The title of this post seems to be the overriding theme of my life these days. Things continue to be much the same as they have been, which means we continue living in a state of uncertainty and "in limbo" where our future is concerned. We are in our fourth month of this journey into the unknown, and I can honestly say that I am learning so much. My journal is filled with special verses of Scripture, promises, lessons, and blessings from my times with the Lord. I think one of the main lessons God has been teaching me is that waiting is more about the journey, about focusing on God and who He is during the wait, than it is about the end result. That being said, living in uncertainty is difficult because it affects every area of our daily life, down to the smallest decision. How much do we unpack and get re-settled in our house? We have moved in the big pieces of furniture in order to stage the house for showing, and a lot of my kitchen items, so we are definitely more comfortable. But I miss things like our family pictures and my books....if we knew we would soon be getting an offer on the house and moving, it is best to leave them packed, but if we are going to be living here awhile I sure would like them. The same goes for everything from furnishing our upstairs again to what quantities of things to buy (more to move!) to where I should apply for jobs.
As I was reflecting on this one morning while I was out walking, I was trying to think of an example of a woman in the Bible who must have lived with a lot of uncertainty, and my mind went to Jochabed, the mother of Moses. Her story is told in Exodus chapter 2. We aren't told that much about her, but we know enough to know that she lived with a lot of uncertainty. It began when her son was born and his life was threatened because of the order of the Pharaoh that all baby boys should be put to death. The Bible says she kept him hidden for 3 months. That must have been a daily exercise of trusting God in uncertainty - as she tried her best to keep him quiet and hidden, she must have lived every day wondering if this would be the day he would be discovered and taken away from her. Then when she couldn't hide him anymore, she made a basket and put her precious son it and hid him in the bulrushes of the river. Can you imagine - putting your 3 month old in a basket in the river, not knowing what would happen and for how long he would be safe? Even if she was able to keep him safe for awhile, what would happen when he got old enough to move and to walk? Then when Moses was found by the daughter of Pharaoh and was given back to Jochabed to nurse and raise her son, she would have lived with the uncertainty of not knowing just how long she might have him! I'm sure she probably took advantage of every moment, not knowing whether it may be her last with her son.
But you can't read this story without seeing God's hand of providence over and over again. If you go back to chapter 1, we see that God worked in the hearts of the midwives who had been commanded to put baby boys to death immediately upon their delivery. It says that the midwives "feared God," and it was God that led them to stand up to Pharaoh and come up with an explanation as to why they didn't follow through. If they had, Moses would never have lived. We see God's providence again when Moses WAS safe for his first three months. We see it when he was discovered by the daughter of Pharaoh and how God must have worked in her heart to have compassion and love for Moses, rather than turning him over to her father to have him killed as she could have done. And perhaps most obviously, we see God's hand of providence in the quick thinking of Moses' sister Miriam, who came up with the idea of offering the services of her own mother to nurse and raise Moses for the princess. And Jochabed even got paid for it!
My point in all of this (Yes, I DO have a point!) is that times of uncertainty are accompanied by God's providence. God does have a plan. Nothing can stop His plan from being executed. Eccl. 3:14 - " I know that whatsover God does, it shall be forever. Nothing can be put to it, nor anything taken from it, and God does it that men should fear before Him." Job 42:2 - "I know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted." God in His providence intervenes in the right ways at the right times to accomplish His purposes. His purposes are always for our good and His glory. Romans 8:28 - "And we know that all things work together for good to them who love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose."
There are some things we do not have to be uncertain about! One of them is our salvation. 1 John 5:13 tells us that "these things are written that ye may KNOW that ye have eternal life". If you have never come to the place where you realize that you are a sinner and that those sins separate you from God, and have not accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, you can make that decision and never have to live in uncertainty concerning your eternal destiny! Another thing we can know is God's love for us, even in uncertain times. Again in Romans 8, verses 38-39: "For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Even in these uncertain times we live in, you can be certain of God's love and provision for you!
Lovingly,
Kathi
The Light in My Window
Thursday, September 29, 2016
Wednesday, September 21, 2016
When it Doesn't Make Sense
I am writing this on the first day of fall! Fall is my favorite season of the year and I welcome all it brings - the cooler temperatures, colorful leaves, apples, and baking all things pumpkin. This fall is quite different than most, however, as we still are in a state of limbo as I write this - living in our house which we had thought was sold, my husband commuting daily to his job, not having a church home, and having no idea what the future holds for us. At least we are no longer living in an empty house. We decided that since we have no idea how long we will be here, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to function in a house with no furniture and an empty kitchen, that as much as we hated to do it that it made sense to bring our belongings back from storage. The main factor in this decision was having to pay monthly rent on a large storage unit. And while I learned that we can definitely get along with a lot less, I admit that I am really enjoying having a sofa, my own bed, and the pleasure of staging the house (since it is available for showings again) with fall decorations.
A lot of my thoughts the last two weeks have revolved around one main theme: "This doesn't make any sense." So many things about our situation don't make any sense to us. Why would our house sell the first week it was listed, and then fall through two days before closing? Why did it have to be at the last minute, after we had already moved everything out? Why would the Lord leave us living here, in a house that we need to sell and that requires my husband to drive two hours a day for work? When it means that we are a 45 minute to 1 hour drive from a good church, which keeps us from being able to get settled in a church and acquainted with people, involved, and serve in a ministry - when we could have been living a few short minutes away? Not knowing how long we are going to be here makes it difficult to know so many things, from where I should apply for jobs to how much of our stuff we should unpack. To our minds, the whole thing just doesn't make sense.
It was with these thoughts that I read Jeremiah 32. The Lord blessed me with so many good thoughts on the subject of when life doesn't make sense. In case you are not familiar with the story, at this time Jerusalem had been under siege for a year. God had told the prophet Jeremiah to buy a particular piece of land. But the field that God instructed him to purchase was in a territory that was occupied by the enemy. And furthermore, Jeremiah was in prison. I am sure Jeremiah must have wondered why in the world God was telling him to buy a piece of land when he was imprisoned, and a piece of land that looked like he would never benefit from anyway. It didn't make any sense. But as I studied this passage, the Lord brought several things to my attention:
1. Jeremiah had to go to a lot of trouble to trust God. Verses 9-14 list all the steps that he had to take to buy this land: he had to obtain the money and weigh it accurately on scales, sign the deed, seal it, plus have another open copy. He had to find witnesses. He had to deliver the sealed deed with the terms and conditions of the purchase to the proper person, in the presence of his cousin who owned the land, the witnesses he had gathered, and in the presence of those who sat in the court of the guard. He had to give the proper instructions. This is a lot of work to go through for something that probably didn't seem to make a lot of sense. It reminds me of all the work we went through packing and moving all our belongings to storage, only to have to move them back again and unpack the boxes we had just packed. We had to call to have our utilities changed and then call all of them again to reverse it. We had to stop the change of address at the Post Office, and cancel the movers.
It also reminds me that God never said that everything He does was going to make sense to us. He also never said that His will was going to be convenient. Trusting God when it doesn't make any sense isn't easy!
2. Jeremiah had faith that God would keep His promises. v. 15 - " For thus saith the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land." Jeremiah focused on trusting in the promises and goodness of God.
3. Jeremiah still praised God for being the powerful Creator of all. v. 17 - "Ah, Lord God! It is you who made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for You!" God Himself said in v. 27 - "Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?" This gives us assurance that nothing is impossible to God! Just because it doesn't make sense to us doesn't mean that God is limited.
4. Jeremiah recognized God as being great in wisdom, and that He is aware of our situation. This is one of the most comforting things for me to remember - God not only knows all about it, but this is part of His plan for us. v. 19 - "Great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are open to all the ways of the children of man, rewarding each one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings."
5. God had a good plan for His people, even when it didn't look like it. v. 41 - "I will rejoice in them doing good, and I will plant them in faithfulness, with all my heart and soul."
In all of this, I was reminded that God's will doesn't have to make sense. His ways and thoughts are far higher than ours. When we dwell on His power, His wisdom, and His goodness, it makes all the difference. Even when things don't make sense.
Thoughtfully,
Kathi
A lot of my thoughts the last two weeks have revolved around one main theme: "This doesn't make any sense." So many things about our situation don't make any sense to us. Why would our house sell the first week it was listed, and then fall through two days before closing? Why did it have to be at the last minute, after we had already moved everything out? Why would the Lord leave us living here, in a house that we need to sell and that requires my husband to drive two hours a day for work? When it means that we are a 45 minute to 1 hour drive from a good church, which keeps us from being able to get settled in a church and acquainted with people, involved, and serve in a ministry - when we could have been living a few short minutes away? Not knowing how long we are going to be here makes it difficult to know so many things, from where I should apply for jobs to how much of our stuff we should unpack. To our minds, the whole thing just doesn't make sense.
It was with these thoughts that I read Jeremiah 32. The Lord blessed me with so many good thoughts on the subject of when life doesn't make sense. In case you are not familiar with the story, at this time Jerusalem had been under siege for a year. God had told the prophet Jeremiah to buy a particular piece of land. But the field that God instructed him to purchase was in a territory that was occupied by the enemy. And furthermore, Jeremiah was in prison. I am sure Jeremiah must have wondered why in the world God was telling him to buy a piece of land when he was imprisoned, and a piece of land that looked like he would never benefit from anyway. It didn't make any sense. But as I studied this passage, the Lord brought several things to my attention:
1. Jeremiah had to go to a lot of trouble to trust God. Verses 9-14 list all the steps that he had to take to buy this land: he had to obtain the money and weigh it accurately on scales, sign the deed, seal it, plus have another open copy. He had to find witnesses. He had to deliver the sealed deed with the terms and conditions of the purchase to the proper person, in the presence of his cousin who owned the land, the witnesses he had gathered, and in the presence of those who sat in the court of the guard. He had to give the proper instructions. This is a lot of work to go through for something that probably didn't seem to make a lot of sense. It reminds me of all the work we went through packing and moving all our belongings to storage, only to have to move them back again and unpack the boxes we had just packed. We had to call to have our utilities changed and then call all of them again to reverse it. We had to stop the change of address at the Post Office, and cancel the movers.
It also reminds me that God never said that everything He does was going to make sense to us. He also never said that His will was going to be convenient. Trusting God when it doesn't make any sense isn't easy!
2. Jeremiah had faith that God would keep His promises. v. 15 - " For thus saith the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land." Jeremiah focused on trusting in the promises and goodness of God.
3. Jeremiah still praised God for being the powerful Creator of all. v. 17 - "Ah, Lord God! It is you who made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for You!" God Himself said in v. 27 - "Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?" This gives us assurance that nothing is impossible to God! Just because it doesn't make sense to us doesn't mean that God is limited.
4. Jeremiah recognized God as being great in wisdom, and that He is aware of our situation. This is one of the most comforting things for me to remember - God not only knows all about it, but this is part of His plan for us. v. 19 - "Great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are open to all the ways of the children of man, rewarding each one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings."
5. God had a good plan for His people, even when it didn't look like it. v. 41 - "I will rejoice in them doing good, and I will plant them in faithfulness, with all my heart and soul."
In all of this, I was reminded that God's will doesn't have to make sense. His ways and thoughts are far higher than ours. When we dwell on His power, His wisdom, and His goodness, it makes all the difference. Even when things don't make sense.
Thoughtfully,
Kathi
Thursday, September 15, 2016
Love and Gifts, part 2
This is going to be a longer than usual post.
In my last blog post, I wrote about what God has been doing in my life in teaching me about His love for me. When I am walking through a dark time in my life, as I have been this summer, it doesn't mean that God doesn't love me. God does not have to prove His love for us by the gifts He chooses to give us, or the ways He chooses to bless us. He did that at Calvary. But at the same time, because God does love us, He delights in giving us special gifts and blessings along the way to encourage us, and I told you that I would write about those in my next post.
I had no idea.
When I wrote that, I had no idea that we were about to enter a new phase of this journey, and that God was going to bless and encourage us in ways that were beyond my comprehension. Those ways are continuing even now, in ways that are most sweet and precious.
A few days after I posted, on the day we had an appointment to sign the lease for our new apartment, and the day before we were scheduled to completely move out of our house, we got a phone call that turned our world upside-down. Our buyer was unable to close on our house because the buyer of their house had been denied their financing. Here we were, my husband already working at a new job and we had already moved everything out of our house except for a very few items, and suddenly the sale of our house was NOT going to happen. I can't tell you the panic and the feelings that we experienced in those moments.
I can tell you the ways God intervened and blessed us.
When we got the call that our closing was not going to happen, we were literally ten minutes from signing the lease on the apartment. We had re-scheduled our appointment that day. Due to the busyness of last-minute packing tasks and errands, I had been rushed all day and could see that I was running behind. I asked my husband to call the apartment management office and see if they could take us later, and they changed our appointment from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. We got the phone call at 2:50 p.m. If God had not intervened and led us to reschedule our appointment, it would have been too late. We would have already signed the lease on our apartment and been committed to it for a year, thus having both mortgage payments and rent.
A few weeks ago when we were looking for places to live, on the same day we found the apartment we also found a house to rent. It was smaller than our house, but a house, and I thought it preferable to rent a house rather than an apartment because I thought it would be an easier transition. One of the big pluses for renting this particular house was that it was available immediately - we could sign the lease and move in right away, rather than having to put everything into storage and wait for the apartment to be available. However, my husband did not feel like it was the right decision so we didn't take it. Again, the Lord had intervened. If we had taken it, we would have been already moved in and committed for at least a year.
Matthew 7:11 reminds us that as God's children, He delights in giving us gifts: "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him?" God has sent us so many blessings during this time that we started writing them down in a journal.
The very week that my husband left his position as pastor was the same week our younger son and his family came for an extended visit. The timing of that visit had been selected and planned months ago. I sincerely don't know how we would have gotten through that time without them.
Our other son and his wife, as well as our daughter and her husband, both opened their homes for us (because they live closer to us than our younger son does) to come and stay as often and for as long as we wished. This gave us a place to go, to think and pray, and to be with family.
Our daughter drove up while our younger son was here, and we all gathered at our oldest son's home for a weekend. This was the first time we had all been together in 4 years, other than a few hours at my mother-in-law's funeral. It was such a sweet blessing that God knew how much it would mean to me.
God has given us family that is unfailingly loving, praying, and supportive of us. He has given me some dear friends who regularly text, call, and pray for me.
A few weeks ago, God gave us an unexpected weekend away at the Outer Banks for our anniversary at a very low cost. The place where we were able to stay was available at the very last minute. We sat on the beach, watched the ocean, explored the area, talked, and prayed. The church service we attended while we were there was God-designed exactly for us. The message was one of the best I have ever heard on "Waiting on God."
God has given me a new friend, through a friendship with my sister that was established 28 years ago! Who ever would have thought that God was going to use that friendship to bless us now! This new friend has been such a blessing and encouragement, and also has made their home available to us any time we need it because it is closer to my husband's work and makes it possible for us to go to church without driving for an hour. (And we can enjoy furniture and TV!)
These are some of the tangible blessings. The greater ones are the intangible ones. My husband and I are enjoying a sweeter, more meaningful spiritual dimension to our marriage. And God is teaching me new lessons through extended times in His Word and prayer. I sometimes wake up with a hymn, chorus, or Scripture verse on my mind, and I wonder why. As I meditate on it, I realize it is exactly what God has for me that day. I am filling up my journal quickly!
This doesn't mean that this isn't hard. It is the hardest time we have ever been through in 41 years of marriage. We are living in a nearly-empty house with the bare essentials. We are waiting on God and trusting Him to provide for us, to sell our house at the right time, to reveal His plan to us, and lead us to a place of His choosing. We miss ministry. We desperately miss not having a church home. This is the first time in my whole life I have not had a church or a pastor. This is the first time in our marriage we have not been involved in ANY type of ministry - we have been involved in one or more aspects of service since we were dating. We have no idea what lies ahead. But a quote I saw this week says it well: "Faith is confidence in the kindness of God no matter the confusion of circumstances."
Prayerfully,
Kathi
In my last blog post, I wrote about what God has been doing in my life in teaching me about His love for me. When I am walking through a dark time in my life, as I have been this summer, it doesn't mean that God doesn't love me. God does not have to prove His love for us by the gifts He chooses to give us, or the ways He chooses to bless us. He did that at Calvary. But at the same time, because God does love us, He delights in giving us special gifts and blessings along the way to encourage us, and I told you that I would write about those in my next post.
I had no idea.
When I wrote that, I had no idea that we were about to enter a new phase of this journey, and that God was going to bless and encourage us in ways that were beyond my comprehension. Those ways are continuing even now, in ways that are most sweet and precious.
A few days after I posted, on the day we had an appointment to sign the lease for our new apartment, and the day before we were scheduled to completely move out of our house, we got a phone call that turned our world upside-down. Our buyer was unable to close on our house because the buyer of their house had been denied their financing. Here we were, my husband already working at a new job and we had already moved everything out of our house except for a very few items, and suddenly the sale of our house was NOT going to happen. I can't tell you the panic and the feelings that we experienced in those moments.
I can tell you the ways God intervened and blessed us.
When we got the call that our closing was not going to happen, we were literally ten minutes from signing the lease on the apartment. We had re-scheduled our appointment that day. Due to the busyness of last-minute packing tasks and errands, I had been rushed all day and could see that I was running behind. I asked my husband to call the apartment management office and see if they could take us later, and they changed our appointment from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. We got the phone call at 2:50 p.m. If God had not intervened and led us to reschedule our appointment, it would have been too late. We would have already signed the lease on our apartment and been committed to it for a year, thus having both mortgage payments and rent.
A few weeks ago when we were looking for places to live, on the same day we found the apartment we also found a house to rent. It was smaller than our house, but a house, and I thought it preferable to rent a house rather than an apartment because I thought it would be an easier transition. One of the big pluses for renting this particular house was that it was available immediately - we could sign the lease and move in right away, rather than having to put everything into storage and wait for the apartment to be available. However, my husband did not feel like it was the right decision so we didn't take it. Again, the Lord had intervened. If we had taken it, we would have been already moved in and committed for at least a year.
Matthew 7:11 reminds us that as God's children, He delights in giving us gifts: "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him?" God has sent us so many blessings during this time that we started writing them down in a journal.
The very week that my husband left his position as pastor was the same week our younger son and his family came for an extended visit. The timing of that visit had been selected and planned months ago. I sincerely don't know how we would have gotten through that time without them.
Our other son and his wife, as well as our daughter and her husband, both opened their homes for us (because they live closer to us than our younger son does) to come and stay as often and for as long as we wished. This gave us a place to go, to think and pray, and to be with family.
Our daughter drove up while our younger son was here, and we all gathered at our oldest son's home for a weekend. This was the first time we had all been together in 4 years, other than a few hours at my mother-in-law's funeral. It was such a sweet blessing that God knew how much it would mean to me.
God has given us family that is unfailingly loving, praying, and supportive of us. He has given me some dear friends who regularly text, call, and pray for me.
A few weeks ago, God gave us an unexpected weekend away at the Outer Banks for our anniversary at a very low cost. The place where we were able to stay was available at the very last minute. We sat on the beach, watched the ocean, explored the area, talked, and prayed. The church service we attended while we were there was God-designed exactly for us. The message was one of the best I have ever heard on "Waiting on God."
God has given me a new friend, through a friendship with my sister that was established 28 years ago! Who ever would have thought that God was going to use that friendship to bless us now! This new friend has been such a blessing and encouragement, and also has made their home available to us any time we need it because it is closer to my husband's work and makes it possible for us to go to church without driving for an hour. (And we can enjoy furniture and TV!)
These are some of the tangible blessings. The greater ones are the intangible ones. My husband and I are enjoying a sweeter, more meaningful spiritual dimension to our marriage. And God is teaching me new lessons through extended times in His Word and prayer. I sometimes wake up with a hymn, chorus, or Scripture verse on my mind, and I wonder why. As I meditate on it, I realize it is exactly what God has for me that day. I am filling up my journal quickly!
This doesn't mean that this isn't hard. It is the hardest time we have ever been through in 41 years of marriage. We are living in a nearly-empty house with the bare essentials. We are waiting on God and trusting Him to provide for us, to sell our house at the right time, to reveal His plan to us, and lead us to a place of His choosing. We miss ministry. We desperately miss not having a church home. This is the first time in my whole life I have not had a church or a pastor. This is the first time in our marriage we have not been involved in ANY type of ministry - we have been involved in one or more aspects of service since we were dating. We have no idea what lies ahead. But a quote I saw this week says it well: "Faith is confidence in the kindness of God no matter the confusion of circumstances."
Prayerfully,
Kathi
Love and Gifts, part 2
This is going to be a longer than usual post.
In my last blog post, I wrote about what God has been doing in my life in teaching me about His love for me. When I am walking through a dark time in my life, as I have been this summer, it doesn't mean that God doesn't love me. God does not have to prove His love for us by the gifts He chooses to give us, or the ways He chooses to bless us. He did that at Calvary. But at the same time, because God does love us, He delights in giving us special gifts and blessings along the way to encourage us, and I told you that I would write about those in my next post.
I had no idea.
When I wrote that, I had no idea that we were about to enter a new phase of this journey, and that God was going to bless and encourage us in ways that were beyond my comprehension. Those ways are continuing even now, in ways that are most sweet and precious.
A few days after I posted, on the day we had an appointment to sign the lease for our new apartment, and the day before we were scheduled to completely move out of our house, we got a phone call that turned our world upside-down. Our buyer was unable to close on our house because the buyer of their house had been denied their financing. Here we were, my husband already working at a new job and we had already moved everything out of our house except for a very few items, and suddenly the sale of our house was NOT going to happen. I can't tell you the panic and the feelings that we experienced in those moments.
I can tell you the ways God intervened and blessed us.
When we got the call that our closing was not going to happen, we were literally ten minutes from signing the lease on the apartment. We had re-scheduled our appointment that day. Due to the busyness of last-minute packing tasks and errands, I had been rushed all day and could see that I was running behind. I asked my husband to call the apartment management office and see if they could take us later, and they changed our appointment from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. We got the phone call at 2:50 p.m. If God had not intervened and led us to reschedule our appointment, it would have been too late. We would have already signed the lease on our apartment and been committed to it for a year, thus having both mortgage payments and rent.
A few weeks ago when we were looking for places to live, on the same day we found the apartment we also found a house to rent. It was smaller than our house, but a house, and I thought it preferable to rent a house rather than an apartment because I thought it would be an easier transition. One of the big pluses for renting this particular house was that it was available immediately - we could sign the lease and move in right away, rather than having to put everything into storage and wait for the apartment to be available. However, my husband did not feel like it was the right decision so we didn't take it. Again, the Lord had intervened. If we had taken it, we would have been already moved in and committed for at least a year.
Matthew 7:11 reminds us that as God's children, He delights in giving us gifts: "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him?" God has sent us so many blessings during this time that we started writing them down in a journal.
The very week that my husband left his position as pastor was the same week our younger son and his family came for an extended visit. The timing of that visit had been selected and planned months ago. I sincerely don't know how we would have gotten through that time without them.
Our other son and his wife, as well as our daughter and her husband, both opened their homes for us (because they live closer to us than our younger son does) to come and stay as often and for as long as we wished. This gave us a place to go, to think and pray, and to be with family.
Our daughter drove up while our younger son was here, and we all gathered at our oldest son's home for a weekend. This was the first time we had all been together in 4 years, other than a few hours at my mother-in-law's funeral. It was such a sweet blessing that God knew how much it would mean to me.
God has given us family that is unfailingly loving, praying, and supportive of us. He has given me some dear friends who regularly text, call, and pray for me.
A few weeks ago, God gave us an unexpected weekend away at the Outer Banks for our anniversary at a very low cost. The place where we were able to stay was available at the very last minute. We sat on the beach, watched the ocean, explored the area, talked, and prayed. The church service we attended while we were there was God-designed exactly for us. The message was one of the best I have ever heard on "Waiting on God."
God has given me a new friend, through a friendship with my sister that was established 28 years ago! Who ever would have thought that God was going to use that friendship to bless us now! This new friend has been such a blessing and encouragement, and also has made their home available to us any time we need it because it is closer to my husband's work and makes it possible for us to go to church without driving for an hour. (And we can enjoy furniture and TV!)
These are some of the tangible blessings. The greater ones are the intangible ones. My husband and I are enjoying a sweeter, more meaningful spiritual dimension to our marriage. And God is teaching me new lessons through extended times in His Word and prayer. I sometimes wake up with a hymn, chorus, or Scripture verse on my mind, and I wonder why. As I meditate on it, I realize it is exactly what God has for me that day. I am filling up my journal quickly!
This doesn't mean that this isn't hard. It is the hardest time we have ever been through in 41 years of marriage. We are living in a nearly-empty house with the bare essentials. We are waiting on God and trusting Him to provide for us, to sell our house at the right time, to reveal His plan to us, and lead us to a place of His choosing. We miss ministry. We desperately miss not having a church home. This is the first time in my whole life I have not had a church or a pastor. This is the first time in our marriage we have not been involved in ANY type of ministry - we have been involved in one or more aspects of service since we were dating. We have no idea what lies ahead. But a quote I saw this week says it well: "Faith is confidence in the kindness of God no matter the confusion of circumstances."
Prayerfully,
Kathi
In my last blog post, I wrote about what God has been doing in my life in teaching me about His love for me. When I am walking through a dark time in my life, as I have been this summer, it doesn't mean that God doesn't love me. God does not have to prove His love for us by the gifts He chooses to give us, or the ways He chooses to bless us. He did that at Calvary. But at the same time, because God does love us, He delights in giving us special gifts and blessings along the way to encourage us, and I told you that I would write about those in my next post.
I had no idea.
When I wrote that, I had no idea that we were about to enter a new phase of this journey, and that God was going to bless and encourage us in ways that were beyond my comprehension. Those ways are continuing even now, in ways that are most sweet and precious.
A few days after I posted, on the day we had an appointment to sign the lease for our new apartment, and the day before we were scheduled to completely move out of our house, we got a phone call that turned our world upside-down. Our buyer was unable to close on our house because the buyer of their house had been denied their financing. Here we were, my husband already working at a new job and we had already moved everything out of our house except for a very few items, and suddenly the sale of our house was NOT going to happen. I can't tell you the panic and the feelings that we experienced in those moments.
I can tell you the ways God intervened and blessed us.
When we got the call that our closing was not going to happen, we were literally ten minutes from signing the lease on the apartment. We had re-scheduled our appointment that day. Due to the busyness of last-minute packing tasks and errands, I had been rushed all day and could see that I was running behind. I asked my husband to call the apartment management office and see if they could take us later, and they changed our appointment from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. We got the phone call at 2:50 p.m. If God had not intervened and led us to reschedule our appointment, it would have been too late. We would have already signed the lease on our apartment and been committed to it for a year, thus having both mortgage payments and rent.
A few weeks ago when we were looking for places to live, on the same day we found the apartment we also found a house to rent. It was smaller than our house, but a house, and I thought it preferable to rent a house rather than an apartment because I thought it would be an easier transition. One of the big pluses for renting this particular house was that it was available immediately - we could sign the lease and move in right away, rather than having to put everything into storage and wait for the apartment to be available. However, my husband did not feel like it was the right decision so we didn't take it. Again, the Lord had intervened. If we had taken it, we would have been already moved in and committed for at least a year.
Matthew 7:11 reminds us that as God's children, He delights in giving us gifts: "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him?" God has sent us so many blessings during this time that we started writing them down in a journal.
The very week that my husband left his position as pastor was the same week our younger son and his family came for an extended visit. The timing of that visit had been selected and planned months ago. I sincerely don't know how we would have gotten through that time without them.
Our other son and his wife, as well as our daughter and her husband, both opened their homes for us (because they live closer to us than our younger son does) to come and stay as often and for as long as we wished. This gave us a place to go, to think and pray, and to be with family.
Our daughter drove up while our younger son was here, and we all gathered at our oldest son's home for a weekend. This was the first time we had all been together in 4 years, other than a few hours at my mother-in-law's funeral. It was such a sweet blessing that God knew how much it would mean to me.
God has given us family that is unfailingly loving, praying, and supportive of us. He has given me some dear friends who regularly text, call, and pray for me.
A few weeks ago, God gave us an unexpected weekend away at the Outer Banks for our anniversary at a very low cost. The place where we were able to stay was available at the very last minute. We sat on the beach, watched the ocean, explored the area, talked, and prayed. The church service we attended while we were there was God-designed exactly for us. The message was one of the best I have ever heard on "Waiting on God."
God has given me a new friend, through a friendship with my sister that was established 28 years ago! Who ever would have thought that God was going to use that friendship to bless us now! This new friend has been such a blessing and encouragement, and also has made their home available to us any time we need it because it is closer to my husband's work and makes it possible for us to go to church without driving for an hour. (And we can enjoy furniture and TV!)
These are some of the tangible blessings. The greater ones are the intangible ones. My husband and I are enjoying a sweeter, more meaningful spiritual dimension to our marriage. And God is teaching me new lessons through extended times in His Word and prayer. I sometimes wake up with a hymn, chorus, or Scripture verse on my mind, and I wonder why. As I meditate on it, I realize it is exactly what God has for me that day. I am filling up my journal quickly!
This doesn't mean that this isn't hard. It is the hardest time we have ever been through in 41 years of marriage. We are living in a nearly-empty house with the bare essentials. We are waiting on God and trusting Him to provide for us, to sell our house at the right time, to reveal His plan to us, and lead us to a place of His choosing. We miss ministry. We desperately miss not having a church home. This is the first time in my whole life I have not had a church or a pastor. This is the first time in our marriage we have not been involved in ANY type of ministry - we have been involved in one or more aspects of service since we were dating. We have no idea what lies ahead. But a quote I saw this week says it well: "Faith is confidence in the kindness of God no matter the confusion of circumstances."
Prayerfully,
Kathi
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