He holds my lot.

Have you ever found yourself in a place where you felt the enemy was totally there seeking your slaughter?  Have you ever felt like your prayers aren’t being heard?  Do you find yourself asking God why?  Are you going through such a hard time, that there seems to be no end in sight?  Are you impatient?  Unwilling to step out on faith?  Or just plain tired of life?

Thankfully, I have gone through the valleys before and have learned how to not get depressed or stressed…. and to totally put all my hope and faith in The One that can get you through.  Nate and I are, yet again, going through one of these times right now with the sell of our car/house.  God has already shown us how His hand is all over this situation and I totally expect Him to do something amazing in the next couple weeks.  I choose to believe that November 2011 will be a great month for us.  But, if God’s timing is not now…. He is still God and He is still good! 

Psalm 15:5-6 was mentioned in our Beth Moore Esther Bible Study and I love this so much I wanted to share.  We learned early on in the study about casting lots…. which is basically a gamble.  In these verses think of your portion as your destiny and your cup as what you are going through right now….. In other words:

God, You know my future and You know what I am going through right now; You take the dice of my life and make it land where You want…. There is no gamble with You… You make my life safe and give me peace.

Isn’t is comforting to know that God is already on the other side of every situation.  He is in control.  There is no need to fear or worry.  He will sustain us and if what we think should happen doesn’t….. there is another way for things to work out.  Beth Moore hit the nail on the head when she said, “when all is said and done, we will see that the portion God assigned to us was good.  Right.  Rich.  Full of purpose.”

So, when you find yourself in a dark place.  Stop, rest easy, and find wonderful peace and comfort knowing that He is in control.  He holds your lot. 

“Oh, that we would wake up to the goodness of our God and the crushing defeat of our enemy!” –Beth Moore

Happy Birthdays

Our birthdays for 2011 have come and gone and we are one year closer to 30.  Yikes!  We didn’t do anything special, but nights at home have become what we crave… so it was great.

Something that was kind of crazy this year is how many cakes we got.  It really made me feel really loved… probably because my mom has always said, “everyone deserves birthday cake on their birthday.”  First Carmen and Cassie made us one in Rogers… Then a sweet lady here at church made me a cake and Nate some mini pecan pies…. Then my awesome friend Melissa made me one and surprised me at church… Then my mom brought us another…. Nate’s mom gave us one (the same one as my mom, but we didn’t tell here that ;)... And finally the youth workers got together and gave us a huge cake on Wedesday night.

To say that I am and have been on a sugar high for the last couple weeks would be an understatement.  And… I don’t plan on skipping out on the pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving…. Hope I don’t gain back those 30 lbs.  That would be bad.  I love this time of the year sooo much, but my waistline will thank me when January gets here and I get my “healthy hat” back. ha

Anyway… years 26 & 29 look to be great ones and we are excited to see what God has in store for us!

 

The Power of Being Positive

Why hello my favorite month.  I absolutely love November.  The weather is cooling off but not freezing… There is a great family holiday in the middle… It’s Nate’s birthday… It’s my birthday… It’s one month before Christmas!

Last week we went to clean up our AR house, so it was a week full of cleaning and painting.  We got home, went to sleep, and immediately got up and went to Falls Creek with some church people to do the same thing there.  We were soar and exhausted by the time Sunday rolled around….. but, I will say that we got a ton of things done.

I was a little upset when I caught my breath on Monday night because I wasted a whole week of my favorite month cleaning. Ugh.  But now, I am in my full November happy place…. as I sit here at work wearing my uggs and a fleece…. and have resolved to think positive. 

When we met with our new realtor to re-list the house (for the third time), we got some bad news.  We knew it was going to be bad, but weren’t prepared to hear that we are going to have to bring around $12,000 to the table when our house finally does sell.  I went through a crazed panic phase, a pitty party, a “why are you letting this happen, God?” phase, and an all out ugly cry when we drove away from the house a week ago today…. but since then Nate and I have really stepped back and remained positive.  I keep telling myself that November is going to be a great month.  Keeping positive about everything is key…. I learned this from the mission house.

We have resolved not to stress about this situation and just go through it.  We still have each other and as my dad says, “It’s just money.”  Our positive attitudes have been great this week (we’ll see about the next few) and it has really made a difference.  Control your mind… control your emotions… control your situation.  Beth Moore reminded me this week to make decisions out of information, not emotions. I need to etch that in my brain somewhere deep ;)

I have personally been teaching myself to wait on God for a while now and am adding this house situation to the list.  Even after all of the mess with this house the past two years, I still love it.  It will always be our first home together and we can’t wait for someone else to be just as blessed by it. 

This is a picture of us being positive :)

We are confident that God is in control and that He will come through for us…. and that November is going to be a great month!