Some thoughts...

Hey everyone! I just had to write and share what I've been thinking about this past week. We were recently so blessed by our small group at home...they sent a HUGE package with birthday gifts for Juliana, little things to remind us of the south (a Dale Earnhardt sticker, anyone?), and even a case of Sun-Drop and a recipe for Sun-Drop pound cake! (Thanks, ladies!) It got me thinking about how much we left back at home, and how far away we are from anything that made us feel comfortable or content or even "important". Here, no one knows that I love to sing or that Juliana had eczema when she was a baby, or that Bo once got hit in the face with a golf club. It has made us take a step back and realize that if we don't find our identity in Christ and put all, I mean 110% of our hope and trust in Him, we are lost! It has made me realize how much I looked to others to confirm that I was "okay" and accepted, when all along Jesus was wanting me to ask HIM that question instead. I'm not saying that having wonderful friends and family is a bad thing...I have just been thinking this week about how much Jesus wants to fill us up and complete us (in the words of Jerry McGuire) if we will only make enough room for Him.

I have been reading "The Divine Conspiracy" by Dallas Willard (actually, I stole it from my mother in-law...is that legal for a Christian book??) and it is so deep that I can only read a few pages a day. I have to put it down after each paragraph and literally think about each word I have just read. The part I just finished talks about Jesus having dinner at Simon's house when a woman comes in and begins to wash his feet with her hair and an expensive perfume. It looks at it from Simon's perspective, as he must be thinking (and I quote) " 'If this fellow really were a prophet,' Simon mused, 'he would know what this woman does, for she is filthy.' Perhaps Simon consoled himself with the thought that it is at least no sin not to be a prophet. It never occured to him that Jesus would know exactly who the woman was and yet let her touch him." And then later on, "We must not overlook the connection between faith and love. The woman saw Jesus and recognized who he was and who dwelt in him. That vision was her faith." That last part just grabbed me so much..."that vision was her faith." In this whole move and process we've been experiencing, we have had no choice but to keep THAT VISION as our faith. We know that God has bigger plans for our lives than we could ever dream or imagine, and I'm sure if He told us everything right now we would probably flip out and not know how to handle all that information! We have just been taking one day, sometimes even one minute, at a time, recognizing that no, we are not comfortable, but yes, we are in God's will and He is working out the details. He has been so faithful to strengthen us as a couple and as a family through all of this, and we are just looking to the future with increasing anticipation of what HE has in store next! A pastor we heard last week said something that I keep telling myself..."Faith is living in the present what we will only understand in reverse." Until then...