Hi. My name is Candace and I'm a workaholic.

If my life were a plate of food, it would be one of those supposedly "heavy duty" paper plates loaded to the max with fixings from a family reunion. You can't even see where one section of food begins and ends. It all just runs together and the solid foods like bread, ham, or a chicken leg, are just piled on top of the mountains of mashed potatoes and casseroles. Needless to say, my "heavy duty" plate is helplessly bending out of proportion and screaming for relief!! Don't you just love how life can do that to you sometimes? (I prefer to blame it on life rather than my inability to say NO, but we won't go there right now). Don't get me wrong, life is wonderful right now, and with all that I have going on, I would say that I am doing a good job of keeping my head above the water. My grades aren't suffering (yet), and I am keeping up pretty well with everything else...all thanks to my severe case of OCD and a WONDERFUL, AMAZING husband!!! He helps me with laundry, dishes, grocery shopping, and cooking dinner whenever I work later in the evening. He does it so that when I come home, I can spend time with him and work on homework. He's so considerate of all that I have going on and that means so much to me. All he does, however, doesn't come without the occasional lecture of how I should really downsize on the things I commit to. I love his honesty and the fact that he wants me home more so that we can have more time together. I just love that he's not afraid to let me know how he feels about things and he always does it in a direct, yet compassionate, way. 

Not comparing my husband to God, but isn't that the way God communicates with us? He is direct, yet compassionate towards His children. When I feel overwhelmed, He's there with open arms to comfort me and hear my cries, but He also stands there with a direct solution. As stubborn human beings, we often take the compassion, but put off the solution because it may be inconvenient. Through my busy schedule, I am ashamed to say that I have allowed my time with God to suffer. That should not be so. This week I have gotten back into God's Word and I just felt pulled to the book of Hosea. I LOVE that story because it is a reflection of our relationship with God. We are sinful creatures, and much like Gomer, we are spiritual harlots. We give ourselves to anything and everything in this world, leaving our leftovers to God. We are continuously unfaithful to Him. Yet, as we stand in chains being sold as slaves to our sin, Christ steps up as the highest bidder, just like Hosea did for Gomer. She had been an unfaithful wife to him, yet when she was at her lowest point, being sold in the marketplace, Hosea bought her and brought her home as his wife. No matter the hurt she had caused him, he still rescued her. Isn't that beautiful?? Christ paid the ultimate price for us, even as we stood there, stained by the world and our sins. I find such great encouragement in that beautiful story. 

Life flows much better when we hand the reigns over Christ. This week has been wonderful, and my plate, although still heavy with food, is in the hands of someone who can carry and endless amount of plates in just one hand. He's my Savior and burden bearer. Without Him, I would be a disaster.