God is worthy of our praise, in every circumstance of our life! - My God is the God of the living! How excellent is His name!

     - My Facebook status exactly 1 year ago.

 

This morning my husband preached a sermon about God as the Prodigal’s Father. He spoke about circumstances in our life where we might be tempted to think, “Where were You when this happened?” or “If only You were with me, this wouldn’t have happened.” He talked about how God has always been where He has always been and in situations like that, instead of asking “Where were You?” we should be asking, “Where am I?”

It was kind of ironic, but only to me and to him, that he should preach on this subject on today of all days… Only because today is the One-Year Anniversary of when he was fired from our old preaching job in Georgia. Technically it happened on the 21st of August, but really it was a Saturday so I guess it was yesterday? Anyway, it’s so strange to think about being there one year ago, and now being here in Alabama today.

And it’s also strange (I guess in a good way) to see that particular status update for today last year. I remember that people were telling me that they were impressed at my attitude about it all, but what they didn’t know is that I was so bitter on the inside and I just didn’t want that to show. At the time of it all, I was so mad. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair that now my family and I had to pack up our stuff and throw it all in storage for who knew how long and then drive up to live with my parents – again. To have to search for a job before we ran out of money (which wouldn’t take long at all).

God always knows what’s best for us. We went through a lot of changes while we lived with my parents. We made a lot of decisions (those who followed my old blog might remember the few blog posts I made about us not preaching anymore and then coming back to the decision to do so). We got burnt and we took it personally. I couldn’t understand why we should be the ones to be thrown out on the curb, but eventually I understood that I didn’t have to understand. God knew and always knows what we need and when we need it. He knew we didn’t need to be in Iowa. He knew we didn’t need to give up. He knew we needed this place here.

Aren’t we blessed to have a God who knows and cares? Even when I was bitter about having to leave… even when I did not understand, He taught me a lesson – that I needed to learn how to trust Him. Sometimes it takes us learning the “hard” way. My favorite verse became Matthew 6:33. Lesson learned, Lord. Thank You.

I feel like I’ve come a long way. I know that I still have an even longer way to go. I am ever a work in progress. Aren’t we all?

It has been a while since I have felt comfortable with our surroundings, happy about where we are. We have been here in Alabama for six months now and I cannot say just how much of a difference it has made in my life. I love it. I feel so content and happy in every which way. We are surrounded by people whom we love and who love us. We are growing spiritually and B is learning so much... I don't have any complaints!

It is so new... to actually not have worries about whether or not this will be our home at the end of the year. To actually feel secure for once, even when we always know that anything can happen at any time. It feels good to feel so secure. It feels nice to feel happy with where we are. To be able to relax, to enjoy life, to enjoy friendship.

I am so thankful to God for the opportunity to be here... for being able to grow here. There have been so many changes in my life since we moved here. I know there are those who knew that in Georgia, C was the one who did the cooking pretty much every night. Now, it's the other way around. I'm finally in the kitchen, finally broadening my horizons, finally enjoying it all. I finally enjoy cleaning a house that I love, that we are so blessed to have.

God has been so good to us. I'm feeling so very blessed.