8:00am on a Sunday morning and I've been awake for over three hours. This is not normal. My wonderful husband woke me up a little before 5:00 and, while I'd normally go right back to sleep, I made the mistake of checking the time on my phone and discovered five thousand notifications and, even though I didn't click on any of them, it still got my brain running. Once that happens, it's all over. I love being a female (eye roll).

We laid there and joked around and laughed. He eventually fell back asleep and I eventually pulled up Hulu on my phone and watched the latest Grey's episode.

I just brewed a hot cup of coffee and made it into a super healthy, protein filled peppermint mocha that'll give Starbucks a run for their money any day. Mmmmmmm. My Bible is open next to me and I just read Psalm 30. Such beauty and joy and peace found in these twelve verses. I have to share each of them.

I absolutely love the honesty and balance in this passage. It emphasizes and rejoices in the good, the happy, the joy, the gratitude, while at the same time, talking about the hard, the heavy, the difficult, the painful. It's such an accurate picture of life and reflects the thoughts swirling around in my head.

It also makes me think of this article that I came across in my Facebook history from a couple years ago (and then re-shared on my timeline because it's that good). It talks about taking time to love and enjoy all of the little gifts and GOOD in this life, while not ignoring the bad and evil or pretending it doesn't exist.

(I must interrupt these thoughts to go shower for church or I will make us late. And I hate being late.) 

It's now Monday and a gorgeous chilly fall day. Can't believe tomorrow is the first of November. Craziness. 

I had intended to finish this yesterday afternoon but my husband surprised me with an early birthday present plan and we ended up going for a gorgeous drive to buy an electric fireplace off of  Craigslist! I'm SO excited! He recently learned of my absolute love for their cozy, glowy warmth and I love him to death. It's so pretty and lovely! I had it decorated within twenty minutes of bringing it home, so I'm obviously rather thrilled about it.

Anywho. That was a digression and I'm reflecting back on Psalm 30 now. I love that it begins with praising God. What a beautiful way to begin each prayer, each day, each hour even. It is convicting to me as well. It is so easy to get caught up in the little details and hardships of life (and the big ones too, of course) and my first thought and focus is not on PRAISE, as it should be. And the funny thing is, worship and praise to our God has a way of changing my heart and perspective.

Yesterday I was struggling with some hurt and confusion over something. As I pondered and thought, I was noticing the gorgeous scenery outside of the car window. I began to pray and praise God for His goodness and creativity and  beauty. Guess what. Those thoughts and frustrations were suddenly not such a big deal.

Praise doesn't magically fix everything. As we see in the Psalm above, the writer is still very honest and emotional about his struggles and calamities.  God is always here to hear our cries, wipe our tears, forgive our sins when we repent, and renew our joy. Sometimes He removes the hardship, sometimes He doesn't. But He is with us through each moment, either way.

I love the words of happiness and joy in this Psalm...

Dancing.

​Gladness.

Praise.

Sing.

Healed.

Joy.

Not everyday is full of "momentous" joys. Not everyday brings the healing we're looking for. Not everyday contains literal dancing (although maybe it should and I'm trying to do more of it).

Yet every single day is an opportunity, no matter the pain and evil in this world, to rejoice in the little gifts, to sing praise to God (and your favorite Disney song), to dance in the kitchen, so sit and enjoy the gifts God gives us, no matter how small. 

The cozy glow of a fireplace.

A favorite show on Netflix.

A cup of tea.

Good books.

Crunching leaves.

Drives through the countryside.

Baby smiles.

Hugs and kisses.

A clean kitchen (for about five minutes, right?)

Fresh baked cookies.

Crazy weird costumes.

Pumpkins.

Playing with the dog.

Breakfast for dinner.

Laughter with the hubs at 5:00am when you both wish you were sleeping instead.

God is so very good, all the time. We just need to stop and notice and praise Him for it.

Last week was a crazy, insane, exhausting, draining, jam-packed, weird week.

Somehow everything all ended up on the calendar in the same week.

My doctors wanted to do some invasive, one year post-surgery testing, even though I've been doing GREAT. So on the calendar it went. My body hates these tests and this time I even ended up being ordered to go into the ER the next day to make sure nothing serious had happened during the procedures.

Forty pounds of fresh chicken breast that was ordered months ago arrived last week and half of it needed to be made into freezer meals and the other half divided into smaller bags and frozen. And of course it arrived the afternoon/evening that I ended up in the ER so we were in the kitchen until 10:30 that night.

And it was the week that I could coordinate everyone's schedules and plan a health & wellness party in my home. Thankfully that was a super fun, chill evening with some amazing peeps. So that was the "thing" on the calendar for Thursday evening.

And then there were two health appointments Friday morning, before work. Maintaining a healthy mind and body is a lot of work sometimes. It always takes dedication and prioritizing.

And then there was the opportunity to volunteer at the local youth outreach center Friday night. Unfortunately, I ended up having WAY too many things to do at home, after the insanity earlier in the week, so just the hubby made it to the youth event. Hopefully next month for me!

And then there were the last minute change of plans and I scrapped plans to attend a phenomenal business training event in Milwaukee on Saturday and instead booked a hotel in Minneapolis. Balancing work and marriage is a constant struggle and this past weekend I decided a time away with my love,  so we could worship with two of our favorite bands in concert, eat yummy food, and just get away and celebrate six months of marriage, needed to take priority over business growth. Balance, right?

And then there was me. Tired. Emotional. Weary. 

And yet my heart was so full and I'm so grateful for all these opportunities and people. 

I'm grateful for the medical world, even when it's crappy. 

I'm grateful for good initial test results. 

I'm grateful for the little moments like sleepy prayers and goodnight kisses when we finally collapse in bed. 

I'm grateful for nutrition to keep me going. 

I'm grateful for the prayers and support of family and friends.

I'm grateful that the weekend before the insanity was full of slow and rest and reset.

I'm grateful for spontaneous weekends away with my favorite person.

Scripture talks about the times and season and happenings of life. And last week was "a time to pray hard for strength and do the next thing on the calendar". This week needs to be "a time to focus on home and health and catching up", and that's what I've been striving for the past few days!

Errand running and cozy quick supper at Panera after work on Monday.

Tuesday night was a little busy but full of mostly chill housework, business meeting, etc.

And now this morning (Wednesday), I had a lovely slower start with the hubby and my baby brother stopped in and we chatted with him for a while  before work too. And tonight has been full of housework, a phone chat with the big bro, a long walk with a wonderful friend, laundry folding, paperwork, business work, writing, tea drinking, and lots of Gilmore Girls playing in the background. 

It's all about balance and discerning what "time" each week and month and year needs to be...

God.

Marriage.

Home.

Church.

Health.

Work.

Home business.

Serving others.

Family.

Friends.

Ministry.

The list is endless. As I made that list, I was just so struck by what a BLESSING it is to have so many things to balance. God is so good and abundantly gracious and kind.