A new house; a faithful God

Well, I am going to "brave" adding pictures to a post....

Here are a few pictures from our new house:

We love our home, and feel absolutely blessed to have it. God is so good!

Sometimes, when you ask God for something, it takes a little patience. Always, it requires faith and trusting in Him...and releasing control. But, in the end, He is faithful. When I think about the last semester, and our "house hunting" experiences, I am overwhelmed to see how God's hand has guided us in all things. First, He guided us financially to save, and to be good stewards of His money. He taught us to trust Him, which was a lesson more than needed in the final few weeks of getting the house. Second, He guided us to wait for His best. At one point, we almost bought a house that we really thought we wanted. When I look at this house that He gave us, I see not only what he kept us from doing, but also that in waiting, His greater blessing was yet to come! Finally, He guided us to trust Him and lean on Him, rather than ourselves. There were moments I thought we'd never find a house. Then, when we found this house, there were moments when I thought it wasn't going to work out. But He'd gently nudge us, and say, "trust me." And we did. What a wonderful way to see in reality the meaning of Proverbs 16:9 come to life!

"The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps."

p.s. I won't go into the details for how long adding pictures took me to figure out! :)

The Faithfulness of God

Today is mine and Hal's 11 month anniversary! And I know that soon we won't be counting "months" anymore (pretty much after this month...), so I wanted to mark this day as important. We have seen God's faithfulness in incredible ways these last 11 months. Marriage has been fun and exciting-- like everyone said our "honeymoon-first-year" would be. We've laughed a lot. Taken a lot of road trips. And enjoyed our "quality time," that is essential to the function of our relationship! But it's also been a learning curve... learning about grace and forgiveness, learning to love someone more than yourself (!), which also means learning to be selfless. I think the greatest lesson in these 11 months though is that I feel like Hal and I have taken everything that has been thrown at us this year--and walked through it together. God has shown me what it looks like to become one, and even though I think "becoming one" takes a lifetime, I think it's an amazing feeling to know that no matter what I face or what he faces (or what we face), we will go through it together. If I've learned anything in these 11 months it's that our hearts have been bound, and even when I want to be mad or if I want to be hurt, I can't stay disconnected from him because we're one.

We closed on our first house on Monday. I can't really describe the feeling that gives me-- accomplishment, pride (in a good way), and yet humility (at God's goodness). To drive up to our home, I was overwhelmed with joy at God's faithfulness in working everything out. I know that Hal and I won't spend a lifetime here, but this will always be our first house. We'll always come back to Lubbock (if we ever move away ;-)) and say "That's the first house we ever lived in." And then we'll have a bunch of stories to tell (probably beginning with Riley did this and Charlie did that--and remember how we used to always do this or that). I just think that's an amazing beginning. And even though Hal and I's "beginning" began August 2, 2008-- this is another beginning. A new chapter. And I feel very blessed to be turning the page, as we continue to grow and mature.

The Refreshing Process

Proverbs 3 & 4--Healing through trust, humility, and turning from evil

Proverbs 3:5-8: "5Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. 6In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. 7Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn from evil. 8It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones."

Proverbs 4:23-27: "23Keep your heart with all diligence for from it flow the springs of life. 24Put away from you cooked speech and put devious talk from you. 25Let your eyes look directly forward and your gaze be straight before you. 26Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure. 27Do not turn to the left or to the right; turn your foot away from evil."

The Lord has been speaking to me about guarding my heart--keeping my heart secure and steadfast. For days, I have not really known what to do with that or really what he meant by His instruction. I do guard my heart!--I said defensively to Him. What am I missing here? And then this morning, He took me to Proverbs...

In chapter 3, verses we are well familiar with, I am struck by the instruction for humility in these words:
"Trust in the Lord...not on your own understanding"
"Acknowledge Him"
"Do not be wise in your own eyes."
"Fear the Lord"
The command for humility is so obvious! More importantly, I never realized that this command has a sowing and reaping effect: If you do steps (verses) 5-7, you will reap verse 8: the promise of healing and refreshment! Just what my heart needs!

In chapter 4, the same promise is true ("healing in your flesh"--verse 22)--but the instruction is different. Where before, we were commanded to live in humility, here we are commanded to live in purity and righteousness. By guarding our hearts, we are keeping out:
"Crooked speech"
"Devious talk"
Essentially, keeping our eyes and feet from anything that leads to evil paths. We are instructed to have our gaze intently on whatever our goal is or should be, so that we walk straight.

It is no mistake then, that in 4:25-27 he commands us to walk straight and in 3:6, he promises that when we

1. Trust in Him, not our own understanding, and
2. Acknowledge Him in all our ways, then

He will make our paths straight!

When we do one, the other follows. He is the AGENT (the do-er) of making our paths straight, not ourselves. But to see that requires humility that says "God, I can't do this, but you can. I need your help and your strength cause I don't have it all figured out." And for the wanna-be know-it-alls (like me, sometimes), it's humility that says, "Oh yeah-- you saved me! I serve you, not myself!" The second thing it requires is the discipline to live a righteous life, described in chapter 4. But if you're trusting in God and keeping Him close to your heart, this should follow as a natural response.

And further, the harvest we reap when we sow a life of trusting in the Lord and not ourselves, is a life of healing and refreshment. When we come into His presence and come aligned with His authority, acknowledging Him to be in control, we have entered into the holy fear of the Lord. And we experience the fullness of His restoring process that touches, heals, and refreshes us to do His work.

The Stormy Season

It's thunderstorm season right now, so they say. No need to get your roof fixed... more thunderstorms on the way.

That's how my life feels right now. For the last month, it has been one storm after another. I have seen the grace of God in new and amazing ways...but I also reach the point of exhaustion. I know that He is a good God. And I believe that my foundation has been built on solid rock. But I'm tired of the storms. The winds and the rain and the hail that beat against my house. They damage my roof and shatter the windows. Each time I run to Him for repairs, but then another one comes. But the foundation remains. I know that God is a God who restores. And He is God over this house--over the house that is my heart.

Keep my faith, that is my foundation, strong. Help me to see YOUR goodness--even when life doesn't seem all that good or fair. Come Holy Spirit. Bring joy and peace in the midst of my storm.

I'm awake

I have had this blog for two years because I had to "blog" for a class I took. But (obviously) I haven't written anything in a while.

However, I know that I have been called to write. And for the last several years, I have done everything to run from that calling. But it's time to stop. So, this is me--stepping out in obedience.

More to come later...