Leah Stirewalt

Out of Deep Waters

Survey Says…

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Happy Thursday!

I can’t believe we’re inching that much closer to another weekend…already! It seems like just yesterday I was rafting down the Ocoee River with my family and doing everything I could to stay in the raft. Well…that was LAST weekend, and it’s a story for another day. Ha!

Anyway…I digress.

I actually need your help with a project. God birthed a book idea in me a long time ago, and I’ve been a bit disobedient in getting it started. In order to progress a little further, I need some help from widows or former widows. That’s where YOU come in! If you are a widow, have been a widow, or know a widow, would you be willing to take a little 17-question survey? Your answers will help mightily in the research I’m doing for the book. And…the more responses I get…the better!

All you need to do to access the survey is click on the link below:

Click here to take survey

Then, please send your widow friends right back here to access the survey also. For those of you that follow me on Facebook, I plan to post it there too. I can also email it to people…just leave a comment below with the name and email address to where it needs to be directed. If there are women that you know that would be willing to take this survey but are not computer savvy or have access to a computer, would you be willing to ask them the questions and enter the answers for them? That would be a HUGE help, and their voice could still be heard.

Friends…thank you SO much for your help with this. I can’t wait to see what God does through this next step in the book-birthing process.

You are a blessing!

Chivalrous Conviction

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I SO enjoyed spending 40 consecutive days here with you recently, and I hope to do something like that again in the future. As we closed out the 40-day run last Friday, I mentioned I’d be back on Tuesday to announce last week’s giveaway winner. Drum roll please…the winner is Cindy Cain! Congrats lady! I’ll be in touch about how to get the prizes to you!

knightFrom before our very first date – when we were still chatting by phone – my (now) husband informed me that he was rather “old-school” in the chivalry department. He still believed in opening doors for ladies and would continue to do so as long as I’d let him. He wasn’t kidding.

Beginning with our very first date and continuing even now, my husband never fails to open my car door (or any other door for that matter). The only time he doesn’t get to do so is when I forget to let him. I’ll get so busy in getting to the “next thing” that I’ll hop into or out of a car so fast that it leaves his head spinning. Instantly, I know the disappointment he feels when I’ve done so, because it’s written all over his face.

I certainly don’t mean to step on his toes and not let him be the man of chivalry I know him to be…I just get busy, self-focused, and forget. Sometimes, I’ll even close the door back to let him still have the opportunity to open it for me, but that only produces a little smirk on his face, because by this point…I’ve been “caught”.

The most recent time this happened, I felt a little conviction over this whole thing…not just in the fact that I need to do better about letting my husband treat me like a lady, but I also need to do better about letting my God be my number ONE.

Figuratively speaking, how often is my Savior standing there ready to “open my door” and I jump ahead of Him? I do it each time I…

  • skip my quiet time in His word and jump ahead to something “else” on my list
  • pray so quickly that I don’t even remember what I just prayed for, because my mind is wandering to the “next thing”
  • treat one of His precious children with a lack of respect, simply because I’ve been in a hurry to accomplish my plans
  • speak before I think, often leading to words that wound rather than words that heal
  • doubt His love for me
  • question His ability to take care of ALL my needs
  • allow someone or something to replace Him as first in my life

How often do I forget Him in the busy-ness of the day? Far too many times!

As my husband continues to bestow his gentlemanly gifts of chivalry to me, I will accept them graciously and allow  those moments to refine me in the area of graciously accepting all of God’s waiting gifts for me as well!