My Wonderful Husband

I have a very special husband. I am so very thankful who the Lord picked for me to marry. What a wonderful choice!

My sweet husband blessed me yesterday. I was sitting on the couch, reading when he arrived home from an appointment. Much to my delight, he entered the apartment with a bouquet of flowers and a smile!!!!

I squealed with delight! I was in the mood lately for flowers and really was hoping for some =) I would have been more than satisfied by one lone flower. He's a "go big or go home" kind of guy, and so I got 17 in total! A dozen red roses and 5 tulips (my fav) to match! I have made many stops over the last two days to smell the roses, literally!



Then I had a massage, which I have waited for for a long time! Our benefits at work have been crappy over the last few years. They changed this month and I am so pumped to get massages again!

Then when I arrived home and prettied myself, Shane took me out for a surprise date! We went to Olive Garden for supper, which I had a desire for over the weekend that I mentioned just once, and my awesome husband heard that small request and made it happen! He rocks!

We enjoyed very yummy food and great conversation. I love the face to face connecting time!

Then we got some yummy, warm Starbuck's drinks with some gift certificates and headed to the park with some old bread for Shane's friends, the geese.





We love St.Vital Park in the spring, summer and fall! It is such a wonderful source of free entertainment! We walked, talked, fed the geese and looked at the flooding.




Look at the high river! Feet away in front of us was the river!




Thank-you Shane for a lovely date! I love you like crazy!

Could it be true?

"The more we fear to suffer, the more we need to do so" (Francois Fenelon)?

I've been realizing lately that I am fairly pleasure-seeking, which leads me to be fairly self-seeking. If life is tough, do whatever it takes to make it feel better. If things are uncomfortable, get away from the discomfort to a place that is more comfortable.

I was reading Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas this morning as my lovely sister was having her turn at voice lessons and really found myself identifying with the next chapter in the book. I don't feel these things specific to marriage but specific to the way I function in general in life.

I just don't like the hard stuff. I don't like those hard emotional days when I feel down. I don't like struggles. I don't like awkward moments (though I'm exceptional at being a part of them). I don't like working hard through things. I just want them to be easy. I want things to be comfortable. I want things to feel good.

Is that too much to ask?

Well, apparently, my desires are in the wrong place.

"Jesus promised us that everyone will be seasoned with fire, and every sacrifice will be seasoned with salt. The desire for ease, comfort and stress-free living is an indirect desire to remain an "unseasoned," immature Christian. Struggle makes us stronger; it builds us up and deepens our faith".

I sure don't want my desire to be to remain immature and sinful. I don't want to settle for and make my home in weakness and insecurity just because I hate the hard stuff. I don't want to give up where I could go, just for the sake of comfort.

But man, do I find it hard to stay still in the midst of the struggle. Everything within me wants to make it feel better. I just want to find a solution to ease the discomfort, even if it's not the best one...but the easiest and the fastest way to make things better.

"We have it so easy that we can begin to be lulled to sleep, thinking that life should be easy or that it will always be easy. Once it gets a little difficult, we tend to become consumed with trying to make our lives comfortable again. But by doing so we miss a great spiritual opportunity."

Sound familiar to you? It sure does to me, sadly!

I want to be steady in the Lord to be able to be still and know He is God in the midst of struggle, hard circumstances and conflict. I don't want to run away from whatever doesn't feel lovely. I want to grow in maturity. I want to embrace what God gives to me.

Yikes. Life isn't always easy!

Nightwatch #2!

I am just waking up from sleeping after our second Nightwatch earlier this morning. Apparently, my body only wants 5 hours of sleep following these nights, instead of the normal 8! Oh well!

So, again, we gathered at midnight and did our tear down by 5:30am. It was a fun night!

I did feel a little more tired this time around, but I was on nights the two nights before and strangely was far more tired than usually that last night at work. Not sure why. I got some candy and a slurpee to try and counteract my sleepiness for the Nightwatch =)

There does seem to be a bit of a different flavor to each of the nights that we've done in the last 2 weeks. The first Nightwatch had a theme of excitement and joy in the House. It was very refreshing! The excitement was high being our first one and all!

For me, this last night had a theme of intimacy. I felt the grace to come closer in intimacy with Jesus. I felt a drawing of my spirit and a moving of my heart. I still experienced some joy, but not the full throttle excitement like 2 weeks ago. I felt more of a deeper drawing of my heart. It was nice =)

Again, I am proud of all these young people who are willing to come and worship and pray in the middle of the night. I even has to work today! Yet they come and give themselves in this way throughout the night hours. I am pleased to report that their boldness is heightened in the night and I love hearing the ones that have more recently started to sing with Sanctuary, step out boldly and sing more confidently! I like hearing their voices and I'm sure the Father likes it even more!

There is something exciting about intercession sets in the middle of the night! And more people wanted to pray than usual! Woo! Hoo!!!! We stood and asked for God to send revival to our City and pour out His Spirit on the churches in Winnipeg! How fun is that?!

My prayer is that the Lord would move my heart forward in love, whether in the night or in the day. I want to love this One with my all.

The Nasty Flu Bug

I got hit with some kind of nasty flu bug which started letting its presence be known Tuesday evening. By Wednesday morning, I was feeling really nasty and spent the day on the couch, sleeping and running to my best friend, the bathroom =) All plans for that day were canceled.

Thursday I still couldn't eat really but I am such a committed employee and wanted to make it in for the stat that I dragged my butt to work Thursday to Friday night. I felt awful! But by morning, I thought things were getting a little better.

Then I woke up Friday afternoon with a sore stomach, a little nauseous, an extra sore wrist and had a little meltdown to my hubbie. I'm so thankful to have someone who cares for me and helps me make decisions when I need some assistance =) He passed me the phone and told me to call work and say I was sick.

I spent the evening on the couch and my poor wrist in the "claw".

Saturday morning I woke up undecided if I would be able to work that night. I stayed home and by 2pm was exhausted and went back to bed. I woke up at 4:15pm and felt more nauseous than the day before. After a very hard decision of whether or not to call in sick, I called in sick. Boy am I glad I did! The evening was even worse that the previous!

I was SUPER nauseous and back visiting my best friend =) I took 100mg of gravol in 4 hours which didn't work. I thought I'd try to sleep by 11:30pm.

The night was awful! I think I am really dehydrated, and that combined with a sore stomach and nausea, made me extremely agitated. I thrashed in bed, waking often and visiting my friend regularly, until 5:30am. I really wanted an IV bolus to hydrate me all night long! Too bad I didn't have the supplies to it myself at home =)

I did get a little rest between 5:30am and 11:00am which was good. My tummy still isn't happy but I've eaten 2 pieces of bread this morning! I need to force hydrate myself today.

Other than that 12 hour night shift I stupidly went to, I haven't left the house since Tuesday evening and it's Easter Sunday now! That is an eternity for an extrovert =) Thankfully I haven't been climbing the walls because I've felt too crummy.

Not a nice way to spend Easter! Healing to my body in the Name of Jesus!

I AM PUMPED!

We had our first Nightwatch as Sanctuary House of Prayer today in the wee hours of the morning. After preparing for an all-nighter with different means, such as naps, caffeine, sugar and prayer, the crew met at midnight to start our day in the prayer room.

It was an awesome bunch that came out to participate! There was 18 of us in total and from the moment I walked in the door to the time we were leaving, I was super excited!

We had different sets every hour or half hour with a mixture of Worship With the Word, Intercession and Devotional sets. I am so proud of everyone that participated! I am so proud of our "new-er" singers who got out there and gave it their all! They sounded awesome and really took ownership of the night =)

I feel so honored to have had the pleasure of being a part of the first Nightwatch. I pray that this breaks open the next stage in our history as a house of prayer. I know that if I was at another stage in my own life, I probably wouldn't get the opportunity of going out all night. So, I am incredibly thankful for where I'm at in life today. Totally blessed to have the freedom to spend 12am - 6am before the Lord and praying for my city, along side my friends, family and husband.

I just had to wake up even though I only had 5 hours of sleep....and I'M STILL FLYING HIGH! I feel refreshed after a night of prayer. I feel encouraged and reminded why I have chosen to live a lifestyle of prayer and worship and why I love it so. I feel a tad bit like Hammy from Over the Hedge...still =)

I will attribute it to joy. I felt joy in the house last night. I haven't felt joy like that at Sanctuary in many, many months. It was incredibly good for my soul =)

If there is joy and grace for the Nightwatch like that, sign me up anytime! I'd totally do that again!

Welcome to April!

Yeah! Another new month is here! That makes me happy!

March wasn't the greatest month for me. It was busy, busy with work and regular life. I did a couple of educational things (a conference on drug use in pregnancy and a first aid course) on my days off which made the month seem even more full. I am relieved to have March behind me and a new month to great me!

We are entering April in the midst of a winter wonderland. I don't mind it though! I think it's pretty and it makes me want to put up the tree and buy my husband a present =)

I'm looking forward to April for a number of reasons:

- we are having our first Sanctuary Nightwatch in the week hours of the night and morning. It is just a test run, but it is a first in our history! Yeah!

- we are celebrating my in-law's 25th wedding anniversary with is a great milestone!

- Easter is around the corner and that means a few family gatherings which I'm looking forward to

- I have a few coffees and lunches with friends and family that should be fun

- I have a meeting with my boss to chose my holidays for the year and am thinking about fall/early winter possibilities for some time away

- And I have a few more days then last month where nothing is scheduled. That is awesome! I have felt far too busy!

So, bring on a new month! I hope it is a great one!