January:

I like the idea of recapping the months because my brain is like the bottom of my purse and if I don’t clean it out every so often, I’m going to forget the something important buried at the bottom. (Most of the time it’s mints!)

January started out stormy. We were supposed to have a night out for NYE but spent it half asleep on the couch due to excessive rain. A week later, we were celebrating our first anniversary!

I will probably write all of my thoughts about that another time since I cannot seem to gather them (it’s always hardest to write about the people we love the most) but I will say that watching your wedding slideshow with your year-old frozen cake in one hand and your beloved’s hand in the other is a great way to end up joyful and tearful at only ten o’clock in the morning. We went on a little run around the Nisene forest during a break in the rain and just enjoyed each other’s company. It was such a gift.

Speaking of gifts, Calvin got me a sweetest, most chaotic present I think anyone has ever been given! Two mornings before our anniversary, he ran out to the car at 6am to retrieve what he said was part one of my present and insisted that I open it. It was a cat harness! His plan was to begin the search for a cat right after I got off from work that day. While that didn’t end up happening until the next day, it was still so sweet and exciting that I had trouble focusing at work! His present totally beat the tent I got him.

Anyway, that’s how we ended up with Liam. Sweet, chaotic, funny little Liam. His full name is actually Liam Neeson, which I am now seeing as prophetic, seeing how all of my food and Calvin’s ends up Taken if we’re not guarding it. He’s a troublemaker and he wakes me up a lot at night, but at least he’s very cute.

And as January gives way to February, I feel like my life is becoming different and completely new (or maybe it’s just the lack of sleep. Thanks, Liam!). In two weeks, Calvin will begin training to be an EMT and with him gone at night, I will have my first taste of what it’s like to be a firefighter’s wife.

Oh yeah—Calvin wants to be a firefighter now!

I have had trouble with sleeping since I was a kid. I am prone to bad dreams and night terrors and I rarely sleep well alone. When I was younger and living at home, I began playing Christian music radio while I slept so that my anxious mind would be filled with good things if and when I woke in the night. I guess I could do that, but I’d rather just not have the sleep anxiety to begin with.

The thought of sleeping alone again is something I am continually laying at Jesus’ feet because frankly, I just don’t know how I’m going to do it. Firefighters typically work for two days and are off for four, but even one night alone is hard for me. I guess that is why the Scriptures are so full of assurances of God’s strength when we are weak:

“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me*.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)

“The Lord is my strength* and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.” (Exodus 15:2)

“But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength*; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:31)

*emphasis mine

I guess what I’m learning is that hard situations like this are to be embraced, not feared, because they reveal the important reality that I am not strong. He is. I love the truth of Isaiah 40:31 because it reminds me that the strength comes from waiting on the Lord. He is able to make me into anything he wants me to be, but it is not up to me to muster up my strength on my own.

I guess what I’m learning is that hard situations like this are to be embraced, not feared, because they reveal the important reality that I am not strong.

Kayley Chartier

New marriage becoming older and sweeter by the day, new cat, new job, new month, same God. Same promises in His word to abide in me as I abide in Him. He is walking with me ( and you!) into February like a close friend we need only call to.

One more thing! This month I started reading through the Gospels using the Annie F. Downs reading plan (you can find it here, or tune in on her podcast, Let’s Read the Gospels) and it has been such a blessing to me. Waking up each morning knowing that I would be hearing about the life of Jesus and the teachings of Jesus and the heart of Jesus filled me with joy and peace in a season where the 4 hours of sleep and the cat litter once-again spilled threatened to steal it. I hope you’ll join me in February! If you do, leave a comment and let me know so I can be praying for you!

Love,

Kayley