a couple of my favorite Christmas songs and the story of how my blog came to be

 

Happy Tuesday, friends! I have a funny story about this picture above. I saw my sister post it last year on Instagram and when I enlarged it, I realized that those were my words that I'd written in an online devotional for Tirzah Magazine. The image is one they created, but the words were mine. She had no idea! Isn't that hilarious? And so crazy that the huge internet can sometimes feel small. 

I thought I'd share a few favorite Christmas songs I love today and the story of how my blog came to be a thing. I hope you enjoy reading this post!

First up is Come Thou Long Expected Jesus by Meredith Andrews. 

Next up is an old favorite: Heaven Everywhere by Francesca Battestelli.

I believe that music is an excellent thing to use in your home. It fills the quiet spaces, it brightens the mood and the right kind is relaxing to dogs, at least according to Dad and me. I've taken to leaving some on for them when I leave the house. One day last week, I even left a YouTube screensaver going for them, one for dogs. It was Christmas-y and there were birds chirping and flitting about. I'm not sure how much they enjoyed it, but it never hurts to have something to distract them with. 

I can't remember if I've ever shared the story of how my blog title came to be. I started it in 2007 with my first post, as I mentioned last week, but I didn't come back to write much that year. I really started posting faithfully in 2008, at a time in life when I was in the throes of raising young boys. Life was busy and complicated, but the exact day that I started this blog was on a day when I had a panic attack over all that my husband had going on right then. It was in the winter or the spring of that year and he was in the hospital recovering from a major abdominal surgery and a hernia repair. He had a tumor in his stomach that everyone thought was cancerous, but it was caused by the acid in his stomach. They were never fully sure it wasn't cancer until they were able to get in and do a biopsy. It wasn't, but I remember being overwhelmed at all that an abdominal surgery is—very difficult on the patient and with lots of iv's going in and out of everywhere, including an NG tube. 

As a young 30 year old mom with four boys aged 4-8 years old, all of this was hugely overwhelming. I wasn't able to leave his side hardly at all, but at the insistence of both him and one of his nurses, I left one day and came home to take a shower and to see the boys. I don't remember them being here, though...I guess they were staying with grandparents at the time, but while I was at home and in what was then an office upstairs, the phone rang. I answered it and it was the mom of one of his friends that volunteered on the fire department with him. I'll never forget her not asking about him, but asking about me and how I was coping. (She had recently lost her own husband to cancer.) I probably wasn't truthful at first and probably replied with the standard, "I'm fine, how are you?", but she wouldn't accept it. She told me that it was okay to let my guard down with her and that I could NOT be strong for a few minutes. I immediately burst into tears! We ended up being on the phone for close to an hour, and after I hung up, I wrote and published my first blog post. I wish I could find it for you, but I have tried several times and can't go back that far. 

Anyway, Todd turned out just fine, he eventually got to come home from the hospital after a seven day stay, he recovered well and life went on. I was overwhelmingly grateful for all of this and feeling all the things when I came across a couple of Bible verses in my quiet time one day. These are Colossians 2:6-7 in the NLT translation. I'll write them out for you.

And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. Let your roots grown down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness. 

I changed the title once or twice, but I always came back to those verses. Even if things had turned out vastly different, I can honestly say that God has been incredibly good and faithful to our family. He has carried us through countless things and several health scares, like the one I shared about Todd in the early days of our family. I can promise you that I mean every single word I say when I say that I am thankful for the goodness of God and all that He is to me. I literally cannot even imagine what my life without Him would look like, and it's something I don't want to even think about. One of my sayings is that even for a believer, life is hard, but without Jesus it would feel impossible. What those verses say above is true—He has made my faith strong through His word and He has caused me to overflow with thankfulness. I hope that my blog always reflects Jesus and the love He offers. 

Many of you have blogs. How did your blog and title come about? I would genuinely love to hear this story. I probably know a few of the stories already, but I love to share and read this kind of thing. Thanks for reading my blog today, friends! Love to all.