We’ve had such precious family time over this holiday season. It’s been so good to unplug and spend time with the ones I treasure.
Time to ponder, reflect on another year passed, and look to the year ahead.
We’re starting to feel like we can finally exhale just a little. The last five months have stretched and challenged us more than anything else ever has—physically, financially, and emotionally. When we drove out of our driveway almost five months ago with just a few of our belongings, never did I imagine that life would take so many twists and turns, and that we would have days when we would feel like we were hanging on by our fingernails—begging God to get us to the other side. Quickly!
Never did we imagine that our answers from heaven would be slow to come.
And that God would call us to a deeper level of trust.
A life of faith doesn’t mean a life without trial. Living by faith means that we trust…
…no matter what!
In just two weeks time, my whole family will be living under the same roof again. Hallelujah! Anthony has finally been able to find employment where we now live and we close on our home next week. Sweet relief!
But I confess. I look back on our journey and a part of me feels like I failed the test. You know, the one where God takes you on a journey and calls you to trust with all of your heart, and you waiver. I have been Peter too many times to count—taking my eyes off of Jesus and focusing on the raging sea.
Doubt crept in.
Fear of the unknowns.
God always takes us on faith journeys. They’re the roads that call us to press in a little more and abandon our fleshly desires. They’re the journeys where God is silent…
…but He is ever present.
They’re the valleys we find ourselves in and start praying immediately that the mountaintop would come. NOW!
Yet, He calls us by name to walk…
And trust.
And abandon ourselves.
And look toward heaven for our answers…
KNOWING that He is near.
I cannot tell you how many times I have pondered the story of Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt over the past few months. Boy, do I understand how they felt! I have felt like I have had one foot in the Promised Land and one foot in my old life. I lost count of how many times I have wanted to pack up and go back…back to Egypt, back to everything that was familiar and safe and perfect in my world.
Back to my comfort zone.
But when God calls His people, He calls us to move forward—pressing on ahead—straining for the prize for which God has called us heavenward (Phil 3:14).
Longing for what was in the past so often holds us captive–it prevents us from embracing the season we’re in, moving forward with excitement and anticipation for what God has planned, and believing that He is exceedingly, abundantly able to so much MORE in the future.
There’s a reason He commands us not to dwell on the past (Isaiah 43:18)!
Sometimes I am just so darn slow to get that right.
As for us, we’re looking to the future with hope in our hearts. Starting over has been tough (it was so easy when we were young!), but God has been good. Harper is doing well at this altitude. Even when she has a cold, her oxygen saturation levels have remained perfectly normal (praise God!). We’ve found a church that we absolutely love and are once again looking for the perfect house to make a home for our family. He has been faithful to us…
…even when we have doubted.
…even when our faith has been smaller than a mustard seed.
I am reminded once again that this life we live is so fleeting—just a vapor.
And if I had to make the same decision all over again for the sake of one of our children, I would.
In a heartbeat.
Wishing you all a beautiful and blessed New Year with your families. May 2014 be filled with every blessing under heaven and earth and may the Almighty Father astound you too with His faithfulness.
