The Unloved One...

I can't help but repost this....it's one of my most thought-provoking posts and I just love it.

Wednesday, 14 November 2007

The Unloved One.....

So I was thinking about how in Genesis there was a man who loved a girl. Yes, he did. He worked 7 years for that girl....and he ended up with the wrong one. Thus, he worked another 7 years for that girl....and he ended up with two wives. What a lucky guy.

But this man loved one of his wives and not the other one. Sad day.

I feel sorry for Leah...yes, Leah...Jacob's wife.

A lot of people have some sort of bitterness for the Leah of the Bible. Like it was her choice to let her father trick Jacob into marrying her before marrying Rachel. Thus making Jacob work another 7 years for Rachel again.

A little hard work never hurt anyone.

Did anyone ever think of the way that Leah might feel about this? I mean, back then women didn't really have much of a choice in the matters of anything, right? What about Leah? She had to obey her father....she probably didn't even want to marry Jacob. I'll bet he wasn't even cute. Yet, she had to and he did not love her. She could've found someone who loved her. She gave birth to many children of a father who did not love her. What a shame. How do you think that made her feel? Here she is giving birth to many many sons and the father of her children doesn't love her....and he treats those sons differently than he treats the offspring of him and Rachel.

How rude.

Leah....the unloved one. I feel sorry for her. I would have hated to be Leah back then.

EDIT: So I was talking to David about this today...and we went through and discussed the first four sons of Leah....

Genesis 29:
31 When the LORD saw that Leah was not loved, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. 32 Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben, for she said, "It is because the LORD has seen my misery. Surely my husband will love me now." 33 She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, "Because the LORD heard that I am not loved, he gave me this one too." So she named him Simeon. 34 Again she conceived, and when she gave birth to a son she said, "Now at last my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons." So he was named Levi.
35 She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, "This time I will praise the LORD." So she named him Judah. Then she stopped having children.

If you notice, every time she had a son she thought to herself, "Maybe my husband will love me now." Then at verse 35 she gave birth to Judah and praised the Lord....and then she stopped having children and her sister was very jealous of her.

Do you know that the line of Judah is where Jesus comes from???

Yes, that's right....Leah's son Judah is an ancestor of Jesus.

What now Laban, Jacob and Rachel?

Update

So, I'm terrible at keeping this updated. At least I've already done so once this year! Which is more than I can say for....other things....like dusting. Oh well.

Chris and I FINALLY got cable and internet. It's so nice to not have to watch DVD's all the time. We enjoy shows like, "Criminal Minds," "Once Upon A Time" and the NEWS!!! It's also nice to sit out in the living room surfing the internet at will while Chris watches his weird shows.

I was finally able to get my hair highlighted and cut today. Oh my it makes me feel so fresh! :)

Chris's work schedule has changed. He now works 9am-7pm. It has kind of messed up our lifestyle. We no longer go to bed before most elderly folk but instead are living more like college students, up past midnight. I can't handle the 2 or 3am nights anymore though. I'm not that young anymore! However, it is nice to cuddle in the mornings before I have to get up for work. And the couple of hours by myself in the evenings is nice for getting some things done...like dusting.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!!

So what if it's already 7 days into the New Year? I am a busy woman!

So many changes happened in the year 2011.

At the end of 2010, I was an engaged woman. I was getting the awesome chance to marry one of my very best friends of my awkward junior high years. Hey, if the guy chose to hang out with me THEN he's a keeper right? :)
The months of January-April were "wedding, wedding, wedding." I know I drove my parents nuts, just found out I drove my co-workers nuts, and Chris....yeah him too. I don't understand why any woman would want to get married more than once. It's stressful!

Finally our day had arrived! It was wonderful and all that I had been imagining in the previous 6 months. My groom looked handsome, bridesmaids and groomsmen wonderful, parents beaming with pride, and joy overflowing my heart as I said "I do" to the boy I had loved for years and the man he turned out to be.

We spent the first couple of days after our wedding learning how to share covers, and live with someone of the opposite gender....among learning other things.  ;) Three days after we were wed, we traded my Silver 2007 Cobalt for a Maroon 2009 GMC Sierra. I was sad to see the Cobalt go but knew that we needed something better for the both of us.

By mid-May, Chris and I were both ready for a change. During the wedding weekend, Chris's brother-in-law Joe and sister Heather joked around that we should move to Noblesville and be near them. Little did we know. After a couple of phone calls, Chris had a guaranteed job and I had an interview in Noblesville, Indiana.....so we moved!

June 4th we (with the help of my parents) packed up all of our belongings into our truck and a small U-Haul and made the 7 hour trek to the Indianapolis suburb.
After 2 weeks of my failure to land a job and Chris's meager checks from his job, we decided that Noblesville was not where we were supposed to be. So, on Father's Day, we packed up our belongings again and made the hour and a half trip south to Columbus, Indiana to live with his grandparents until we got back on our feet. Chris quit his job in Noblesville on Monday, came back to Columbus and started our search with an employment agency. His Aunt Christa works for one and was able to land him a "temp-to-hire" position at Impact Forge Group, a company that forges steel parts for vehicles and other equipment. We walked into her office on Monday, interviewed on Tuesday, and started on Wednesday. Do you think God had a hand in that?

I, on the other hand, could NOT find employment. However, after 7 weeks of searching in Columbus, I finally had an interview with Hotel Indigo, an upscale hotel right in downtown Columbus. They offered me a position as a Customer Service Representative and I took it.

Working at a hotel is much different than working at a bank. I loved it. I loved the people I worked with and especially the managers above me. I think that the general manager and front desk manager are the best people I could have ever worked for and with. However, the hours were very hard on me and the time I got to spend with Chris was minimal. He went to work 6-4 every day and there were some days I worked 3-11. Therefore we would only get to see each other before bed and when we woke up in the morning. That's no good when you're starting a life together so I started looking.

We had been attending a church in Seymour, Indiana and had expressed our concerns to the pastor there. He got us in touch with a bank in the area (where our music pastor just so happens to work and have high standing in) and I was able to apply online, get an interview and be hired. It was a $1.63 higher an hour and we knew that's what we needed at the time.

Shortly after getting the job, we decided that we needed a second vehicle. It was tough on gas for me to drive 35 minutes each way to work and for Chris to continue to drive his 20 minutes one way to work. We were ready to be on our own anyway and started searching for a place to live in Seymour.

And oh boy does the Lord provide! We were able to find a good apartment for minimal rent AND only 2 blocks from the bank! We use the car to save on gas and I walk to work! It's a HUGE blessing!

Shortly after moving to Seymour, Chris got a promotion AND raise. He still works for the Impact Forge Group, however, he is employed at Net Forge, a sister company of Impact Forge. He's a Quality Engineer and does a lot of work on a computer now. It's a salary exempt position which means he's salary for the first 40 hours, and then gets overtime pay for anything after 40 hours. It's been a really big blessing for us to have that extra income.

Now we just live day-by-day, trying our best to serve the Lord and glorify Him in all that we do.
We miss our families and friends but know that the Lord has us where He needs us for now. We cannot wait to see what HE has in store for us!

Our New Car

We bought ourselves a new car!

We've been needing something to drive for the winter time. Chris is driving 20 minutes to work each morning and evening. I'm driving 35-40 minutes to work each morning and evening. He has to be at work at 6, I don't have to be at work until 8. It isn't practical for me to sit in the truck every morning for 2 hours in his work parking lot and then for him to sit and wait 2 hours for me to get off.

We traded in Christopher's 2008 Suzuki Boulevard for a 2011 Chevy Aveo. It's a beautifully simple car with great gas mileage and we got an AWESOME deal on it.

Next on the agenda: APARTMENT HUNTING!!! We're going to look at one today!!!

Pet Peeves

It seems as if all of my biggest pet peeves have been highlighted these past couple of weeks...and maybe I'm just extra moody, but maybe not.

1. Correcting me (or Chris) on a public forum...ie facebook. If someone puts up a status about something like that they are working and they are tired...don't write something like, "Well, just thank the Lord you have a job, many people are without jobs." Just because we're tired doesn't mean we aren't praising the Lord for our jobs! We're just at work and we're tired! What's so wrong with that? What if we were at home and tired, would you say to us, "Just thank God you have a home!" Seriously? We ARE grateful for our jobs (and the home we live in)...we're just tired!
2. Telling me the way that I feel is wrong. I can feel however I want to feel. Feelings are like opinions...they really can't be wrong.
3. If you ask for my advice, I'm going to do my best to give you sound advice. If you aren't going to take it, that's fine, but seriously, don't dispute or come up with an excuse for everything I say. If you don't like my advice, don't ask for it!
4. People giving advice I didn't ask for. I didn't ask what you thought, so don't tell me.
5. People who don't care, and those who don't try to care. It's just annoying.
6. Not replacing the toilet paper roll when you empty the roll. It happens all the time...at work, at home, at school, at church. It just seems a little lazy and disrespectful. If you finish a roll, replace the roll.
7. Wet socks. I hate it when I put on a pair of socks and then step into a puddle of water. Grr.
8. Grown men and women who are more than capable of getting a job whose parents pay for everything for them. Get up and get a job! I've held a job since I was 14, that was 10 years ago. I think you can handle it.
9. People who are constantly complaining about their situation. Fix it! If it can't be fixed, find something else!
10. Extra lazy people--would it kill you to take a couple of steps to get what you need/want?

Crazy Dreams

I have had a LOT of crazy dreams since Chris and I got married (Mom thinks it's the birth control) and this is just a couple of the MANY!

 

We were in the bank hosting a blood drive. All of the desks in the lobby were gone and there was a line of chairs in front of the teller station. Brandi and I were welcoming customers in to donate blood. It was really dark and really scary.

 

There was a doctor and a nurse. The doctor was Satan and the nurse was one of his demons. Creepy, I know. 

They told me that they needed all the blood they could get and if anyone found out who they were, they would kill me. If they didn't get enough blood, they would start to float in the air and if anyone noticed and figured out who they were, they would kill me. 

Well, of course I didn't want to give them any blood because it was Satan for goodness sakes! So, I delayed the best I can. Brandi and I were standing near them and the demon started to float in the air and she noticed and her mouth started to open and she started to say something. I quickly hushed her up and made her go to the bathroom with me. I told her who it was running the blood drive and that they would kill me if they found out that anyone knew. 

But then Brandi, being the voice of reason said, "Leah! You don't have to be afraid of them. You're a Christian and you can get rid of them!" It was cool. Anyway, so we got paper towels (which were black btw) and wrote messages on them to warn people. Then we ran out into the lobby screaming and telling people to get out. Another girl said we were acting crazy and there was nothing wrong with these people but we were frantic. I ran over to the boss, who was sitting at the end of the row of chairs in front of the teller line and told her what was going on and she also told me I was crazy!

Then the demon came over with a huge needle and was going to stab me in the neck to sedate me and he kept stabbing others along the way and no one but you would listen to me!

Then I just looked at him square in the eye and started quoting every Scripture verse I could think of....and I woke up.

 

My body was so tense and stiff when I woke up that I couldn't move. It was like a huge amount of pressure was placed on my body and I couldn't get up. It was awful. Eventually I had to use the bathroom so I rolled over and woke Chris up and made him go with me. I was scared!

 

On a funnier note, Saturday night I had a dream that Chris and I moved to Texas and I told him the only way we could go is if we lived near my friend Liesl (who also lives in Texas). I also insisted that we get a discount on anything that WAS normal size because "everything is bigger in Texas." So I spent HOURS in a grocery store trying to buy a normal-sized cantalope because "everything is bigger in Texas."

 

I can't make this stuff up!!!

 

Have a great day!!

Struggling to find the Lord's will....

Lately Christopher and I have really been struggling with God's will for us as a couple. We aren't exactly sure where He wants us to be.

We've been struggling a bit with our jobs. Is this where I'm supposed to be? Is this what I'm supposed to be doing? What is my purpose in being here? Am I doing the right thing?

We've been struggling a bit with our choice of church. Is this where we're supposed to be? Is this where we're supposed to serve? How can we serve in this church?

We've been struggling with our finances/expenses. We bought our truck without financing the title and taxes (NEVER do that!). Between the truck, moving, and me not having a job for 6 weeks, it really put us behind on bills. We're just now getting to the point where we are caught up and starting to manage our money.

We've been struggling with our living situation. Don't get me wrong, we are both very thankful to have a bed to sleep in and a place to stay. However, a newlywed couple living with someone else is harder than you could ever imagine. I do not recomment anyone trying it...it's not good.

We have finally turned to the Word to help us with our struggles. We've tried to set a time together every evening before bed to spend time alone with each other and with our Bibles. It helps. We just need to get even more involved in it.

So...family, friends, loved ones, passerbys....please pray for us. Pray that we will continually seek the Lord's will and to figure it out for ourselves...maybe we'll see a neon sign?