Happy New Year! I know, it is almost April but this is my first post of the new year! I am planning to post more often...we shall see! :)
As of my last entry we were anticipating a move into a rental home that God provided for our family. We were excited, even though 1/2 of our family of 4 (including my husband) had not seen the house except from the outside! He had faith in me that what I was describing was in fact a reality. And let me just say he loved the house!
That sort of reminds me of how our God is...He gives us hopes and dreams and leads us where He wants us to go and we have to believe that although what He is saying sometimes seems too good to be true, it can be reality if we continue to follow & obey Him.
A lot has happened since our decision to stay in Jacksonville. We have both individually and as a family grown so much spiritually. Although we received an out-pour of support about staying in Jacksonville, we still had people that were very hurt & confused by our decision. We had to work through relationships that were very special to us and even more importantly we had to seek our heavenly Father for comfort, direction and clarity.
I do not regret one second of what happened, even the time that we were preparing for a move that did not even take place. I grew more spiritually during that experience than I have in my entire life! I learned what faith looks like. I learned what faith can do. I learned that even when you feel like you have failed, God can pick you up and use you in ways that you can only dream of. He is my Redeemer. He is my Savior. He is my EVERYTHING!
There were young believers that did not understand why we would not go if we were confident that we were following God's will by going. Let me just say that it was not intentional for us to mislead people that were like family to us. We were not at any moment being dishonest when we said to everyone that we knew God was leading us to move forward. We felt in our hearts that we were on the path God intended us to be on. And I believe that still to be true. That experience was part of our faith journey. We would not be where we are today if the events had gone any different.
This morning pastor & author Mark Batterson twittered something that spoke very loudly to me... "Sometimes the Lord leads you down a street to get you to another street to get you to a side street you wouldn't find any other way."
Just as we will never understand the death of a loved one that is taken too early, I do not know that I will clearly understand the reason for what happened. My speculation is that God used it to bring us closer to Him. To kill pride. To show us that He is our Provider. To teach us that we need Him to be the most important thing in our lives. To open our eyes to our potential when we allow Him to work through us. To lead us to where we are now. I could go on and on with the wisdom I gained from this experience, but I will not truly understand until I am standing in His presence. Until then, I will accept every experience He so graciously gives me and the mercy I am so undeserving of as I seek to grow closer to Him and live only for Him!
I intended to go a different direction with today's entry, but God apparently had different intentions. I guess that means that I will need to blog again very soon to share the latest on our continuing journey!
Heather
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