Oh, Just a little late!

I really should have posted this at Thanksgiving!! But, I didn't think of it until I read someone else's list on their blog and thought, "Psh! My is better than theirs! I taught the teen girls in Sunday School the Sunday before Thanksgiving and in an effort to please the youth pastor's wife I did something "with being thankful!"
I gave the girls a limited amount of time to fill in a list of 25 things they were thankful for. The first five I filled in for them (aren't I nice!) They had to use one or two word answers and could not use a list of proper names either. Here is my list...

1. Salvation
2. The Bible
3. Our Church
4. Family/Home
5. Food

6. Job
7. Health
8. Mental Health
9. Friends
10. Christian upbringing
11. George (my cat) ... notice the order of these two...
12. Jonathan (my boyfriend)
13. Financial security
14. The youth group (of which I am a leader and not a member, thank you)
15. New days
16. Forgiveness
17. Memories
18. America
19. Freedom
20. Opportunities
21. My calling
22. That I'm not ugly (yes this is more than 2 wds, sorry)
23. Answered prayers
24. Soap
25. Internet
26. The color Green
27. Ross/Kohls
28. Music

I know 28 is an odd number to end at, but- I only had a certain amount of time!

Hope you all take time to think about these things we take for granted every day and Thank God for them.

Love to all!
Lizzi

December 7, 1941

It is December 7th the 68th anniversary of the bombings on Pearl Harbor. In honor of this day (and an effort to use some long forgotten school assignments) I am posting a fictional journal entry I wrote as part of a creative writing assignment in college.
From the journal of Jack Carter Albine, December 8th, 1941

"The President said it best, 'This day will live in infamy.' December 7, 1941, Sunday morning, just minutes before 8 o'clock, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The newspaper today held Christmas shopping items, pages and pages of gifts. There will be no Christmas for the men in those four sunken battleships and I dare say Christmas will not be the same for their families either.

We were listening to the radio. Mom cried silently as she rocked Elsie, my baby sister, back and forth in her rocking chair. Dad stopped reading the paper, chewed on the end of his pencil and scratched the back of his head. None of us knew really what to do or say.

The bombing lasted 2 hours and left our majestic Pearl Harbor in ruins. Today, America declared war on Japan. Churchill pledged to join us in that war. That attack has only awoken a sleeping giant. America has shed it's isolation and is preparing to fight.

We will Emerge victorious!
Jack Carter Albine, December 8, 1941


I will post a few more of his journal entries in the next few days/weeks. Hope you all enjoy it.
Love to all!
Lizzi

Pero no estoy Contenta!

One of the Spanish words for “Happy” is “Contenta” or content. We are taught in Spanish classes in high school that one should actually say, feliz or alegre both of which are correct but, when talking to a native Spanish speaker in Spanish you would tell them that you are “contenta.”

This fact, though it seems trivial, dawned on me a year or so ago. I was independently studying Spanish at the time, preparing for ministry in some Spanish speaking country. It made me realize that- the word happy is alright but to be content is a better form of happy. While in Chile when I would tell people that I was “contenta” I would often stop and think, “am I content?” Usually the answer would be yes, I was loving the trip, satisfied (usually) with the work I was able to do there, and thoroughly happy and grateful that God had given me the opportunity. Now, when people ask me how I am doing or how it is to be back home in Spanish I would have said, “Estoy muy contenta.” It is a good thing I do not have to answer in Spanish here in the U.S. because “Estoy muy contenta” would be lying. I am not content.

“So, big deal!” You are thinking- “who is content? And why does it matter?”

“For I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.” Right now, that verse haunts me. To be completely honest and open, here are the things I am not content about:

1. I am only working three days a week, I am not busy enough.
2. My car is broken and not worth fixing, I want (need) a new one.
3. I am 23 and still don’t know what God wants me to do next, I want clear direction (and I want it now!)
4. I am 23 and I am not married and have no boyfriend and therefore - marriage in the near future is unlikely, what I want here is obvious.
5. The list could go on.
Basically, I don't know where my life is going- and with that, I am not content

So, I have just proved to myself that I am not content even though I should be content with whatever stage and place I am in life.

Now, how do I achieve the state of contentedness? There are a lot of “Christian clichés” that would help me in this situation like- “let go and let God” “just trust Him” “Pray about it” but, I don’t want those answers. I want to know what you all (if there is a “you all” out there) would do to fulfill Phil. 4:11 in your life. What would you do to make yourself content with where you are and what you are doing?

If you are reading this and don’t have a blog name to leave me a comment- just send me a message in my facebook inbox, because I’d really like to know what you think.

Love to all!
Lizzi