Just thinkin'

I hate being cold, but I love the winter...what is THAT about?! I guess I like it because you can always put more clothes on to feel better where in the summer...you can only take so much off. Rather, you should only take so much off, ha ha!

I remember when Jason and I first moved here over 2 years ago how we whined about not really having many friends or anything to do . . . how things have changed! I laughed at myself the other day after I commented on how stinkin' busy we've been lately. Work meetings, Christmas plays, church functions, weddings, work Christmas parties . . . it goes on and on. Y'know, it reminds me of a magnet I have on my fridge that says "Thank God for Dirty Dishes because it means we have enough to eat." So I thank God for a crazy, busy schedule because it means we are blessed with a host of loving family and friends, a great church, and great jobs. Furthermore, we live in a fantastic place! I am very thankful for our blessings!

So here's the part where I get all sentimental - I am thankful for you, who are reading this silly blog thing. For taking the time to invest in and care about our family out here in Tennessee. I love you all. Sometimes it is so hard living so far from our family and friends back in Oklahoma. We worry that our families especially don't realize that we didn't move here to get away from them or to just get out of Oklahoma. We just needed a new start for our little family. We needed to go out on our own, wherever God led, to follow our dreams and see what the Good Lord might have for us.

Turns out He does have a plan for us here, which seems to be revealed a little more each day. Sometimes we wish we could just do like Charlie did in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and rip all that wrapping off to see if the golden ticket was inside, and just see what in the world He has us here for beyond the incredible relationships we've built. But that doesn't seem to be God's plan....so we're just following after Him, waiting to see what's around the corner, trying to do His will and follow the dreams He's given us.

I praise God from whom all blessings flow for His patience with me and for His deep deep love for me that keeps pushing me to want more than just the "okay" in this life. I pray that for you too, that you would remember that part of the mystery of God is in His awesomeness and power, not just to create or destroy, but the power to love and hold us beyond our comprehension. I have a new favorite song by Natalie Grant called "Held" and that song just sums up what God has been teaching me over the past year, which when looking back has been FULL of trials and adversity, yet all I can see afterwards was that God never let go, He never broke His promise.

The song lyrics say that while God may not have promised to deliver us from particular circumstances, He did promise to hold us and love us. He promised to continue to pursue us. And I know for me and my household, He did just that. He let us go through it - we have just ambled between brokenheartnedness and the lap of God. Of course I'd wait until I knew I couldn't do it on my own, I couldn't make things better, even though I knew that from the beginning (darn my self-centered nature!) then I shuffled or crawled to the Lord, just broken and waiting to be rescued. In all the difficult times I've experienced (and difficult is a subjective term!) I have yet to regret going through the storm to find the blessing, the nugget of wisdom, the love of God waiting for me on the other side....no it was in my lap the whole time, I just failed to see the forest for the trees.

Sorry this is so crazy-long. It's coming on the end of the year, and all that's happened is just spilling out through my fingers! Love ya'll!