Looking Forward

This morning I spent some time rereading my blog postings for the past couple of years. I was reminded of how faithful God ALWAYS is despite how circumstances might look at the time. It was a reminder that I desperately needed as we inch closer to a new season in our lives. 

We are six weeks, to the day, away from our next move. I have honestly loved our time here in Virginia Beach. The kids have made some wonderful close friends, received beneficial therapy, participated in a great co-op, and developed a love for the ocean. It's been a rejuvenating year and a half reconnecting as a family following Jeremy's year long deployment. 

Looking forward I can very quickly become overwhelmed with all of the things that are completely out of my control.  It's not that I dread another move, because I honestly enjoy the opportunity to experience living in so many different places, exploring a new area, arranging a new house, and meeting new friends.  It's that I, by nature, am a planner, and so far with this move there is so very little that I can plan. That stresses me out!!  

Little by little and time after time God is reminding me to trust Him. He DOES have a plan, and it's not just any old plan that may or may not work. God has the PERFECT PLAN for this next season of our lives. He knows exactly where we will live, what we will do, and how long this next season will last.....all waiting for His perfect timing to be revealed to us. He never fails us and loves us more than we could ever imagine.  

Trusting God with the details and waiting for His perfect timing does not come naturally to me. I often joke that is the reason God called us to the Army. What better place to teach me that I am not in control!!  So over the next few months if you see me stressing, help remind me to let go because God has it all under control. 

The Perfect Year?

I have to admit, as I look forward into 2013 it makes my perfectionist/all or nothing little heart do somersaults!  In my mind, 2013 lines up to be the perfect year in all areas of my life.

1.  We should be living in the same house all year long!
2.  My husband is home, and we are complete as a  family that has been restored!
3.  We live in a place where the kids are receiving great services for their special needs.
5.  We have some great military ministry opportunities before us.
4.  We live in a vacation spot with the beautiful ocean and beach within minutes of our home.
5.  We have a strong financial budget in place.
6.  We are on our way to being a healthier family with the significant lifestyle changes  we have begun to make and will continue to be making.
7.  We have a good military home-school co-op group that has provided some wonderful friendships for myself and the kids.

In all of my optimism I am reminded of James 4:14 " Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes." (NIV)  We are not guaranteed tomorrow.  The problem for me is that I am a perfectionist in the sense that if everything does not fall into place or go according to my plan than I see it all as loss.  I'm an all or nothing kind of girl which often causes me to lose sight of the bigger plan or purpose.  I need to refocus, and there is no better place to do that than in God's Word!

Matthew 6:19-20 instructs me to "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:"

Colossians 3:2 tells me  "Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things." 

Proverbs 3:4-5 says "Trust in the Lord with all your heart  and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him,   and he will make your paths straight.

Jeremiah 29:11 promises me " For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

I Thessalonians 5:17-19  "Pray continually,  give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.   Do not quench the Spirit."

I am excited for 2013, but not because it will be the "Perfect Year", in all reality it may not be.   I am excited though to DAILY focus my eyes on things above, trusting God's plans for my life that they are good and will give me hope, and praying continually regardless of the circumstances!  

" I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being,  so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,  may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.   Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,  to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen."
Ephesians 3:16-21 (NIV)

Happy New Year!!