My Articling Job!I have great news! I received an articling position from Crown Law Office - Criminal (CLOC). I am very thankful and cannot wait to start there next August! Thanks for the encouragement on the interviews. I needed it!
Articling Interviews Tomorrow!Please pray for my articling interviews that I have tomorrow. I have 6 interviews tomorrow that start at 9:30am and end around 8:00pm. It is going to be a looong day! I will be thankful when they are completed and I can report back that I have successfully attained a job for 2007-2008!
And on another note - no weird side effects to report from the drugs. Which is great, because I'm pretty sure that bulging eyes and increased hair growth may be a turn off for some of the law firms!
Romanced
I think it is true that all women desire romance to a certain extent. Just last week, James picked me up from the train station after a long day at work, surprising me with a beautiful bouquet of flowers and a card. When we got home, he made me an excellent dinner. It was a wonderful way to spend our evening together and I am so thankful that my husband has not forgotten the need to continually romance me.
I found it hard reading the chapter and how it refers to Jesus as my lover. I know that he is a "lover of my soul" (as the song goes..), but I think the word "lover" brings up too many sexual connotations for me.
The chapter, was a great reminder of the necessity of being open and intimate with Jesus, but it also made me aware that perhaps Jesus is romancing my heart at this very moment. So when I feel myself filled with desire to learn more about him and grow in our relationship, those feelings come from Jesus stirring or even, romancing something within me. That is pretty special if you think about it.
I don't want to buy into those stereotypical lies that women in the church today must be "busy" to be spiritual. I know I don't fit into the traditional mold of a "church woman" and this chapter demonstrated further that I don't need to.
Beauty to Unveil
I really liked this chapter. It stirred up some more things that I think I had been trying to hide from myself and God.
I have always had a love/hate relationship with the following verse quoted in the chapter:
"Your beauty shoudl not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit. (1 Peter 3:3-4).
Oh great! So I have to turn off my love for designer jeans and new shoes and I also have to strive to be "gentle and quiet". I had pretty much given up hope on ever meeting this standard, just as the author, Stasi had.
The book, however, says that it is still okay to be loud and to voice an opinion. For years I had been praying that the Lord would change my personality and make me less loud, vocal, assertive, bold, etc. And trying to not have those traits in certain settings has been absolutely exhausting. It has weared on my mind and my heart. I am still trying to come to grips with the fact that God made me the person who I am, but that I can also change (not too much!) to become more of the person who he wants me to be. Who he sees in me. I am definitely more open to this than constantly striving to be a woman described as gentle and quiet.
Speaking of striving, how do I stop striving? How do I attain this "heart at rest" that the authors speak of so highly? I feel like I have a heart that is restless because of this constant striving to be at rest! It feels so circular. This is the main thing that this chapter exposed to me - I am not at rest. I do not feel restful and I do not feel peaceful. This isn't something that is a huge surprise to me. I have known this for some time - felt it for some time. And this is exactly the part of me that needs to be mended, fixed, cultivated - the idea of rest. The idea of not striving to always "be" something. This is the area where I most need answers for my relationship with God right now.
There was other stuff that came up in that chapter, in particular, that I don't think my "Question" is "Am I Lovely?" But rather, the "men's" question of "Do I have what it takes?" resonated with me a bit more... but I don't want to get into that, so I won't.
Arousing Adam
Oh arousal! How fun! This chapter was great fun and an easy read. Not to say that I have attained complete perfection in the art of loving my husband, but I do feel that our level of intimacy is where it should be (and I'm not just talking about sexual intimacy). Sure, there are definitely times when I need to be better at assuring him that he is a wonderful "manly" man and at times I would like to hear more often that I am a wonderful "lovely" woman. But I don't get the sense that either of us are not getting what we need from our marriage and relationship.
I know that James cannot provide me with the same validation that God can provide me with. James knows that I cannot provide him with that validation either. We are both aware that our core and primary validation comes from God alone, but I know that God often uses James as a tool for affirmation and making me feel giddy and good!
So those are my thoughts on the chapter.
One final thought though... what is with all the movie references?! I mean, geez!!
Learning to BreatheSo I haven't posted on this for quite awhile... I guess the busyness of life (read: work) just took hold.
This week I have been so sick. I came down with a headcold over the weekend at James' cottage.
Sidenote: Despite being sick the long weekend at the inlaws' cottage was super! We drove up Friday with funny-guy Nic and met Justin (Dubya) and Anna on the mainland. Little did we know, but there had been a crazy huge storm on the Wednesday and there was no power in the entire area. Fortunately for us, we were on the island cottage which is all set up with propane. That's right folks - propane lights, stove, oven and fridge. We even had a pump for water! The only amenity missing was a working toilet. We used the outhouse ALL weekend, which would have been fine except that the seats are cracked and every time I would sit down I worried that my butt cheeks would get pinched!
Dubya and Anna totally surprised me with their outdoors skillz. No complaints about the lack of power, water, or washroom facilities. They both tried wakeboarding and they were very helpful around the cottage. James and I would have them up any time.
As for Nic - he's just a funny guy and we love having that kid around.
On Saturday night - Garth and Irena drove up (Dubya and Anna had to leave early Sunday morning). We stayed up until the early morning hours listening to Garth. That man can TALK! I loved hearing about their recent trip to visit Irena's family in Germany and Croatia. Love them both to bits.
Enough with my tangent.
