Thankful

Hello, friends!

You may have noticed that we have not posted as often on our blog this last month.  Our family has been adjusting to Craig’s new job, which has been an incredible blessing.  We are just so amazed at all that God has done for us!

As we look to celebrate Thanksgiving this year, now more than ever, we are keenly aware of God’s faithfulness.  He was faithful when we had no job.  He is faithful now that we do.  He has not changed.  But His faithfulness has changed us.

In the seasons of unemployment, loss and death, I have been angry.  I have been scared.  I have begged God to move us quickly through these seasons.  I have cried buckets of tears. 

And in my crying out to Him, God has taught me surrender.  He has changed my anger to trust.  He has humbled my pride – the part of me that has determined I knew what was best for my life – and He has replaced it with a deep and abiding trust for my all-knowing Savior.

Jesus has loved us deeply and reminded us of it often.  And through every season of our lives that has brought changes, both good and bad, He has stayed “the same yesterday, today and forever” (Heb.13:8).  And I am so thankful that He is the same and we are not – He has changed us!

When Craig and I got married, Pastor Jack Hayford gave us a couple of specific verses at our wedding.  One of them was Philippians 3:13-14:

“No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.”

There were days in our dark moments where forgetting what was behind literally meant forgetting yesterday.  That I wasn’t going to allow my trust in God today to be determined by what terrible circumstances had happened the day before.  Keeping our eyes on our precious Savior each and every day is the only thing that has gotten us through.

So this Thanksgiving, let’s choose to forget what’s behind and look forward, keeping our eyes on Jesus.  Our victory is through our unmoveable and unchanging Savior.  Amen!

Fruit and the Finish Line!

Along this difficult journey of unemployment, I have struggled to not focus solely on the “finish line”. Over the last 19 months, I have realized the importance of focusing my heart and mind on what God is doing on the journey each day and not just on the destination I’m hoping to finally arrive at.

It has been crucial to walk a path of daily surrender and to ask God for His supernatural grace for each day.  The Lord richly gives me what I need for today and what it holds – but I will also need a ton of grace again tomorrow!

And as I go day by day, I begin to see my life from God’s perspective.  I begin to value what He is showing me each day, though the days have seemed long.  One of the things He has been faithful to show me is the fruit of this long season.

A few months ago, my daughter, Kelsey, wrote me this letter:

I was so blessed by the truth my daughter was reminding me of – and I was grateful for all God has made real to her ten-year-old heart.  What fruit it is to know God is working in my kids through this time.  That alone is worth all of this difficulty!

So I have learned to see what God is doing day by day.  And then, one day, a “suddenly” happened that changed everything

I am pleased to report that after 583 days without a job, I am no longer unemployed! The Lord created a “suddenly” in my story and a finish line popped up out of nowhere. I have been blessed with an incredible job that I started yesterday.  It will provide me with an incredible opportunity to be blessed more then even before!  Only our God can work out something like that!

The Lord family stands here as a testament to God’s faithfulness.  I love and trust God more than I ever have before.  He has brought deep healing to my heart.  My family is closer than ever.  My daughters have found God in deeper ways for themselves.

Unemployment is not something I would ever wish on anyone.  But having experienced all of the fruit that God has worked each day along the journey, I would not have changed a thing!