October reflection

I receive emails from a woman who runs “The Next Right Thing” podcast. At the end of each month, she has 3 reflection questions. I’ve been inspired to do this for October. Who knows, maybe it will become something I do monthly. And as a little preface, this blog post is more word-y than picture-y.

The 3 questions :

1) Where did you see God in October?

2) What made you laugh out loud in October?

3) What word are you holding onto as we move into November?

1) Where I saw God in October.

God was so very gracious to our family in so many ways. He blessed us and protected us in small and big ways.

There was a terrible flood in the mountains that destroyed much of the property of the retreat center where we have our church retreats. We were blessed to have been able to enjoy the property in August, just a couple months before, for our little family vacation. And the flood happened when we would have normally had the church retreat, the first weekend in October. Because of COVID, we had to cancel it anyways. God was gracious. He protected our church family, and He protected the actual building from being destroyed.

Another way I saw God… Tonio and I usually go away for our anniversary, which is October 30th. Often, we end up going during or after that date. Tonio booked our hotel from the 26th to the 28th this year. Had we booked when we usually do, we would have had to cancel because the president of France announced another mandatory confinement that started the 30th, our anniversary. We thank the Lord for prompting Tonio to book early dates, so we could celebrate our 10 years of marriage!

And the day after returning from our trip, me and the kids had tickets to go to a movie at a local theatre. Our showing was the 29th, the day before the confinement began, so we were still able to go! It was a huge blessing, because I had misread the date, and Nancy took them a week before. There were many tears when they found out it wasn’t for another week. So, the anticipation for a week was high. It would have been hard to tell the kids that we, once again, couldn’t see the film. Things like this can seem so trivial, but what I love is that God is in the trivial and He is in the less-than-trivial, the momentous.

In speaking of momentous, this next subject is a heavy one. The picture above is taken at a park just behind Nice’s Notre Dame church. Two weeks after this photo, there was a terrorist attack inside the church. I say this not to create fear or anxiety. Believe me, I’ve been through the whole spectrum of emotions. I say this to recognize that God protected us. We were a few of the hundreds of thousands of people who were not there in harm’s way. He can allow terrible things, but He does not cause them. And the why’s are the hardest questions to wrestle with. Why those people? I don’t have an answer for you, other than what I know to be true. God is sovereign. He is on the throne of heaven. He knows all. He sees all. He is present everywhere. And I have to trust Him, in the simple and in the tragic.

2) When I laughed out loud.

At night before bed, we often wrestle or play on our bed. The kids prefer Tonio, because he can throw them and really rough them up. When it’s me, we play differently. I sometimes play airplane with the kids on my feet or we pretend we’re on a boat with lifeguard Daphné to save us if we go “overboard.” And sometimes we just roll around in the pillows and blankets. One night I wasn’t really paying attention, but Django found my belly and blew the loudest raspberries on my stomach. The sound was amazing and it tickled like crazy. I was laughing so hard, that I was crying. He was super proud and even prouder when his sister gave it the approving hysterical laugh as well. It felt good to laugh that hard. [The moment above also made me laugh out loud!]

3) A word I’m holding onto as we move into November.

TRUST. Trusting God with so many things. Trusting Him in the difficulties of this pandemic. Trusting Him with our kids. Trusting Him in our marriage. Trusting Him when I’m disappointed and homesick. Trusting Him with being separated, once again, from the people at church. Trusting Him with different projects and ideas. Trusting Him in His faithfulness.

I’ve heard this saying so many times, and I don’t even know if anyone can actually trace it back to the first person who said it. But it’s true no matter who said it or when :

“God’s past faithfulness demands our present TRUST in Him.” He is faithful. I choose to trust Him.

Love Linz