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Link Love for Weary Hearts

April 14, 2020 by Alyssa Poblete Leave a Comment

Link Love for Weary Hearts

There is a lot of noise right now. I definitely don’t want to add to that.

However, there have been a few voices that have managed to cut through the chatter and speak things worthy of our fierce attention. My prayer is that these encourage you as much as they have me.

I’ve hesitated to share because—here’s the thing—we are all coming at this from a multitude of different luxuries, economic situations, responsibilities, and personal losses; so none of this experience is universal. But I’m realizing there is one thing that unites all of us, we all need a hope beyond our circumstances.

So that’s what most of this is devoted to, with a few little fun things as well. If you are feeling overwhelmed by input, don’t feel the need to read on. But if you, like me, are longing for some perspective, these are for you.

This Prayer by Doug McKelvey: I stumbled across this prayer early on in my quarantine and keep coming back to it. I love this line:

“…When the cacophony of universal distress unsettles us, remind us that we are but small and finite creatures, never designed to carry the vast abstractions of great burdens, for our arms are too short and our strength too small. Justice and mercy, healing and redemption, are your great labors…”

This Podcast: I’ve been listening to this podcast for a while now. David Platt simply picks a Bible verse and prays through it. Lately he’s been praying through the Book of Psalms, specifically praying over various aspects of this pandemic. It’s helped provide me with a language for my prayer life and informed me on specific things to be praying for.

This Poem: Blase gives needed perspective in the haze of everything vying for our attention.

This Book: I am so grateful this was written. Piper gives a clear and biblical perspective that cuts through all the noise and speaks from the wisdom of Scripture. I love what Piper says early on in this book: “scarcely a page in the Bible is irrelevant for this crisis.” And bonus: the ebook and audiobook are free.

This Podcast Episode (For the Schooling From Home Parent): There have been a million resources thrown at parents on how to school from home well. I don’t know about you, but while many of them have been helpful, I’ve also caught myself feeling so overwhelmed by the breadth of endless possibilities and lack of vision. This podcast lays out a few basic foundations for schooling-from-home parents. Ruth and Troy have been homeschooling for years and share both how the Bible bears weight on how we view our child’s education and some honest reflections on how they implement grace while they educate. (Also, this entire podcast has been super helpful for us. Chris and I are starting to set aside one night a week to date night in while we listen to each episode, and then we discuss).

Also, I made a playlist, Songs for Weary Hearts, for you guys if you’re interested.

And now for something a bit lighthearted:

This past year, a lot of my creative energy has been poured out over the stove, learning new genres of food and practicing basic techniques in cooking. When the first week of quarantine hit and there were scarcely any basics on the shelves, I figured my joy in cooking would need to take a back seat for a while, but to my surprise it’s become my favorite creative endeavor yet. I loved this quote in a new book I’m reading,

“in a period of abundance any half-wit with a spoon can please a palate. To truly test a chef’s ingenuity, one must instead look to a period of want.”

With that said here are a few voices in cooking that I’m grateful for right now:

This podcast, by one of my favorite cookbook authors, is completely devoted to assisting the home cook during quarantine.

These two Instagram profiles: Ina Garten and Chef Dev are both devoting time to teaching people how to cook from home, specifically with foods that are somewhat easy to come by.

Also, I will never stop singing Sarah Forte’s praises. I belong to her Sprouted Kitchen Cooking Club and she’s sending recipes once a week that are approachable but still challenging. Since you have more time at home, this might be a good time to experiment a bit. Last night I made her Coconut Crusted Chicken Sliders with Avocado Crema…So dang good!

Anyways, I hope these voices bring you each the encouragement they have brought me. Here’s my prayer for each of you: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope” (Romans 15:13).

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Haddon took me on a date this morning. He bought m Haddon took me on a date this morning. He bought me a vanilla latte from my favorite coffee shop, took me to the petting zoo, humored me with endless rounds of “Would You Rather,” and talked about his goals for the summer (which include convincing @chrispoblete and I to get him a hamster 🤦🏻‍♀️🙅🏻‍♀️😬). The entire time he kept saying, “I just want to do what you want to do mom. It’s your day.” He’s going to make one amazing husband someday, but for now I’m soaking him up all for myself. 😍
Parenthood requires a whole lot of grit and grace Parenthood requires a whole lot of grit and grace these days. It is hard work and even our best efforts leave us face to face with our lack at the end of the day. We have weeks where the physical and emotional demands mean that we hardly get a chance to exchange a few intelligible words to one another. But we do get a whole lot of time to observe each other and I’ve never gotten a better picture of your character than I do now.
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I catch you laughing at our kid’s corny jokes and jumping in whenever they throw an impromptu dance party. Scratch that, I see you initiating impromptu dance parties even on the days you’re exhausted. I see you taking time to stop and answer every “why” question even though it would be so much easier to say “because I said so.” I see you working late into the night just so you can join us for family dinner, even though I try to insist you get your work done so you can get a good night’s sleep. I love watching you teach our kids about Jesus and how you take the time to explain even the hard things that would be so much easier to bypass for some other day when they’re older. You are unflinching in your resolve to be a present parent and show up even when it requires so much sacrifice to do so.
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The hard parts of parenting are often unseen and unapplauded but I see you and I couldn’t be more grateful and more in awe of you than I am today. I love you so much Chris Poblete. Happy Father’s Day!
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👆Wrote this two years ago but I’ve seen this fleshed out on a million more occasions and it feels more fitting today than it even did back then.
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@chrispoblete
A stomach virus hit our home this week. It took us A stomach virus hit our home this week. It took us all by storm. Our schedules were cleared, our laundry pile turned into an avalanche (I’m not kidding it toppled out of all the  hampers as we used up every towel and switched out soiled outfits every couple hours), and we spent our days doing the dance between caretaker and patient depending on who was feeling worst. When I was at my weakest I had the best caretakers in the world, including little Haddon serenading me in bed. There is nothing better. 😍😭💛
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Sickness has a way of reminding us of our utter fragility. We are far more vulnerable than we care to admit. When our bodies break down, it thrusts us into the great reality that every ordinary day that our body functions as it should, it is an act of abundant mercy.
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Anyways, the Poblete family is sobered by the reality that our bodies, as intricate and incredible as they are, may not always serve us in the ways we hope in the days ahead and we are rejoicing in the gift of health we have today. 🙌💛
If you would have told me a few years ago that I’d be homeschooling my kids for the 2020/2021 school year, I would have shuddered. Nothing sounded less appealing to me.

But when it became plain that this move was the next right thing for us, there was grace there for the work ahead. 

What began as a duty quickly became one of my deepest delights.

We spent this last year learning how to read books and solve math equations. We wondered at God’s handiwork in the water cycle and our galaxy. We took countless nature hikes and trips to the zoo with friends. We prayed a whole lot and rehearsed phrases like “Pobletes do hard things” and “practice makes progress” over and over again. 

It was a good good year filled with grace and new expressions of dependence, and there is no one more shocked about it than me. #gracealone
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Homegoing is the online home of Alyssa Poblete, a writer in Southern California.

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