{"id":78004,"date":"2019-04-10T00:55:31","date_gmt":"2019-04-10T00:55:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bardenphotography.com\/blog\/?p=78004"},"modified":"2019-04-10T01:01:31","modified_gmt":"2019-04-10T01:01:31","slug":"78004","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bardenphotography.com\/blog\/2019\/78004\/","title":{"rendered":"THAT DEEP AND LOVELY DARK"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

That’s an AMAZING transformation!!<\/p>\n

I’ve been listening to LOOK UP CHILD by LAUREN DAIGLE on REPEAT.<\/p>\n

There is usually an album that speaks to me during the hard seasons of life – and this one is speaking volumes recently.<\/p>\n

I sing the songs – I know most of the words – but I don’t always REALIZE what I’m saying. This afternoon while I was singing – I spoke these words –<\/p>\n

Am I more than just the sum of every high and every low?<\/strong>
\nRemind me once again just who I am because I need to know<\/strong><\/p>\n

You know that I’ve been hurting recently. It was a really low low.<\/p>\n

I had said that the last time I cried like I did – our marriage was in a pile on the floor. It’s strange to compare your house falling apart to your marriage falling apart – but …<\/p>\n

I AM MORE THAN THE SUM OF EVERY HIGH AND EVERY LOW. (and so are you)\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jared and I were talking the other day – about this house and my attitude – and we talked about TRUST – which I blogged about last time – and the time before that …<\/p>\n

And I told him – I feel like I’m grieving the life I thought we would have right now.<\/p>\n

We’ve made smart financial decisions. We’ve never had “bad” debt. We paid off our student loans. We now have a small loan on the JEEP we just bought to replace our other jeep. We have a mortgage and then a loan to do the things this house has needed over the almost 15 years we’ve been here.<\/p>\n

We will be celebrating FIFTEEN years of marriage in June and we were going on a trip – it didn’t matter where as long as there was a crystal clear beach and a hammock or two.<\/p>\n

I saved last year to go on that trip – but now – we’re getting a new foundation instead.<\/p>\n

IT’S NOT FAIR!!<\/p>\n

In Labyrinth – Sarah says to the goblin king Jareth – IT’S NOT FAIR! He responds with – you say that so often. I wonder what your basis for comparison is.<\/p>\n

BUT – that’s what I want to do. STOMP MY FEET and SCREAM that it’s not fair.<\/p>\n

Jared encouraged – challenged me – cus let’s me honest – for a glass half-empty girl – it’s a challenge – to find the good amidst the bad.<\/p>\n

You might not know this – but you probably do – I have a tattoo on my arm that says – THAT DEEP AND LOVELY DARK WE’D NEVER SEE THE STARS WITHOUT IT.<\/p>\n

I literally have it permanently inked onto my skin as a reminder. Because I really do believe that life is mostly about the hard stuff – but there are pinpricks of light.<\/p>\n

Last week I backed into someone in my driveway – I didn’t see him – because I NEVER look behind me in my own driveway in the middle of the day.<\/p>\n

The light – we are both under the same insurance – so the deductible is waived. AND our insurance won’t go up.<\/p>\n

We had no idea the foundation on the house was an issue – until it was ripped apart. Repairing the foundation – building a deck – siding the entirety of the house – two new windows – a new door – and a new dining room added to the existing kitchen. Typing all that gives me serious anxiety. When I think about ALL the things that NEED to be done. Not anything that we were WANTING – all the things we would like to have are now being replaced with the bare minimum of what we NEED to have. And we have – HAD – a strict budget – with no options on taking out MORE loans.<\/p>\n

The light – I happen to be friends with and work for our contractor. He’s got leftover things in his shop that we can use. He’s doing all that he can to make this work for us.<\/p>\n

And it’s really hard for me to find that. And really see it. While I see that there are shining lights in the deep and lovely dark – WHY DID IT HAVE TO HAPPEN IN THE FIRST PLACE!?<\/p>\n

I’ve told you that I’m a control freak right!? I WANT THE CONTROL. I want to see the unseen. I would like to tell you that I absolutely trust God – but I want Him to tell me HOW IT IS ALL GOING TO WORK OUT. And not just work out – but work out for good.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Do you remember when I wrote about happiness vs. holiness?<\/p>\n

The whole it’s not fair thing – really – in comparison to what?! To who?!<\/p>\n

God cares far more about our holiness than He does our happiness.<\/p>\n

And that’s a PAINFUL realization.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This is the current view of our backyard from my living room. I can really say that I can’t wait to show you the FINAL view.<\/p>\n

However – gaining control over your thoughts and outlook – it’s NOT easy – at least not for me!!<\/p>\n

But – every day I am trying to find the shining light through the dark.<\/p>\n

And because I know that I am not alone in the valley right now – WHAT IS YOUR SHINING LIGHT IN YOUR SEASON OF DARK RIGHT NOW?!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

That’s an AMAZING transformation!! I’ve been listening to LOOK UP CHILD by LAUREN DAIGLE on REPEAT. There is usually an album that speaks to me during the hard seasons of life – and this one is speaking volumes recently. I sing the songs – I know most of the words – but I don’t always […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11,30,31,33,38,58],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bardenphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78004"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bardenphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bardenphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bardenphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bardenphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78004"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.bardenphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78004\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78009,"href":"https:\/\/www.bardenphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78004\/revisions\/78009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bardenphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bardenphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bardenphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}