Friendship

Some people have scads of friends, and some only a few. Today I'd like to talk about a friendship that developed over time and across miles.

I met Sara online, probably on her website through a link somewhere when I searched for military wives online. I was the wife of a military chaplain who started out reserve, went active duty, and then deployed to the Middle East after we moved several states north--all in just over one year. We emailed, she invited me to contribute to her newly-formed Wives of Faith blog, and the rest is history. I'm in my fourth year of working as the blog editor for Wives of Faith, and it's been an incredible journey.

We've talked on the phone and Skype, and met in person once, at PWOC in Dallas in 2010.

One of the best things about her is that she gets me. She also accepts me as I am, flaws and all. I appreciate that, because there are only a few people who do. :)

Sara is probably one of the few people who consistently compliments my writing. She trusts me with her unpublished manuscripts to give honest and loving feedback, and that is an amazing thing. If I ever finish a book, she'll be the first person I show it to.

Thank you, Sara. I appreciate you, girl!

Bread & Wine: Confession & Review

Sometimes you read a book and it's a fun, fast story. Other times, a book might be difficult and much slower.

For me, this book was a little of both. Some parts were fun stories about food and friends, and other parts were difficult, prodding me to put its truths into practice, in the tender places in my heart.

This is Shauna Niequist's third published collection of essays. I find her writing delightful and difficult. Beautiful, always. She has a way of delving into the truth of the experience of being a woman, a wife and mother, a minister, a friend. She doesn't shy away from the hard things or the scary things, yet at the same time she's quick to point out the positive and happy things too. I am drawn to her writing over and over again.

Her second book, Bittersweet, spoke to me on a very deep level about the dichotomy of life: the bitter things that come along with the sweet things. We can learn to appreciate both. Easy? No. True? Absolutely.

I've written elsewhere about how difficult I've found this past winter. It's a little easier now that I am coming out of it day by day, almost literally moment by moment as each day's light lengthens by several minutes around the vernal equinox. The past few weeks have been truly introspective as I examine myself from many angles, learning what my strengths are (and learning to accept those strengths without denial or bragging, two sides of the same coin) and my weaknesses.

One of those weaknesses I confess to you here: Hospitality is rarely easy for me. It's not in my nature to open my home and invite people over on a whim, or even on a plan. I was raised by parents who didn't often entertain, so I didn't really have a model for hospitality. Over and over again throughout my ministry marriage, I've been stretched in this area.

For me, Bread & Wine has been an experience not only in cooking, another weakness I see in myself, but also in challenging me to open my home.

Over the course of the next few days, I will be sharing a few of my experiences putting some of this book into practice. A few recipes, and a few other things. Please stay tuned.


For another review of this book by my good friend Dana, please click here.
To purchase the book, click here.

Disclosure: I received an advance copy of this book from the author. No affiliate links are given here.

Wife 2 Wife Wednesday

What made me fall in love with my husband?

I was so reluctant to trust my changing feelings toward him. We had been college buddies for three years. I'd even turned him down when he asked me out, because someone I secretly crushed on paid attention to me, and then I proceeded to waste two years dating him. (Plus, I swore I'd never marry a preacher. Ha, ha.)

So when my now-husband started hanging around, the more we talked, the more my heart healed, and turned toward him as the caring, loving, wonderful man I have been married to for almost 22 years. I was scared, and I didn't trust my heart. But eventually things changed, and it was good. And we are still in love.

Happy Valentine's Day!

To join in (even though, yes, Wednesday was yesterday) please go to the link-up here!

(in)Courage to Encourage

A warm welcome to all women whose husbands are serving in the military!

Pattie and Chris want you to know that we know the sacrifice you and your family are making by being married to someone in the military--because we've been there. Between us we have over 40 years' experience in being military wives.

Chris is the wife of a retired Naval Officer who served for 31 years. After he retired he (who are we kidding--WE) went to seminary and he is now an Episcopal Priest, which makes me the Priest's wife. Never say that God doesn't have a sense of humor!

Pattie (this is her blog) is the wife of an Air Force Chaplain currently stationed in Alaska. He joined the reserves in 2002 and went active duty in 2006, which means he's been serving for eleven years as of Valentine's Day! While she's proudest of her military wife hat, her other hats include: mom of two teen girls, teacher, writer, editor, book addict, mom-taxi driver--and she's usually seen carrying a travel mug of coffee!

Both of us are thrilled to be working on behalf of the team at (in)courage, to create a warm, welcoming, encouraging community of military spouses of all branches and levels of service.

This is your group...we want to help, mentor and pray you through whatever is going on in your lives.  Pour yourself a cup of coffee, get comfy and tell us about yourself....we are anxious to meet you!

To join this group, you will need to request to join via Facebook at the link below. If you have any trouble, email me at freshbrewedwriter (at) gmail (dot) com and I'll help set you up.

http://www.facebook.com/groups/incouragemilitarywives/

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A note for Pattie's blog readers about the title of this post--When opportunity knocks, do you answer the door?

In this case, I did. I answered the email from (in)courage and here I am--working alongside a terrific gal whom I might never have met otherwise, to expand what I'm doing over at Wives of Faith to reach a larger and different audience, and to encourage as many military wives as I can get my virtual arms around!

Wife 2 Wife

Being a more practical girl in most ways, I haven't been as thrilled with this year's theme choice as I have been before. It's tough to place a goal on a dream. Any achievable steps in dreaming? Not really possible.

But it's my word, without a doubt. Here's the story:

I entered 2013 without a theme word.

Last summer, I went to a jewelry party, and I bought these bracelets for my girls. Somehow, though, I decided I needed one too, so I ordered three. The girls loved their little bracelets with the purple cords, lightweight and pretty.

Then I found mine, hidden in a drawer. And I knew. And I denied it.

But I knew.

I was afraid. Still am. Even now as I write this, knowing I need to share it for the handful of people who read this little blog in the corner of the blogosphere.

I had debated between "dream" and "prayer," because I will be writing a series of very basic, simple, hopefully inspired Bible studies at Wives of Faith on prayer this year. It sounds more lofty and holy to say "My word for 2013 is prayer."

And yet, here I am, with my tiny bracelet and my heart full of words to share, feeling fearful and afraid to dream.

As I read through the Bible this year, I have already started making notes, not only about prayer, but also about dreams. And I am following a writer I'd love to meet one day, as she inspires women to dream.

One of my other friends mentioned yesterday that sometimes words are friends, that they hold hands. I think she's right. Dreams and prayer are friends.


Special thanks to Melanie at Only a Breath for the custom "One Word" graphic. Thank you!!!

Prayer

My other word for 2013 was given to me by my friend and Wives of Faith president: Prayer.

I am writing a Bible study on Prayer this year for Wives of Faith, and while it's beginning with some basic concepts, I think it will offer much to both new Christians as well as those who have been Christians a long time.

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Prayer. What is prayer? In its simplest form, prayer is talking to God and allowing Him to respond back to you.

Prayer has been around since the Garden of Eden, although you won’t find Adam and Eve “in prayer” then. They simply talked to God in the garden. (Genesis 3:8-9 and following.) Later in Genesis 4:26, we find an interesting sentence after the part of the geneaology where Adam and Eve become grandparents. The Bible states: ”At that time people began to call on the name of the Lord” (NIV).
(Didn’t take long, did it?)

I think the people called on the name of the Lord because they missed Him. They were far from Eden, and they realized they needed Him, and they missed having Him around.

 The point is this: We need God. Like the descendants of Adam and Eve, we need to call out to Him because we need Him. Praying to God is a way for us to acknowledge that we need Him in the middle of our busy, sometimes messy, often crazy lives.
Read the rest at Wives of Faith.

New Year, New Theme

Happy New Year! I found my theme, my One Word, for 2013.

I'll be blogging at my writing blog about it for the most part, but I wanted to link there from here.