God

Five Things

Hello! It has been almost a week since I last blogged and I’ve missed this little space.

hydrangea

This week has been busy with work and pet sitting, but I found a little chunk of time to pop in and share five random tidbits from my life lately!

1. I was thinking yesterday about how listening is a dying art in today’s culture. I know I’m guilty of being a bad listener at times. I’ve caught myself thinking of something I want to say before the person I’m talking to has finished their sentence. Ugh.

Feeling and knowing that I’m heard and understood is important to me. I’ve been making an effort to listen, really listen, to others when they communicate with me. Our culture is full of distractions that pull us away from true, deep connection. When someone talks to me, I want to always give them my full attention.

2. I’ve been enjoying The Language of Flowers lately. It was recommended to me by Amy (and probably ten other people) and I’m wondering why it took me so long to pick up this book. It’s fascinating.

the-language-of-flowers

3. I looked up Youtube videos on how to tie baby wraps so I could bake and hold Malcolm at the same time. I used a big beach towel and it kind of worked. I’m still eyeing up cat strollers on Amazon.

malcolm-baby-sling

4. Pet sitting has been randomly busy for me lately. I so enjoy the company of animals. I constantly go back and forth on whether or not I want to pet sit full-time. It’s a tough decision, mostly because the income isn’t always steady. Speaking of pets, I took Lola to the vet on Tuesday because she has an ear infection. Poor girl!

lola-at-the-vet

5. My cousin sent me this picture of her adorable daughter, Macie, the other day. Ten minutes later, my aunt sent me the same picture of Macie.

macie

I had some suspicions about the reasoning behind the influx of baby pictures, so I texted my mom to discuss.

text-conversation

Jimmy and my mom are convinced if I ever become pregnant that I’m going to have twins. The thought of twins scares the living daylights out of me. It’s easy for me to think I can’t do it when I think about babies in general. The truth is that I can’t, but God will equip me for whatever He has in store for my life. Whether it’s writing a book, passing statistics, raising a family, or something totally different. God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called.

Children are something Jimmy and I talk about often. Whether we adopt, foster, or have biological (or all three, or none) is something we pray about diligently. It’s a huge responsibility and privilege to raise a human being. We trust that God will guide us and equip us for whatever His plans are for us 🙂

Tell me a random tidbit from your life lately!

30 Day Patience Bible Study: Sarah

Today’s post focuses on the 30 day Bible study on patience that I created for the month of September. If you want to join in, you can download the calendar and information sheet below.

September 2016 Bible Study Calendar

30 Day Patience Bible Study Info

Each Monday on the calendar includes the study of specific people in the Bible who demonstrated patience. On Tuesdays (like today!) we will be discussing the study on the blog.

Yesterday’s reading was Genesis 15:1-6; Genesis 17:1-21; Genesis 21:1-7 and focused on the story of Sarah and Abraham.

sarah

I kind of feel like a kindred spirit with Sarah.

When she was told she would bear a son, she laughed and then lied and said that she didn’t laugh. She was 90-years-old when she had her son, Isaac. I think I’d be tempted to laugh if I was closing in on 90 and God told me I would give birth to a child.

What also makes me feel close with Sarah is how she tried to control her situation.

God had told Abraham in a vision that he would have a son. Time passed, and Sarah and Abraham grew impatient, so they took matters into their own hands with Sarah’s maidservant, Hagar.

Sarah told Abraham to sleep with Hagar so he could have a son. Hagar became pregnant and gave birth to a son, Ishmael. This caused all sorts of trouble for Sarah, Abraham, Hagar, and Ishmael.

Don’t we all do things like that, though? We get tired of waiting on God, so we try to take matters into our own hands. We don’t want to wait, so we force our plans into existence when God’s plans for us are so much better.

Part of me feels like Sarah believed she would have a child because God said she would, but maybe she was so bitter by that time that all she felt like she could do was laugh. I think Sarah had patience against all odds. She waited on God, and God was patient with her, too.

Sarah went on to give birth to her son, Isaac, and said in Genesis 21:6 “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.”

Sarah wasn’t perfect. She had trouble waiting on God. She was human, just like us. Her waiting paid off, and she was rewarded with Isaac, whose name means “he laughs.”

I have included a printable below that incorporates questions about Sarah’s story as well as your own for personal reflection on the study.

30 Day Patience Bible Study – Sarah

If you’re following along with the study, I hope you’re enjoying it! Next week we will be studying Jesus. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave them in the comments or send me an email at alliezottola (at) gmail (dot) com.

P.S. The Nature’s Bakery Fig Bar giveaway winner is Ellie. Your fig bars will be sent to you ASAP! Thanks again, Nature’s Bakery!