Remember Well

It has been an exciting and busy few weeks for the New DeLews. I had almost posted about our yoga experience last week (yes, Mark and I both went to a yoga studio for free classes, let's just say it was intense). I also almost posted about our sweet weekend in northern Wisconsin with our good friends. I also almost posted about one of the kids I tutor and her comment "I got Obama'd". But none of those posts were actualized. Great intentions, lame follow-through. Oh well.

But, the Big News in our lives is...

No, I"m NOT pregnant.

Mark has been offered a permanent position at his work!!

Some may know our relatively harrowing experience regarding Mark and the job market. One sentence to summarize it: We've been praying for a full-time, permanent job for Mark since August 2008. Yup, that's one year and 2 months. This obscure idea of being a double-income family still seems very surreal to me. But we are thankful, and let's be honest, I"m sure I'll get used to it very quickly.

As Mark and I have gotten a chance to reflect on the past year of unemployment, I can't get the phrase 'Remember Well' out of my head. There have been plenty of times the past year when Mark and I have been thoroughly frustrated and discouraged by the apparent 'meaninglessness' of unemployment. I mean, we have all these plans of how we want to live and serve God. How is unemployment helping us reach those goals?! I say this facetiously but really, we had to be reminded over and over again that we were not in some 'useless stage of life'. This time of uncertainty really did re-shape our perspectives. We've had the opportunity to start our marriage with a sense of utter need for the Lord and His providence. We've gotten to see how even the most confusing circumstances can make sense in God's timing. And we've learned again that our identities cannot be determined by what we do. These are the things that we must remember well. I need to remember the roughest times of this past year and God's faithfulness in the midst of it all. Holding those things close to me can help make a bit more sense of roughness that we encounter in the future, and remind me that I can have confidence in our faithful God. My desire is that we will be a couple that 'remembers well' the sorrows and joys of life, and that we might find beauty and meaning in their midst.