first debut...

I do believe I just made a switch! And while this seems altogether strange with new things to figure out, I am enjoying the simplicity of it. 

An Ockrin Occasion has actually been around for years! I started it, unsure why now, and never got further than giving it what seemed the most fitting name for us. I still feel the same! In the midst of the mundane, the chaos, the simple, and at times the most complex it was a goal then, as it is now, to make special 'occasions' along the way. Sometimes the mere fact of realizing it's as simple as (and because so, easy to overlook) the things that make us who we are! What we like to do. Who we worship. Even what we like to eat. There is life going on in these parts and it's the essence of what we do with it that matters the most.

While it's tempting to wish the afternoon/early evening hours along in hopes of Gabe's long awaited arrival home, I'm painstakingly aware of opportunity missed bombarded with unrealistic expectations. Run solely on exhaustion and an absolute choice NOT to die to self, it's something that never comes to any good fruition  because it's self motivated and self seeking. It's really rather painful to see, I imagine. It feels painful in the moment. How about that dinner or bedtime hour? Same thing.

Faith is much more strengthened when you have experienced something that you gave to Him in a broken state, maybe even handed over edged with skepticism, whereby He moved and GRACE stands to be proclaimed that it was ONLY by His hand. And as it stands, He proves himself trustworthy, maybe as that first precious ever to remember marker put in place for all subsequent experiences to follow after, maybe faithfully, again and again. He proves to be that place and fortress that is written of on the pages of my Bible, except now it's etched on the scrolls of my own personal heart.

So while these occasions are really just our simple and vapor like lives being lived out, it's absolutely in every way an opportunity and choice to experience the love of Jesus and show that same love to others. I can enjoy the simple and lovely things along the way. I'm told to and that's OK. And I do! I love candles and a meal lit by one. I like tea in the mornings and afternoons, decaf now. I like to decorate, with a minimalistic yet homey flare (so I'm told). I like burn your flesh off hot kinds of showers (as Gabe calls them). I like white walls with dark floors. And I like NO clutter. But I can also look ahead and beyond to occasions come what may, and I really mean come what may, only knowing this about them; never without grace to walk them out. How amazingly comforting.

That's just the kind of promises written on my heart and being reflected upon today.

 Psalm 91
He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High
Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
² I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress;
My God, in Him I will trust.”

³ Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler
And from the perilous pestilence.
⁴ He shall cover you with His feathers,
And under His wings you shall take refuge;
His truth shall be your shield and buckler.
⁵ You shall not be afraid of the terror by night,
Nor of the arrow that flies by day,
⁶ Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness,
Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.

⁷ A thousand may fall at your side,
And ten thousand at your right hand;
But it shall not come near you.
⁸ Only with your eyes shall you look,
And see the reward of the wicked.

⁹ Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge,
Even the Most High, your dwelling place,
¹⁰ No evil shall befall you,
Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;
¹¹ For He shall give His angels charge over you,
To keep you in all your ways.
¹² In their hands they shall bear you up,
Lest you dash your foot against a stone.
¹³ You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra,
The young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.

¹⁴ “Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him;
I will set him on high, because he has known My name.
¹⁵ He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will deliver him and honor him.
¹⁶ With long life I will satisfy him,
And show him My salvation.”