Beauty for Ashes

1 The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me,
for the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted
and to proclaim that captives will be released
and prisoners will be freed.
2 He has sent me to tell those who mourn
that the time of the Lord’s favor has come,
and with it, the day of God’s anger against their enemies.
3 To all who mourn in Israel,
he will give a crown of beauty for ashes,
a joyous blessing instead of mourning,
festive praise instead of despair.
In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks
that the Lord has planted for his own glory.

Isaiah 61:1-3

A friend posted on Facebook last night that she spent the day helping a neighbor shift through the ashes of her home, looking for treasured pieces of jewelry. Through this, she was reminded of this verse in Isaiah. In turn, this passage reminded me of the lives of so many in our area right now.

Lately I have been feeling like I live in Abilene again. I remember how I used to long for cloudy days, sick to death of the sun shining endlessly. (Alternately, in WV, I longed for the sunny days, particularly in wintertime, where we might only see the sun twice a week.) This weekend was gloriously cloudy. And humid. There were peals of thunder. And then...it sprinkled. All the conditions were perfectly set up for thunderstorm after thunderstorm to roll through. And yet, we remained dry, for the most part. Other parts of Austin did have some significant amounts, thankfully. We'll take what we can get, especially to recharge the lakes, river, and aquifer.) It seemed clear to me that God is at work. He has chosen this time for record heat and drought. He will allow rain when he sees fit. And we will continue to pray earnestly for his blessing.

We had a pretty quiet weekend. We were all excited to head to The Stone on Sunday. Noah grinned and repeated, "I going to church!" Jeremy and I were looking forward to the second of the current 4-sermon series our pastor filmed while in Israel this summer. The cinematography is incredible. The messages simple, beautiful, and powerful. Last week, Matt read aloud, in its entirety, the Sermon on the Mount from the Sea of Galilee. Yesterday, he spoke about Jesus' grief from the Garden of Gethsemane. Please watch these if you get a chance, they are only about 20 minutes or so apiece.

Aside from that, our only eventful happening was at 4:00am on Sunday when Noah woke us up crying. I went in and asked what was wrong, and he was rubbing his nose frantically and told me he had a "googer." When I went to blow his nose, I noticed that the wipe had something dark on it so I turned on the light. He had blood everywhere! Jeremy had to come in and help me change his pajamas, bed sheet, and wash his face and hands. I still don't know if he banged his nose or if it was just a completely random nosebleed.

Hope you all have a fantastic week! I am trading childcare with another mom from my mom's group so I was able to work this morning while she watched Noah and I will have 4-month-old Emmylou two evenings for a couple of hours this week while her mom tutors. So far, so good!

Pictures that Samantha took on Friday of Noah and his sweet buddy, Adam.