We were blessed to be given a cabin up in Yosemite for the weekend to enjoy as a family. It took us 6 1/2 hours to get there b/c we had to stop at the 2 Sonics and the Chick-fil-a we found along the way. For those of you that don't know in L.A. we don't have either of those. It was great... we enjoyed our trip that was only supposed to take 4 hours......
Once we got to the cabin we cleaned it a little and then put the little man to bed! He was exhausted from the trip so he slept all night. (this usually doesn't happen when we are somewhere other than home) Bryan built us a huge fire and we enjoyed some time by ourselves.
We began reading "Respectable Sins" by Jerry Bridges on Friday night and continued throughout the weekend. We have not finished the book but it has made me more aware of my sin. I just realized how sinful I really am on an everyday basis. Frustration is huge for me! I get so frustrated when things don't go the way I think that they should go. It has just become so evident that I respond like this way too often. Instead of responding with an attitude of graciousness and understanding that this might not have been my ultimate plan but it is God's. I need to learn that I am not in control and that Christ is and he might be trying to teach me something.
Whenever I feel frustrated and know that I am sinning I have begun to meditate on Psalm 139:16, "All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." So just understanding that every circumstance that occurs during the day is part of God's plan for my life that day! Then I just have to pray and ask the Lord to help me to respond appropriately! I am learning so much from this book and if you want to be more aware of your sin then this book is awesome! I am sure there will be more of this to come! My heart is overflowing with things that I am learning from it!
So this was a highlight of the weekend and then other highlights would be the views that we got to see and the awesome time spent with my 2 favorite men.
It was so beautiful and so majestic! It was amazing to look at and know that we serve such a huge God!
I was great to have this family time together and I am thankful that the Lord allowed it!
This little "Payne" family is such a blessing to me. I love seeing the pics.
ReplyDeleteI, too, learned so much about my own sin from that little convicting book. I'm so thankful for its revealing of my sin. Otherwise, how would I know how to effectively grow and change. The Holy Spirit is so faithful to us.
You are a great mom, a great wife, and a great daughter-in-love!