Bread of Life

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33

I was really discouraged this morning.

I bombed my Humanities test with a 62 last night.  :(  I did great on the arts and recognizing which Renaissance period they were from as well as knowing which artist did what, but with 4 or 5 chapters covered, I was simply memorizing the facts and not trying to understand them, so when the teacher re-worded/re-phrased the facts, I knew nothing.  (Yes, I do believe there is a separate blog post about that!)  Lord willing I will never take another D term again with 16 weeks crammed into nine.

But that wasn't all that was getting to me.

Christopher has been acting out and become very clingy since I've been gone/unavailable more with school.  His hyperactivity is worse, his emotions are worse than a woman 8 1/2 months pregnant!  Agggh!  The stress is getting to me.   And then there is the check engine light that came on last night in the car.  The car is not switching into gears so the concern is it's the transmission.  The list of burdens is rather overwhelming.  Because the burdens are so great, I did the one thing I haven't done on my own in months.  I opened the Bread of Life (Matthew 4:4)

I opened my devotional to today's date.  The title read, "You are an Overcomer."  I couldn't help but smile.  "Okay Lord, I'm listening."  As I read the simple yet perfect daily thoughts, Kayla turned her phone towards me to show this adorable duckling hanging on for dear life to the curb.  Under the picture it read, "Don't give up."

 

What perfect timing from a perfect God :)

Mandissa's "Overcomer"

Kaitlyn's First Sunrise

Kaitlyn snapped pictures of the sun-setting Saturday evening as we drove across Pensacola's three mile bridge to go to her first sleep study.

Creation.  It is still stunning.

On the way out, two songs came on the radio.  The same two songs came on the radio last Sunday morning as I drove to church.  Mandisa's "Overcomer" and Philip's Craig & Dean's "You are God Alone."  I chuckled at how "convenient" that was, knowing the words of the songs penetrated deeper than I wanted to admit.

I am so thankful He still loves me enough, through  my stubbornness, to use music to woo and love on me.

Baby girl did great with the wires.  She had a few moments of anxiousness, but did very well.

Our wake up call came right at 5 a.m.  Ugh.  What a night for momma!

As we were leaving, the thought came to mind that Kaitlyn has never seen a sunrise and since no one in their RIGHT mind would ever be up at that hour . . . . why not seize the opportunity to make a memory.

McD's was open so I got a Pumpkin Latte' for me and a biscuit for Kaitlyn and we drove to the beach.  I must say, I tried Starbucks Pumpkin Latte' a while back . . . .it was burnt.  Very disappointed.  McD's was better and I got a large for less than what a small one was at Starbucks.

We stepped onto the neatly cleaned sand.  I hated to mess up the prettiness . . . . kind of like walking across vacuum cleaner marks on a freshly cleaned carpet!

There was only one other person on the actual beach, other than the John Deer Tractor pulling the clean up machine.

My heart broke at the amount of trash people left behind last night.  Much of it being washed out to sea.

Once the sun started peaking, we grabbed as much as we could and tossed it on shore so the machine could get it all.

People, when you visit a beach, or a state park, or are even walking from your car to a building or whatever . . . . take your trash with you!

We didn't get to see the actual sun rising because of the buildings, but we did have fun.

Driving over the three mile bridge back home, the sun was just rising.  It was remarkable.  I pulled over and soon as I could.  While these don't do it justice, it sure was a beautiful morning for a first sunrise for my baby girl.

As I was uploading pictures this morning, the song 10,000 Reasons came to mind . . . . "the sun comes up, it's a new day dawning . . . . . whatever may pass and whatever lies before me, let me be singing when the evening comes."

Worship: to regard with great or extravagant respect, honor, or devotion.