Safe In Daddy's Arms

So, through an interesting series of events... (that can only be qualified as God) We have a full price contract on our house. (with us paying closing, but we are cool with that). Set to close June 3rd. Thank You, Jesus.

This has been such a unique season of our lives. I took this photo Friday night, and it kind of summarizes my end of this San Antonio move. It's taken a lot of prayer, and searching, and trusting on my part, but the end result is that we were always safe in Daddy's arms.

One thing about my relationship with the Lord in the past year is realizing that I've always struggled trusting Him as a daddy figure. It's not a big secret that I don't have the best relationship with my dad, I wish it was different. But I definitely left home with some serious trust issues, and 'Daddy' has never been a term for God that I have been able to use. Even now, it's still kind of an awkward thing for me, because the term 'Daddy' doesn't mean to me what it does for most, I suppose. Totally different for Sarah. She sees 'Daddy' as her playmate, her friend, her provider, her defender, her strength, her supporter, her cheerleader, and her biggest fan. Puts some perspective to my relationship with the Lord, that He is all of those things in a way that my earthly father wasn't really capable of.

Through this whole transition, (not that it's over, but at least there is a light at the end of the tunnel) God has had us safe in His arms. We've never strayed from His plan, and we are right on track with His timeline. Notice the 'His' because often times it varies from ours. I was never thrilled about being away from Rob, but God definitely used it in a dramatic way to pull me closer to Him. And that I will never forget. I am thankful for this season. I am thankful to be in a love relationship with a God who pulls me close, and gives me opportunity to depend on Him. I feel like I personally have a better understanding of...

1 James 1:2-3, ²Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.

I'm delighted that He loves me enough to test me, to develop perseverance and character in me. I'm so thrilled with the plans that He has for me. And relieved to know that it will never be more than I can bear.

So, I'm glad the end is in sight. Don't ask me when, cause that's still unknown. But I'm not going to borrow burdens that I wasn't intended to bear by worrying about it, God will show us the next step one decision at a time. (another great lesson in this time period)

One last little nugget God has really pressed on my heart lately... We need to come to Him in prayer over every detail of our lives, every decision, every situation, every opportunity. He has a perfect plan, if we just consult Him. Without going into every detail, in this house contract process, Rob and I had a major decision to make, the answer was very unclear and literally could have been a right choice either way. We were both unsure. We paused, we prayed together about it, sought council from our mentors, and then went forward. In the time it took us to make the decision, God moved and totally turned the situation from a negative to a positive, and in doing so, removed the burden of the decision from us. If we hadn't stopped to seek Him, we would have moved ahead in our own strength, and missed the blessing of Him providing. Being people with free will, we have such a 'Sarah' tendency (Sarah from Genesis, not my Sarah) to decide that God isn't moving fast enough and surely He wants us to intervene on His behalf. And in the process, we muck up the works.. I'm a get-er-done-er for sure, and this is a big temptation for me, so much so that most of the time I don't even realize I'm doing it. But this experience these past nine months has really shown me the importance of pausing and praying about the details. Slow down long enough to give God a chance to intervene supernaturally on your behalf. And watch the blessing happen...

And, because I can't post a photo of one child without the other; here's my sweet boy just before he tuckered out Friday night. They both were so blessed to see Daddy. Weren't we all? Can't wait to live in the same city again and be done with that drive...

Time for a funeral sandwhich, pastor's kids comfort food, I guess. :)

PS - I'm listening to Franklin Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and I massively recommend it. Might have to be a whole blog post in itself. So very good.