It has been a couple of weeks of frustration. We visit church, we want to get schedules, etc so you call the office for times/locations and you hear something like this “Well, the study is in the 2nd week already…but I am sure you can catch up” “The youth rally for next Saturday closed registration weeks ago” which to a new person sounds alot like “We really don’t want you to come” and I’m pretty thick skinned.
Today I went through this again with the church we visited last Sunday. I am . not. impressed.
We have much to share and want to do the work too, but we have to be there to begin learning.
Somedays its just harder than other to be the new guy.
s

We’re at the tail end of a time when God has been directing us to move. What a frustration point for families. God has been working and we’re beginning to clearly see the end of the rainbow but we’re still trying to confirm it’s actually a pot of gold an not just gold painted lead. lol. It’s often hard to see the good of a situation until after you’ve passed through it.

Sweetie posted this today on our “other” site. and I thought it was very appropriate for this blog. The struggles of family and children never cease. It’s good to see things work out when you just do what you know to do and let God work out the details. She didn’t post that it appears that she may have found the house we’ve been searching for. I had told her I would pray and God would arrange for the house of her dreams. One that was prepared just for her. Little did she know when she wrote this that in a few hours she would be squealing in a new home that was just that. Now to get the paperwork done.

Enjoy her post.
Les

Sweetie wrote:

Perspective. How comfortable we all become in our own version of perspectives in life. We experience life one way, one place or one time and allow ourselves to believe our perspectives are THE ones. My husband works with plants and businesses that believe sometimes the way they do things, the way they produce things is the right way, sometimes even the ONLY way to do something…..but his job is to return them to the original guidelines and to verify the product is indeed what they intended to produce. This week has been a reminder to me to look always to the product I am trying to produce in myself, in my walk with God, in my wifehood, and in my children’s upbringing. To return often and frequentlyl to the Bible as the manual for my own specifications of who I am, who I am to be, and why I am here. When one goes to a foreign territory such as Alabama, particularly with three children, two dogs and alot of unknowns in tow, one immediately gets to taste the fruit of what 9 hours in a car, 2 days among strangers, and the on the spot tests life brings with children as they enter brand new situations. I watched everything from their and my own behavior while travelling, our attitudes towards each other and the changes we’re facing, and how they chose to face the challenges they are facing.
You know, my perspective is that I want to be as prepared as possible for a 500 mile move, I want to know what I am moving to, what the situation there will be, I want to know there are other Christians who are gathering for church there, I want to know my children will be safe there. My perspective coming here involved alot of Sweetie specifications for houses, dream lives and needs. However, upon entering the much less rural area into the urban area, my perspectives, ideas of family and personal goals abruptly changed. I found the things Dh and I had set as goals were quickly replaced by new perspectives of what became important to us as a family. To know all family will be 8-10 hours away…. It is hard to see children struggling to know what will be….to lose the ability to go to Grandparents every other weekend regularly…..to have them pressured by outside family to do what they have been trained all their lives to do…..and dishonor me with a refusal to move….Such is the life fractured families face sometimes. The perspective of one of our sons was that he could not, would not face the move….his love is in central Arkansas pine trees, tree stands and football teams. However, when faced with the new perspective of the new town itself, in person, visiting with the coaches and teachers in Alabama, seeing the woods and that they indeed do have deer stands here too….his entire perspective changed. Fear. How many times do we do things in a perspective of fear, and lose perspective of what God had prepared to give us. This town embodies everything both our sons had wanted , had dreamed of for a place to live the last five years.
How hard is it for a Dh to guide, lead, counsel and head our family from Kuwait, but again, my perspective of my husband grew in admiration once again as he chose to be up late, lose meals, to be phone near as hard decisions were made. To hear him email and call sons who were distraught, to love them despite them. To change his perspective of what was important for all of us, not one of us, or even two of us……in where we would choose to live. How thrilling to see God working in Him as father to these children…..to see them visibly comforted by his words, his heart, his email.
Perspective. Did God ask of me to be nearer to my extended family than to my husband, I think not. Did God ask of me to do what is easy or comfortable, or to be obedient to His call and to honor my husband? Did God ever ask of me to do ANYTHING in my life that wasn’t for my good? Does this move indeed take us closer to the life of service Dh and I wish to prepare to be giving? Do I trust God for all things to fall in place, for this pushing the wheel is not getting it done, but when I have released anything from being lost in Alabama to finding the house, God has come through each and every need.
Moving, growing, changing is never easy. Even when its change we wish to seek. But for now, I can tell you a new perspective:…one I never knew I wanted, never knew I would need to do at this stage in life…..but God is God and He has chosen and led us clearly, so after much decision by Dh and much waiting for the final words, I joyfully announce God’s plan for us involves saying Sweetie’s home is going to be Alabama…..and I can’t wait to see what’s next.
I’m on the road today for another 9.5 hours with three children, two dogs and alot of exhaustion, please keep us in your prayers for traveling mercy…..and have a GREAT weekend.
Be blessed!