators. So, today’s letter, “H,” gave me the perfect opportunity to blog about one of my favorite things.

I have not always been a hockey fan. In fact, I had never really watched the game until I was in college. I would be up late at night doing homework and would have the Olympics on in the background. I would get sucked into watching the hockey games. It was the year the USA women won the gold medal during the games so as the Olympics went on, I was more and more absorbed.

My brother-in-law, who likes to take credit for me liking hockey, told me I had to go to a live game to get the real experience. So, one weekend when we were heading to Spokane to pick up my dad from the airport, we went to a Spokane Chiefs game. And, you know what? They live game is way better than watching it on television.

Now, I have a very special bond with the Nashville Predators. I moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 1998. The Predators were the first of four expansion teams to enter the NHL and they began playing in 1998. I have been a fan of the local team since their first pre-season home game and know that I will always root for the Preds first, no matter where I may end up living in the future.

As we near the playoff season, the Predators are in the playoffs for the sixth time in seven years. This year I am hoping for another first for the Nashville Predators—to make it past the first round. Let’s Go PREDATORS!!!

In order to offset the complaint blog of yesterday, I thought today I would focus on some of the blessings in my life and other things I am grateful for. Once again, this could be a lengthy post so I am going to try my best to just focus on a few things.

Let’s begin with something that has shaped who I am today: my family. I have a younger sister and brother. Both my siblings have been married for over ten years and they each have two kids—my sister has two girls and my brother has a boy and a girl. I love being an aunt and because I live so far away (I’m in Tennessee, my sister is in Washington and my brother is in Idaho) it is a treat when I get to see the kids.

My brother and sister and I had some knock-down, drag-out fights when we were younger. I remember busting the glass of a backdoor window with my brother’s head once. We would get in some big trouble for our fights. But, now that we are all out on our own, I think we’ve come to appreciate the rewards of having siblings. I think my sister and I are closer than we ever were when we were younger. We were only nineteen months apart so there was a lot of competitiveness when we were growing up (I was the one who did very well in school, my sister was the one who was popular).

Mom and Dad have also been a huge blessing in my life. I am so lucky to have parents who are still married after 38 years and who are still the best of friends. My parents have shown all of us kids what it takes to make a marriage work and I couldn’t have asked for better role models in that area. Again, life wasn’t all kittens and roses growing up, my parents were young when they got married and I think that affected how they raised us. I haven’t always agreed with how my Mom & Dad handled certain things but I appreciate that they loved us enough to put in the effort.

I’m also thankful for good friends. This past February, I took a vacation to not only visit family but to also visit some of my friends from college. Now, it has been twelve years since I the University of Idaho and it has been months (and even longer in some cases) since I have sat down and talked to some of my best friends from that time in my life.  I love that even though we may not have talking in months, when we get together, we are still comfortable enough with each other to share the things on our hearts and minds.

In addition to all of these things, I am also grateful for a church that preaches the Gospel of Jesus Christ and isn’t afraid to look at the hard things. I am grateful for a good job. Sure, there are days when I hate my job but, overall, I am blessed to be here. And I am grateful for my health. Over the past couple of years I have had several friends and co-workers have some serious health issues which just brings to light how lucky I am to be in fairly good health.

This could potentially be a really long blog post so I am only going to focus on two frustrations in my life—weight loss and being single (especially with regards the church). These are two of the biggest frustrations and challenges in my life so I figured, why not just put them out there.

Let’s start with what is one of my biggest “soap box” issue: Being single and specifically being single in the church. I am three years away from being 40, I have not been married and I have never really had a serious relationship where I thought marriage would come out of it. And most of the time, I’m ok with that. There are some days when I wish I were married with a family at this point but all I have to do is look at the freedom I have in my life and, once again, I am fine with my singleness.

There is one place, however, where my singleness stands out like a sore thumb. It is a place where most people feel accepted and part of a group. That place is the church. I believe that churches today are really geared toward families—couples, children, teens and often even those who are college age. But what about those of us who are out of college, in the work force and single? I love my church and the friends I have there but there are times I feel like I just don’t fit in.

Now, I am not condoning churches start career singles groups so that they are providing a dating service. As a matter of fact, I don’t really think it is necessary that churches have specific singles groups. I do, however, think it is important that churches recognize that not everyone in the congregation has a husband (or wife) and two and a half kids and a dog. I also think it’s very important that churches realize what a valuable resource they have when there are singles who are part of the church body. We are not tied down to a family which frees us up for volunteering and helping out with special projects. We are able to take off on a mission trip without having to re-arrange too much (really, just our work schedules).

So church, don’t overlook us when you are planning events and needing volunteers. Don’t alienate us when you are talking about marriage and family (most of us hope to be there someday). And don’t exclude us just because we are not at the same place in life as the majority.

And now, I am completely going to switch gears and move on to my other frustration: weight loss. Three years ago I was motivated to join Weight Watchers (WW) and lose some weight. I have been overweight most of my life and I was not ever truly happy with myself. So, after a year on the WW programs and 100 pounds lost, I began to enjoy things triathlons and races, swimming and biking. I also ran but it really wasn’t one of my favorite things. I ran because it was the thing that really helped with the weight loss.

But now, a few years down the road, I’ve put weight back on and I am really struggling with finding that motivation once again to get the weight back off. I am very sporadic in my workout routines. I haven’t run regularly since last September and I’ll lose ten pounds just to have a bad few weeks and put it back on.

They tell you in WW that you didn’t put the weight on overnight so you shouldn’t expect to take it off overnight. Wouldn’t been wonderful if it really worked that way? But, alas, losing weight is a daily battle that I will have to fight every day of my life.

Overall, I do not have many complaints in my life. I am content in almost every area of my life. Sure, I have days where my job is frustrating or someone in my family has irritated me but everyone has those days. I have really learned to shrug things off. I mean, there are just some things you have no control over and you accept that and move on.