LOVE

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

James 1:27


He predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the One He loves.

Ephesians 1:5-6


Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of orphans. Fight for the rights of widows.

Isaiah 1:17

Sunday, March 3, 2013

A Time to Grow...

              Well I have no updates. Nothing very new to share about our adoption journey that will excite you...but while we wait I thought I would put our there what God is doing in our lives.
               First off it is AMAZING to see where and how God brings you to a place to do what it is that He had planned for you to do. A year ago my hubby and I felt God calling us to leave our church. Now this is a church that I have gone to since I was 12 and my hubby and I got married in and where we were both very faithfully serving in. Doing things we LOVED!!! I loved knowing everyone there and having such great friendships with the people there that I had known for years. And I LOVED leading the worship band in our youth group and I have to say, as much as I loved singing before, leading it was a whole-nother step of faith I never thought I'd have the guts to take on, and in front of teens none the less!!! So leaving was something we did not see in "our" plans. But we strongly felt God telling us to. We at the time had no idea why, and it was probably one of the saddest things we've had to do in our married life. And we are NOT a couple who likes change. We questioned it a lot. But the longer we were away and the steps we saw God leading us to-reassured us we were right where He wanted us...whatever the reason He was leading us away. After visiting a lot of different places God lead us to the church we are at now. We have become increasingly sure of why He led us there. God wanted us to GROW! To say this is sad, couldn't God have grown us where we were? Sure, He is God after all. But we were taken out of our comfort zone, made to take our eyes off of the people directly surrounding our bubble of friends and familiar faces. And put into a church of people who we hadn't known for years. We had to make this our home. This last month our Pastor was preaching on being Greater! To take everything in our lives a step further to be even greater. Just this last Saturday we went to a day conference at our church called Momentum. We both really were kicked and picked up again, learning to stay focused on the goals God has set up for us. It is great to get up after you fall-but it is so much better to keep that momentum if you don't let yourself get knocked down! And this new series we are learning right now is called Grow. In Jeremiah 29:2-7 God told Israel to fluoresce in captivity. To grow and multiply and stretch themselves right where they were!  One thing he said was "you can be bitter about where you are or you can make where you are better." That really hit me this morning. I really thought 2 Fridays ago that we would have been DTC (paper work goes to China). So I basically have been sitting refreshing my email hourly, and growing continually bitter and frustrated about everything around me. I mean literally I was such a mess last week. But when Pastor Paul said that this morning-I felt like God was tapping me on the shoulder saying, I brought you to this place, you have stepped out this far and have seen what I can do for you and where you can go in this life, why are you doubting it all now? The waiting is hard but what blessing am I missing by being as low as I have made myself. Something else Pastor said this morning was, "sometimes for God to grow us bigger there has to be pain. Just like the growing pains we get when were a child." Yeah....I felt like shaking my head. I know this isn't easy. The process is hard, change is hard, WAITING, is hard-but it is in these moments God wants to give us more. He wants us to be so much more! A child has to feel the pain of growing, it is just part of the growing process.  I can look back on this last year and just feel and SEE how much God has grown Josh and I, and still I let the growing pains get me down. I know I know we are human, we make mistakes-, but I hope and pray I can keep the momentum going this week, this year and through all of my life, so I don't miss the blessing in the process.

                       "He uses the situations we're in to get us to where He wants us to be." Pastor Paul


                     And true to my ever loving addiction to music I leave you with this song that inspired me to get back up and give it a go at trusting in GOD'S perfect timing and not my own...

                                           I'm Ready Now Jared Anderson

                               

Come like You promised You would
I want to surrender for good
Know that I need You
And I don't want to keep living life alone



So take my heart make it new
Make it true, make it like You
Take my hands, I lift them high
They're Yours not mine to do



Do what You will
Do what You will
Do what You will



I feel like a blind man in Your sight
I know that I'm wicked in Your eyes
So wash me and make me shine like Your Son
I want to tell everyone that You're the only one



So take my heart make it new
Make it true, make it like You
Take my hands
(My hands)
I lift them high
(So high)
They're Yours not mine to do



Do what You will

Another note to add: A friend of mine from college is 

selling Mary Kay and all of the profit goes to our 

ADOPTION!!!! Thank you so much Amber for being willing to 

give to our family!!!! Go to this link or copy and paste it and 

BUY BUY BUY!!! :) TIA

https://www.facebook.com/events/506623689375677/?fref=ts

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