So for those of you that have already forgotten, Robby and I celebrate our 2 month anniversary on Wednesday.. haha yep 2 months!!! :) we like to recognize all of our anniversaries. Not that we have to "celebrate" or spend all kinds of money on each other. Just a nice, "Happy 2, 3 or 4 months honey", when we wake up. Or one of us treating the other to dinner, or a homemade card, or just spending time together. Robby learned my love language is TIME, during our pre-marriage counseling. What did we do to celebrate 2 months of marriage bliss? Well, every Wednesday, for the most part, is when Robby takes his "work from home" day so we try to meet for lunch on those days. So we had planned to meet for lunch and Robby gave me a call when he was on his way so I could leave my office. He didn't sound like he was at home, it kind of sounded like he was out somewhere so I immediately thought he was up to something. For those of you that knew Robby and all of his surprises during out dating years, he has gotten me A LOT of flowers over the years. Well, he did it again. After we ate lunch we were about to leave and he gave me a dozen red roses. They were beautiful. So I took them back to my office to have something nice to look at everyday. Thank you honey!!
So glad it's Friday. I had a rough day yesterday at work. I guess I have bitched and complained about my job so much over the years that people automatically assume when I put a status up on facebook, that its still going on and I need advice. haha. That is all well and good, but this time, I needed a different kind of advice/tips. I had a REALLY stressful day at work yesterday. Not necessarily in a bad way. I am so busy right now (probably should be catching up right now, but I'm blogging) that I can't seem to catch up on stuff. We have a couple of shows out on the west coast and I am trying to make my collection calls on them but I can't start until 11:30am, then I go to lunch for an hour, and then my afternoon is slammed with phone calls and emails then its time to leave. So needless to say, I am soooo busy right now and its nice because I feel like I have a job to do now and I'm very productive. I got really stressed yesterday morning, all caused by me personally putting that stress on myself and my heart started racing and i got horrible stomach pains and was just off the rest of the day. Again, I did it to myself. I need to learn how to come down off high stress times, or learning how to not bring on all this stress. It will definitely effect my health, and when the time comes for us to have kids, I can not have that going on during a pregnancy. I got some tips, some better than others ;) but I guess people didn't understand what I was looking for. Anyways, a sweet friend from my small group sent me a great devotional. It makes a lot of sense and I have been told this a lot before, but its always great to be reminded of it. I am copying and pasting it in my blog to share...
Take This Job and Love It!
Today's Truth "Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be" (Psalm 139:16, NIV). Friend To Friend We all want to be successful in our work. Your office may be downtown or just inside your front door. Your work clothes may be an elegant suit or ragged jeans and a stained t-shirt. You may be paid in cash or with crayon drawings and sticky kisses. It doesn't really matter because none of these things alone makes us successful in the work place.
Many people never experience success in their work because they are in the wrong work to begin with. Not me. As a high school student, I knew exactly what I wanted to be - a nurse. My mother was a nurse and I wanted to be just like her so I signed up to be a student volunteer at the hospital where my mother worked. When I told her the good news, she thought for a moment and then simply said, "That's great, honey. You'll make a wonderful nurse."
On my first day, I eagerly donned the required red and white striped uniform and reported for duty. The head nurse welcomed me and explained that I would be checking each patient to make sure they had water to drink, magazines to read and a listening ear. That sounded simple enough. "Oh, and one more thing," she continued. In retrospect, I should have instantly recognized the danger in those words and run for the nearest exit. In my ignorance, I stayed. "Since we are short-handed, I may ask you to do just a few things to help the other nurses on duty," she said. "No problem" I assured her.
At that precise moment, a scream pierced the air! The head nurse calmly looked at me, smiled and said, "Could you check on that, please?" Surely, I had misunderstood her. "Now!" she continued. Taking a deep breath, I headed in the direction of the scream, praying that that it was nothing more than the celebratory cry of someone who had just won a million dollars.
As I neared the room in question, a bedpan flew through the doorway in front of me, landing at my feet. Furthermore, the bedpan was not empty. I decided right then and there that nursing was not for me, turned in my candy cane apron and raced for the nearest exit. Mama was waiting for me as I stepped off the elevator. She smiled, handed me the cars keys and simply said, "See you at home." Fortunately, I had a wise and wonderful mother who knew me well and from that day on encouraged me to be the teacher God created me to be.
I truly believe many people are living stress-filled lives because they have never sought and discovered God's plan and are trapped in jobs and careers that simply do not fit. Every day, they feel like the proverbial round peg being jammed into a square hole - a painful and frustrating process.
What does fit is God's plan. In Psalm 23:3, David writes, "He leads me in paths of righteousness." In this verse "righteousness" simply means "right things." The Shepherd has a plan for His sheep. Unfortunately, so does everyone else. The difference is that God's plan is filled with the "right things" He shaped and created us to do while the agendas of others tend to service their own purposes instead of God's. God empowers His plan, but when we step into our own agenda or a plan created by anyone else, we are stepping into and relying upon our frail, limited strength. Soon, we will be empty and stress will flood in, filling the emptiness with anxiety and tension. Don't waste another day just doing the "next" thing. Take a long, hard look at your work, your job, and your agenda to make sure you are in the right place - doing what you were created to do in this world.
You have probably heard the statement, "I climbed the ladder of success, and when I reached the top, I realized it was leaning against the wrong wall." Not long ago, I came to a crossroads in my life that made me question the path I was taking in ministry. I asked God to either change me and the way I was doing ministry or change my ministry. He did both! Once again, I realized that God wants the highest and best things for my life. That really is His plan. Don't settle for anything less.
Let's Pray Father, I want to follow Your plan for my life. Help me to walk in daily obedience so that Your unique and perfect plan for my life will naturally unfold before me. And when I am discouraged or stressed because of the work I am doing, give me Your peace and the assurance that I am in the right spot doing the right things You created me to do.
In Jesus' name,
Amen.
Now It's Your Turn The amazing truth is that more than we want to know God's plan for our life - He wants us to know it and stands ready to guide us. God always reveals His plan to an obedient and seeking heart. Are you willing to do whatever God asks you to do?
Read Jeremiah 29:11 and record it in your journal. "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" (NIV).
Seek God and ask for His direction.
Seek His will by searching His Word.
Pay attention to the passion of your heart.
Realistically evaluate your abilities.
Take into account your natural talents.
Consider the advice of those who know you best.
Then step out in faith, trusting God to help you make the right choice.
Again, I know this but with the craziness of life and my environment, I EASILY forget it. Thank you Sarah for sharing this with me today!!
Onto a more lighter note - Our pup is getting HUGE!!! he is such a sweetie too! We love him so much and so does Gracie. We will have to take more pictures of him this weekend, before he gets to big and out of the puppy stage. He passed his vet exam with flying colors! and they even told us (as have many others) that he looks very close to a purebred golden retriever! sweet! not that it really matters, but people pay BIG bucks for goldens and we got to rescue this sweet little boy.
Sunday, Robby is running in the Carrollton Triathlon again. He did it last summer but this year he is much better at swimming and biking. Hopefully he will beat his time from last year! Bentley and I are going to cheer him on!
I just realized, this is probably one of my longest blogs to date. So sorry, hopefully I still have you with me here, either that or you have skipped over some things, thats fine too!! :) oh wait, no one really reads this thing anyways.
I guess thats it for now.... oh - I am super excited that my sister Shaun and my nephew Elias are coming down in 2 weeks for a WHOLE week!! Can't wait! Hate that Ryan can't join them down here but someone has to work, i guess..... So I am really looking forward to spending time with them :)
Ok, now I am done. Happy Friday Everyone!! Hope you have a great weekend :)
Rach! I love that you and Robby celebrate every month, and I think you should! I think it’s important to remember all the little things. And of course, try not to focus on the stress that work is causing you, but remember that you are one of the fortunate ones to be employed at this moment. : ) I’ll do my best to try and talk about good things throughout the week to help keep your mind off the stress, and take 2 minute “breathers” so that you don’t lose it! Besides, you have so much fun stuff going on outside of work to look forward to!
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