Surprise, Pie, and the Ugly Cry

I’m not pregnant.

My new dessert recipe last week was Tollhouse Pie. I don’t have a picture of it. Actually, I do, but I’m too exhausted to get off the couch right now to get my camera. Here’s the recipe..simple and quick. Easily doubled to make enough for a crowd. Unfortunately, not on the list of favorite desserts. I thought it would be since I LOVE chocolate chip cookies, especially Nestle Tollhouse cookies. I’ll take my mom’s pan cookies over this pie any day. The weird part is I made it before I went to Atlanta to see Allison only to find out that she had plans for us to make it while I was there. So I got a double dose of this recipe!

Why am I too exhausted you ask? Because I ran for 25 minutes in the heat while pushing a stroller up and down a few minor hills. No biggie you say? Remember that I DON’T run!

Would you be disappointed if I told you that the above information is my exciting news? I would be too. Here’s the actual exciting news. Brent “careered” on July 19th!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It’s unofficial. He will be a career agent on August 1, but the cut off for policy numbers was July 19th.

If you remember this post, I have been praying every day since then that Brent would meet his requirements to career by July 19th. Tuesday of last week, he was 12 policies short. Tuesday of this week, he had written 12 more policies, plus he discovered a policy he wrote a while ago that, for whatever reason, hadn’t been added to his count.

PRAISE GOD!!!

As I mentioned earlier, I was in Atlanta the first part of this week to visit Allison, my BFF from my good ol’ days at Auburn. She is in a girl’s Bible study and it was scheduled to be at her house one of the nights I was there. I truly enjoyed it. It was such a blessing to be in the company Allison’s friends, even if it was only for a few hours. They were doing a study on James and that night happened to be the end of the study, so we were looking at chapter 5. The whole night I was comforted to know that Brent and I are smack dab exactly where God wants us. Here’s evidence:

James 5:1-6 is a “Warning to the Rich”…not that my teacher’s salary was making us rich, but having an abundance of money decreases our need to depend on God.

James 5: 7-12 is “Patience in Suffering”…I wouldn’t say that we are suffering, but we are learning to be very patient and wait for the Lord’s perfect timing. He’s never late and never delays. He is always on time. We have to trust in His timing. 

James 5:13-20 is “The Prayer of Faith”…”the prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” This is the part that really got to me. I fervently prayed about something for 18 days. He heard my prayer, that’s nothing new (Prov. 15:9). I prayed that prayer fully understanding that His answer could have been “no” or “wait, I have something better”, but I was hoping for a yes. And it was 🙂 It’s humbling that He would give me what I asked for. But what’s even better is the peace and comfort I felt knowing that my heart was on the same page as His. This is the way I see it…it isn’t as if I prayed for something and God said, “Hey Brittany, that sounds like a good idea. Glad you thought of it.” Instead, I was praying for something the Lord had already appointed and He said, “I am more than delighted to give you what you are asking for because it was my plan to begin with.” That’s what Psalm 37:4 is all about…you don’t get what you want. You draw nearer to God then you begin to pray for what He wants.

So here’s where the ugly cry comes in. If there is anything I strongly dislike about myself, it’s my emotional ugly cry. Anytime I have to speak in front of people about something that has touched my heart, I am just absolutely overcome with emotion and get this awful look on my face and cry uncontrollably. Ugh, I hate it. That is why I really do not like speaking in front of people. Surprisingly, I made it through my students’ awards day without this happening, but I have no idea how!

It was time for prayer requests and I couldn’t think of one. All I could think about was how overjoyed I was by the Lord and his favor. I debated not saying anything because I knew I would cry and I had only known these girls for 2 hours. But God wouldn’t have it. He wanted me to brag on Him because He had done great things in my life and He deserves my praise, even if it’s covered in tears and you can’t understand what I am saying. I didn’t know those girls, but they know my Father, so that makes us sisters, right? So I gave them a quick run down of all that was going on and how the Lord has blessed us beyond measure…sobs and all. Then I apologized for crying and for how they would always remember me as the girl that cries uncontrollably.  Apparently they cry a lot in Bible study, it just happened to be my turn that night 🙂

Was it a coincidence that I was in Atlanta that night for a Bible study on James 5? I think not. It was a divine appointment for some encouragement from a bunch of my sisters that I hardly know 🙂