Catching Up

Where does one begin when they haven't blogged for nearly a year?

Honestly, I wish God could summarize all He has done in my life for me. He is so much more succinct. He can speak a volume in a brief moment. How do you do that Lord?

My last post in April was following a Beth Moore conference in Portland. My husband had been asked to work in Bend, Oregon Monday through Friday for an extended period of time. For a variety of reasons, (mostly God's leading) we decided to come with John and leave our home vacant in Portland. The conference ended on the 18th, by the 19th we had moved enough of our belongings to live in the Bend area.

God has hi lighted this journey with many merciful exhortations.... The first came from my son, Isaiah (11 years old). We were living in Sunriver, a resort in the Bend area, homeschooling and riding the adventure. I was spending lots of time with Jesus but was feeling perplexed as I was asking Him, "What do I do now Lord? I have turned this vacation house into a home, found lots of activities for the kids, supported my husband.... But I am feeling unteathered... Lonely.... My tasks are completed but where do we go from here? I don't know what to do with this or even how long you will have us here."

I was changing the sheets at the time, my quiet mannered son walked in and said, "I think God wants me to tell you something... It keeps going over and over in my head..."

"Okay Isaiah, what is it?"

"Bloom where your planted mom."

The tears just flowed.... "Thank you Isaiah- Thank you Lord!" I had my charging orders, but I waited to see where He wanted me to engage. Lots of little things came up., I call them God moments. I was a lot more peaceful.

In June, God started laying something on my heart. Conviction about the kingdom John and I had invested in, flooded my soul. We had tithed throughout our marriage, but I was tied to a few things on Earth that I deeply loved. I am embarrassed to admit it, but one was my house in Portland. We had it built for our family and I manipulated and cojoled my way into that place. It was all I had ever wanted. Come to think of it, that sounds like a phrase in a praise song? Ouch! Anyways, God was telling me I needed to talk with John about putting our house on the market. I did and he thought I was crazy, but said he would pray about it. Within a couple of weeks our home was on the market. Even last June, nothing was moving so the realtor prepared us it could be a year. Within 30 days we had an offer on our home, lots of God details here, but for the sake of your time. Know that God lead us step by step.

The other part of this conviction about kingdom giving was that God wanted us to free up some of our finances to give to the church. Please hear me, I am not writing this to bring glory to myself or our circumstances. Glory is God's alone and I pray you see His fingerprints all over this. John, being the financial manager of our home needed to pray about this too.

Before we had gotten the offer on our home, it looked as if the company (my husband is consulting with here in Bend) would be extending the contract through the end of the year. We were listening for God's direction and John felt like we needed to find a house to live in a real town so the kids could engage in athletics, we could be near the church we were attending and open more opportunities for relationships. That created one problem for me, with what furniture? I didn't want to take all our furniture because it staged our home in Portland.

One day the kids and I went to look at rentals. I had prepared myself that this was going to be PAINFUL! The Lord had another plan. He took us to a home on a beautiful hill, with a gorgeous view and fairway for a back yard. The decor in the home matched everything I have and it had a huge garage to fit our stuff if we were to sell our home in Portland. Who says God doesn't want to delight our heart?

We are currently living in this house. It is a little smaller and we have made it work, but it is a gift from God and I am thankful for every square inch. We have commented many times that even though this is a rental it feels like our home. We don't know any different. God's presence is here. Where God is, home is.... It is His Kingdom I am after. It is His Kingdom I long for. More and more I am asking Him to share with me more details about His Kingdom that my eyes of flesh can't see.

There is much more to this story, but for now my heart says this is enough.... Bottom line is God wants each of us to prepare our hearts to believe we can hear His voice, obey to follow His lead, trust Him enough not to run ahead of Him; and allow Him to dig deep enough in our hearts and plant a root that will never be shaken. I don't want the storms, but when they come, I want to be one that never snaps! Oh God, I need YOU!!!!