Sleepless nights

She is still for the moment, but that won't last long. She doesn't feel good, is uncomfortable and feverish. She fights to keep her paci in her mouth while still trying to breathe. It is a pitiful sight indeed.

Out of the blue this sickness struck. No signs of it. No warning when she went to bed last night that when she woke this morning, things would be different. Her nose like a faucet, her mood clingy, her eyes like a sad puppy. My girl doesn't feel good, and it hurts this momma's heart.

The humidifier is blowing moist air while I sit rubbing her head, praying for healing, comfort and quick recovery, I am thankful.

Thankful that it is just this. Just a cold. Just a runny nose. Just a low grade fever.

There are many that have gone before me that would have done anything to have a sick baby. To have this baby that just has a cold. I can't help but think of the mom's who hold an even sicker child as chemo is pumped into their small, fragile bodies. The mom who rubs her head while the hair continues to fall out. While the breathing machine isn't ever going to be turned off on this side of heaven unlike the humidifier in the morning.

While I beg for Him to take her cold away, they beg for the day when their prayer was that simple. A cold.

Perspective.

It doesn't make it easier, but it makes me thankful. Don't take for granted what you have, for some day, it may be gone.

It may be a long night of wiping her nose, checking her fever and administering Tylenol, but at least we're at home and not in a hospital. At least it's Tylenol and not chemo, and at least we're checking fevers and not pulses.

Thank you Lord for the health of my sweet Gracie girl. I do not take it lightly. She is yours Lord, but I am so glad you gave her to me to mother for this time.

Blessings by Laura Story

We pray for blessings
We pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

We pray for wisdom
Your voice to hear
And we cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough
All the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we'd have faith to believe


'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
And what if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

When friends betray us
When darkness seems to win
We know that pain reminds this heart
That this is not, this is not our home
It's not our home

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
And what if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy
And what if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are Your mercies in disguise

The Resolution for Women

THE RESOLUTION

I DO SOLEMNLY RESOLVE to embrace my current season of life and will maximize my time in it.  I will resist the urge to hurry through or circumvent any portion of my journey but will live with a spirit of contentment.

I WILL CHAMPION God's model for womanhood in the face of a pro-feminist culture.  I will teach it to my daughters and encourage its support by my sons.

I WILL ACCEPT and celebrate my uniqueness, and will esteem and encourage the distinctions I admire in others.

I WILL LIVE as a woman answerable to God and faithfully committed to His Word.

I WILL SEEK to devote the best of myself, my time, and my talents to the primary roles the Lord has entrusted to me in this phase of my life.

I WILL BE a woman who is quick to listen and slow to speak.  I will care about the concerns of others and esteem them more highly than myself.

I WILL FORGIVE those who have wronged me and reconcile with those I have wronged.

I WILL NOT TOLERATE evil influences even in the most justifiable form, in my self or my home, but will embrace and encourage a life of purity.

I WILL PURSUE justice, love mercy and extend compassion toward others.

I WILL BE FAITHFUL to my husband and honor him in my conduct and conversation in order to bring glory to the name of the Lord.  I will aspire to be a suitable partner for him to help him reach his God-given potential.

I WILL DEMONSTRATE to my children how to love God will all their hearts, minds, and strength, and will train them to respect authority and live responsibly.

I WILL CULTIVATE a peaceful home where everyone can sense God's presence not only through acts of love and service but also through the pleasant and grateful attitude with which I perform them.

I FULLY RESOLVE to make today's decisions with tomorrow's impact in mind.  I will consider my current choices in light of those who will come after me.

_________________________________

Holidays!

I have a thing for Holidays.
I like Holidays.

Ok, I am a little obsessed with holidays in general. All of them! In my mind its always, "Go big or go home!"

I love the purpose of holidays. Celebrating the birth of someone (birthdays), Celebrating love (Valentines Day), Celebrating the Risen Savor (Easter), Celebrating our freedom (July 4th), celebrating the child in all of us that likes to dress up and play pretend (Halloween), Giving Thanks (Thanksgiving), the Birth of our Lord (Christmas), new goals (New Years), etc.

I love them!

BUT, Christmas is my favorite. All my fall stuff is out in September, so by the end of October it's time to pack it all up and get out the Christmas decorations!!

So that is exactly what I did on October 25th. Gracie and I set up her little tree in her bathroom and her slightly bigger tree in her bedroom. She loves it!

I made the mistake of thinking she was the most fun last year at Christmas but THIS year is just going to ROCK! She is SOOOO much more fun and able to understand fun little things! Like how funny it really is to have candy in your shoes and have mom tell you it's because it's St. Nicolas Day! :)

Yes, I am the person who has icicle lights hanging from my balcony and pretty proud of it!! It's time to spread a little holiday cheer, Miami!

ITS THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEARRRRRR!!

Minnie Mouse

Grace means a gift from God...

And she is...our gift from God...His Grace showered all over us. Undeserving.

Grace.

Gracie.

My precious girl

The Resolution

I love how the Lord uses books in my life to point out areas that need work.

Ok. Sometimes I hate it too.

My grandfather always said, "you will be the same person ten years from now with the exception of 2 things: the people you meet and the books you read." I want to be better in a lot of areas 10 years from now, so I read a lot of books.

The Resolution for Women by Prisicilla Shirer, is currently rocking my little comfortable world. Holy Moly. Lay off the sting, Lord!

I don't think there is a rock that goes unturned in this book...AND I'm not even done reading it.

While every point and subject she covers is good and something to work towards and resolve to become or do, one rocked me to the very core of who I am.

The Resolve to be Satisfied.
At the bottom, there is a place to sign your name. Like a contract.

I, Elisabeth Graeser, will stop whining about my life and everything I don't have or what I want, and embrace every blessing He has given me.

It doesn't say that, but it probably should. Sometimes I wonder if God doesn't grab my angel, hold her by both shoulders and say, "If you don't go find her and tell her to hurry up and learn this lesson, she is going to audibly hear from me!" Thanks, Angel (in this case, Priscilla...I am getting it!)

All things. Not just some things.

In little and in much. How I long to proudly say, "I've learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances. I'm just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little." Phil 4:11

I compare myself to others more than I really realize. More than I care to admit for sure. It is really disturbing actually.

On any given day I make up in my mind a life that is not mine. A house I can't afford, a car I don't drive, a husband who doesn't work, a baby who never disobeys, a body that is straight out of a health magazine, a family that lives on the same street, and a relationship with the Lord that never doubts, always trusts, never fears and is always faithful. A nice cross between the Proverbs 31 woman, Esther, Ruth, David, Paul, Soloman, etc. I pick and choose something from everyone I know that I like, and play house. Dress up.

And then. The evil step mother pipes in, i.e.: satan.

"you know you could have that if you didn't.."
"you deserve that"
"if you would just..."

The truth of the matter is this: I live this life that Lord has blessed me with for His glory alone. I have because He gives, I have not because it's not best for me. This is my season. This is my life.

I have come to the realization that if I continue to "just get through medical school", my daughter will be 4, my husband a resident, and I would have the same heart I had when we started. Resentful, bitter, impatient, unkind and untrusting. How many things would I have missed along the way? Ballet? Vacation bible school? Preschool? The chance to pray for my husband for one more exam. One more quiz. Pack his lunch one more time. All for what? To just hurry to get to residency, then hurry though the next season.

I refuse to be 70 years old and look back on my life with regret that I just wish I had listened to those who have traveled before me to fully engaged. To wish that I did hard things.

Life is hard, and it is never going to get easier. Growth is painful, but remaining unchanged is a death sentence.

Here is my current reality.

I am the wife to a brillant medical student. I am the mom to an amazing 19 month old.
I am the supporter and encourager of the next doctor who may save a limp of an elderly man with gangrene, fix a fracture of a college baseball player, or correct the precious toes of a newborn with club feet.
I am raising the next generation of a daughter who will fear God and serve Him fearlessly. She will be a world changer, because she has already changed mine.
Together we will do what the Lord has called us to do.

No. Matter. What.

No matter how hard, how long or how unfair. No matter how lonely, stressful or uncertain.

I will be content in this season of life.
I will be content in this season of life.
I will be content in this season of life.


"I do solemnly resolve to embrace my current season of life and will maximize my time in it. I will resist the urged to hurry through or circumvent any portion of my journey but will live with a spirt of contentment."


There are so many times when the only thing I can say out loud to the one that doesn't want me to succeed, grow or learn a valuable lesson is this...You said I couldn't, wouldn't and would die trying, and this I say to you Satan. I AM, I WILL and For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

Radiating Pain..

This morning, Gracie woke up a little before 6am, complaining that she had to go potty. My gut said that she probably didn't have to go to the bathroom, but that she was just hungry. She didn't eat a very good dinner last night, and turned down her before bed snack.

Trying to convince her that she was just hungry, and if she had some breakfast she would feel better was harder than I imagined. Her belly hurt, so surely she just had to go potty...and eating at 6am was the last thing on her little mind.

Jesus, in His gentle voice, whispered to me, "your pain sometimes is radiating too. What you think is causing it, really is not".

Growing pains, even at 27 hurt. I'd much prefer the kind that you could take some aspirin, have your daddy rub the back of your legs, and in a matter of 20 minutes feel like a brand new kid. These pains are different. Or are they?

Can't I curl up on the couch, with a little medicine (scripture) and feel like a brand new kid in 20 minutes? Yes, and I do!

When my growing pains become unbearable, I quickly realize I have had my morning meeting with my Savior, bible, and journal.

Lord Jesus, keep me heart and ear tuned to the spiritual lessons of life...thank you for using my precious daughter to do it. You are amazing.