Refined

I have spent a lot of time reflecting in prayer this weekend on the last five years of my journey with the Lord.  I guess since we celebrated five years of marriage this weekend, it has been on my mind. 

Five years – to me it does not seem like we are even old enough to have been married for 5 years.  I kept thinking this weekend ...  "I wonder what I was doing this moment five years ago" ...  I have grown so much in the last five years.  The girl I was five years ago walking down that aisle is a complete stranger to me. 

While the Lord has worked on my heart and brought beauty from ashes in my life over the past five years ... I have learned a lot.

I have learned to praise Him in the midst of a storm because He loves me too much to leave me the way that I am.

I have learned to boast in Jesus alone - nothing compares to what I have in Him.

I have learned that no weapon formed against me will remain - and to bring praise in every season of my life.

When I find myself in the desert, I have learned to depend only on him to provide what I need. 

 When I find myself in the fire, I have learned to rejoice when I am being refined through the flames. 

 When I am in the middle of a battle, I have realized that I am a conqueror with Him so I can stand firm on His promsies.  

Now, in this season of the harvest and fulfillment, I have realized the urgency to share what I have learned from the other seasons to give hope to the hopeless and glorify His name!

 I am so thankful that the Lord has molded me and made me more like Him through these last 5 years.  My hope is that five years from now, I will see even more of Him in myself and I will be able to continue to be amazed at His power and grace!'

Here are a few pictures from our weekend ... thankful for time spent enjoying each other and reflecting on the Lord's faithfulness!  We enjoyed a dinner cruise Friday night, toured Ft. Sumter yesterday, and had dinner and played putt putt last night!  

Friday Night - Dinner Cruise in Charleston Harbor
(had to take a picture of the picture that we got - scanner is not working!)

Beautful view of the bridge!

Saturday - tour of Ft. Sumter

In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire —may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

1 Peter 1:6-7 

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

Colossians 2:6-7