On Thursday I turned 39.

In less than 365 days I will be 40. When I was 20, 40 seemed SOOO old! 😉 Today I would tell you that 40 is vibrant and young and wonderful….we will see how I feel about it when it actually comes though!

I have shared about my friend Karlena here before. She was my best friend and her loss in 2010 was and has been so difficult for me.  Her death left a friendship void that was heavy on my heart.

Then last year I became a part of the God-sized Dream Team. I thought I was joining a group of bloggers to help launch a book for an author I respected.

What I didn’t expect was the community that would be formed and the friendships that would flourish because of it.

There is a group of us that stay connected through FB and Voxer – Voxer is such an amazing little app – it is basically a voice messaging system…you vox a recorded message to a person or group without having to call their #.  Oh if we had only had Voxer when Karlena was alive….I would have loved that!

Two women in particular and I have formed, what is, a blessing of a friendship in my life. One of daily encouragement and prayer. Christine and Gindi are both amazing, Godly, women and I can’t imagine my life without them in it.

They are a gift to me every day.

And for my birthday they sent me these beautiful flowers.

While Karlena will never be “replaced”, God has filled that void in my heart for relationship with encouraging women.

The flowers that they sent to me represent new life.

The beauty Christine and Gindi both bring to my life, the color and laughter, encouragement and prayer….I just can’t say enough how blessed I am.

While we live all over the country and can’t have “coffee” together – we share life, every day.

Today I am experiencing new life, and it is beautiful – just like those flowers are.

Gindi and Christine, You ladies are a constant blessing to me. It is a honor to pray for you and do life together. Thank you not only for the flowers, but for the gift you give me each day. I thank God for you both!

So how lucky am I that for 2 days in a row I have some beautiful ladies posting here?!?! Mel is my new BFF (she may not know it yet!) 😉 And we are going to be newbie roomies at Allume and we are both super excited about that!! Anyways Mel has some amazing stories to share because she lived for a time in Indonesia…so I asked if she would share a story with us today and you are in for a treat!!

My husband and I spent five years (2005-2010) living and teaching in Indonesia.

From different foods and climate to a completely new mindset regarding normal, life there was definitely a shift from what we had grown accustomed to in the U.S.

As far as acclimating, I think we did ok…we liked most of the food. (Most, not all.) 🙂

I was all about warm weather and no snow and the chance to have a tan year-round.

And, really, living in the tropics with real palm trees? Something I’d always wanted to do.

Yep, you can tell I’m a total Midwest girl, just from those details.

But the one thing that continually threw me for a loop was the traffic.

I can’t describe it to you.

I can show you pictures…

Like this.

Or this.

Or even this.

But to give you an accurate account of the crazy it was, I’d need to drop you into the middle of the chaos.

I had said, almost from the first day we moved there, that I would learn to drive a motorbike in the city.

In the chaos.

I was determined and adamant to conquer it all.

I wanted independence and the chance to explore. (And I mostly wanted the freedom to go get coffee when I wanted it. Sort of an addict here. ;))

So it was no surprise to anyone that within a month or so of being there, we purchased our first motorbike. (It was orange, and this isn’t necessary information…I just think it’s awesome that we had an orange bike.) 🙂

My husband…well, he’s the guy. He drove it, and he drove it without crashing into carts and people and cars and buses and vans . (And even horses, but only on Sundays.)

I Drove it right into a bush within the first week of having it. 🙂

After that little incident, I was content for the next year or so with riding on the back with my hubby at the handlebars and letting him conquer the crazy.

But, eventually, I knew I’d need to find the courage to embrace the chaos and just drive.

We went out one random day after school and bought me a bike.

It was cute, it was pink, and most importantly, it was automatic. (read: easy to drive)

I’d had this theory that if we spent money, I’d be more determined to follow through with actually driving in the city.

For the first week, I focused on driving around our neighborhood and area, avoiding the major roads (and also avoiding those silly bushes that liked to jump out in front of me).

But after about a week, my husband decided it was time.

Yep…time.

Time to get out in the middle of it all and Just. Drive.

I was so nervous that my hands were shaking, even as I strapped on my helmet. I took off with my hubby following on his bike. As I cautiously weaved my way in and out of the what-seemed-like-millions around me, I realized something in between the whispering, I can do this through Him. He gives me strength, about a hundred times.

There was chaos around me…lots of it, and that part didn’t surprise me.

But being in the middle of it, I only had to worry about what I could see, about what was close to me. Focusing on all that was going on fifty meters in front of me would only remove my focus from where it needed to be.

I had to pay attention to what was right in front of me.

I finished that drive, one that took me to a major shopping area (with a Starbucks…hallelujah!) and back home again with no major incidents.

It really wasn’t that bad…in fact, I might even use the word enjoyable to describe it.

And that drive gave me the confidence to keep driving all over town.

There were definitely a few incidents over the years with me behind the handlebars of that little pink-mobile…mostly bumping mirrors on cars or cutting it a little too close with other drivers, but learning to drive in Bandung ended up being such a good thing.

Oh, and there were multitudes of lessons…on patience and patience and more patience, on bravery, on trust…and on dealing with chaos.

Too often in life, I let myself become weighed down with all that swirls around me. I look at the big picture and throw up my hands in the air…How can I possibly deal with all of this?

The truth is that sometimes we have to embrace the chaos of life and just keep going, dealing with what we can see, what’s within reach, and forgetting about the rest of it.

And even in the middle of chaos, I often find that it’s never as bad as I think it’s going to be.

Plus, as I learned during that first bike drive several years ago, I can do all things through Him because He does give me strength.

Mel is a Follower of her Father. Wife to Tobin. Mommy to Mae. Friend. Writer. Dreamer. Throw in some coffee, chocolate, running, music, and that’s describes her. Blogging at A Barefoot Life , Mel shares her heart for her family and finds beauty in the little things.

Friends you are in for a treat. A fellow God-Sized Dreamer and beautiful new friend Alecia, has so graciously offered to post for me today. I have been overwhelmingly busy recently and writing has taken a back seat – but I wanted to keep filling this space with encouragement and Alecia does just that. I know you will be blessed by her post!!

Alecia blogs over at There’s Something Different at www.aleciasimersky.com. She is a Southerner by birth (and grace) and gypsy by marriage (she’s moved 7 times in the last 12 years).  She writes to encourage Christians to live differently because she knows that once you’ve been changed by Christ
you are different.  She claims “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength” Phil 4:13, daily. You can connect with her here Twitter and Facebook

I am so honored to be posting over at Christine’s blog today in her Rebuilding Series. I would love it if you stopped over there to follow along and also read the past posts from the series! Some really good stuff there!!

Thanks friends!

I recently read the story of Hannah in the Bible. 1 Samuel 1:1-28.

It really is a beautiful story and I have been thinking about what it would be like to have a heart like Hannah’s.

In 1 Samuel we read about Elkanah who has 2 wives. One, Peninnah, “who had given him sons and daughters” and Hannah who was childless.

Can you imagine Hannah’s hurt? It would be difficult enough “sharing” a husband, but then being unable to get pregnant while the other wife seems to be an endless supplier of children.

I have shared before that we had struggles with infertility and there were times that we were trying month after month with no “result”. I had some women in my life at that time that got pregnant either by accident or literally on their “first try”.  It was something I shouldn’t have taken personally, but honestly at the time I felt like they got pregnant “at” me. (I never said I didn’t have issues!) 🙂

So I can empathize with how Hannah must have felt here and understand that her feelings were probably magnified even more seeing the success that wife #2 was having.

Elkanah was a faithful man and every year he would go and offer sacrifices at Shiloh. And he loved Hannah offering her a double portion of the sacrificial meat over his other wife. (May I just say that I love that about this man….how he loves Hannah so much,even in spite of her inability to bear him a child)

Maybe Peninnah is jealous about this….we don’t really know, but what we do know is that she tormented Hannah. Verse 6 says “Peninnah used to infuriate Hannah until Hannah trembled with irritation because the Eternal had not given Hannah children.”

Talk about adding salt to the wound. Hannah doesn’t need anyone to point out the obvious here and yet Peninnah pushes that button, year after year. So much so that Hannah won’t eat.

One day Hannah goes and “presented herself before the Lord”. In Verse 11 we hear Hannah’s prayer. “Eternal One, Commander of heavenly armies, if only You will look down at the misery of Your servant and remember me—oh, don’t forget me!—and give Your servant a son, then I promise I will devote the boy to Your service as a Nazirite all the days of his life. [He will never touch wine or other strong drink,][a] and no razor will ever cut his hair.”

Haven’t we all been there? Desperate and crying out to God, maybe even making promises in return for what we are asking??

The priest Eli hears Hannah and thinks she is drunk because he sees her lips moving but doesn’t hear anything. (Does this strike you just the tiniest bit funny too??) and he goes to her and tells her to basically stop making a fool of herself!

But Hannah has such a humble response…. Verse 15: “My lord, I am not drunk on wine or any strong drink; I am just a woman with a wounded spirit. I have been pouring out the pain in my soul before the Eternal One. 16 Please don’t consider your servant some worthless woman just because I have been speaking for so long out of worry and exasperation.”

A woman with a wounded spirit, pouring out her soul and pain to the Eternal One.

Have you ever found yourself here friend? I have.

Eli tells her to stop worrying and may God fulfill her request and Hannah’s spirits are lifted.

Here’s where the story gets even better!!

Verse 19: “The next morning, they rose early to worship the Eternal One. Then they went back to their home at Ramah, and Elkanah slept with Hannah his wife. The Eternal remembered her petition; and in the new year, Hannah became pregnant. When her son was born, she named him Samuel, which means “His name is El (God),” because she said, I asked the Eternal One for him.”

God heard her request and she is pregnant. I can imagine the joy in her heart!! So my first thought when I had gotten this far in the story was did she follow through with her promise?

The year goes by and it is time to go again to Shiloh to offer sacrifices but Hannah stays behind with Samuel. She tells her husband “When the child can eat solid food, I will bring him so that he can appear in the presence of the Eternal One and remain there continually.”

Did you catch that? Remain there continually!! Here is a woman tormented because she was unable to bear children and for years remained barren. God answers her prayers and she is faithful…but her faith will cost her something won’t it?

Can you imagine giving up your finally, firstborn son to a priest to be raised in the presence of God? An honor yes…but her mother’s heart must have hurt a little having to let him go.

And it says that once Samuel was weaned she brought him to the priest Eli and says “My lord, I swear I am the woman who was praying to the Eternal One in front of you. 27 It was this child I prayed for, and the Eternal has indeed granted me the petition I made.28 So, as I vowed, I will lend him back to the Eternal. For as long as he lives, let him serve our Eternal One. And she left Samuel there with Eli to serve the Eternal One.”

And she left Samuel there….

I am just amazed at Hannah’s faith and her choice to honor God, because He honored her request. Even if it hurt her to let her son go…she made the choice to “give back” the gift that was God’s in the first place.

Oh how I want to have a heart like Hannah’s. To have faith in spite of many difficult seasons. To believe that God can and will honor a faithful request and then to continue to honor Him by letting go of what is most important for a bigger purpose.

Without getting into all of it, here is a foreshadowing of Samuel’s future….1 Samuel 4:1 “And all of Israel was influenced by Samuel’s words.” Oh and Hannah?? God continued to be faithful to her as well and she gave birth to 3 sons and 2 daughters!

Imagine how things might have been different for Hannah, for the nation of Israel had Hannah not been faithful? These passages are encouragement to me to stay the course and to faithfully follow what God is asking of me….even if it is hard, because there may be a greater purpose or plan that isn’t revealed to me yet.

I don’t know what “season” you find yourself in tonight – but my prayer is that you too will seek to have Hannah’s servant heart, to continue to bring your requests to God and to be willing to stay the course. I am praying this for each of you!!