My New Years "resolution" was to Choose Joy and I will admit I have been failing at it. I find it easier to wallow and complain about "the hardships" of my life than to choose joy and take comfort in the blessings my Savior gives me every day. Choosing joy is a state of mind. I have to constantly fight my sinful nature and all the pitiful thoughts that come with it. Why is this so hard? Because I am a sinner. My depressed spirit is a sinful response of unhappiness toward the life God has given me. My discontent spirit is a sinful response of jealousy and even anger toward toward the trials God has allowed in my life to help me grow in character. I cringe as I write those statements. How could I possibly be unhappy and even angry at the circumstances God allows to enter my life? Shouldn't I know that He will always work all things together for good? I should. That requires trust. And trust is hard. No Christian will tell you it's easy to be in a financial state you've never been in before. Or that it's easy to be in a new town where you know almost no one. But every Believer will tell you that trusting God through the hard times in life brings peace that cannot be compared to any "comfort" money or friends will give you.
I want a life that models Christ as much as this sinner is able to. I want a heart that rests contently in the life He has given me, no matter what my circumstances are. I want a heart that chooses joy because no matter what my circumstances may be, I have received the greatest gift of all: Christ's mercy, grace, forgiveness and salvation. My prayer for this week is that God will use this time to shape and conform me to become more like Him by recognizing and rejoicing in the blessings He has given me. "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine, but a broken spirit drieth the bones."
So here I am. This evening I had a sad heart, achy bones and crying baby. The spiral was starting. But instead of letting myself take the plunge, I sent up a prayer for a change of heart, turned off the TV, brought along my heating pad for my shoulder, turned on my happy music, and decided I am going to share with you all about the very very happy week I had last week! I am going to focus on the blessing my God gave me in new friends, a fun week, a family reunion (of Paines and Isaacs) and the witness of a beautiful marriage.
*Warning - Prepare yourselves for a massive picture overload. :-) I apologize in advance if you have dial up.
Me with my sweet friend, SheriLynne outside of our cabin in Salida. All of the bridesmaids shared a cabin which equaled non stop side-splitting laughter and long talks until the wee hours of the morning! I have never been in a bridal party where all of the bridesmaids got along so well and were such good friends by the end of the wedding. What a blessing!!
SheriLynne and Selah (the flower girl). Check out their adorable matching flipflops. Jonathan's sisters made the whole bridal party flipflops. How sweet!
The Dress
Strapping her in!
Jewelry put on by the mama. We were all so amazed at how unstressed Gwen was for a mother-of-the-bride. She was completely relaxed and having a wonderful time! Good job Aunt Gwen!
At the ceremony site with my close friend Kayla. She was such a good matron of honor for SheriLynne, just like she was for me (only she was a maid then!)
Ceremony pics!
During the processional, our "aisle" consisted of a walk along a stream
The glowing bride being escorted by her father
Gorgeous ceremony location.
(side note: the bridesmaids hand fluffed those tissue paper flowers the day before the wedding. There were almost 600 of them!!)
Isaac family picture
Smile Braxton!
Family picture
Best friends
The other half of our table didn't show up, so we had a fun "double date" with Kayla and Seth.
First Dance
Father Daughter dance
The "Blue Girls"
Tara, Kayla, and me
Tossing of the bouquet
Sending the newlyweds off with sparklers
(this was almost a disaster!)
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