Checking In

I know. I have been on a bit of a blog hiatus.  It has made me sad to see some of those precious faces diminish where my bloggy friends are.  But I also have realized that my life is utter chaos at this point and what is more important is my family.  And with sick children and us in the process of finding a new home, something has to give and this blog is one of those things.

But I wanted to just check back in to update you all on what I have been up to besides taking care of sick kids. 

We are actually now working with a realtor to possibly buy a house. 

This is the most unexpected turn of events for us as we are greatly lacking in sufficient funds.  I wish that came off as an exaggeration but it is true.  Yet it seems there are possibilities in this real estate market we were unaware of.  And since this is the first time we have actively looked for a house, what have I discovered is that this process is EXHAUSTING, TIME CONSUMING, and ALL TOGETHER EXCITING.

The good thing is that we have perspective.  We are not getting our hopes up and we are still willing to rent a home if buying does not work out. We have already been approved for a loan and we are being EXTREMELY conservative.  In light of that, the choices are slim pickings because what we want does not match up to what we can afford. Tee hee.  I can be high maintenance. I just don't want to settle on something to buy.  Do you not agree?

But this is what I know.  God is in the business of doing immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine.  Not only that, but I take complete comfort in God's "NO's" in my life.  Each time God has extended a resounding no, I have seen the blessing.  He has snatched us from the fire on all too many occasions.  

Like the last time we were going to search for a house, we were approved for a loan of $350,000!  We laughed and said there was no way we could afford that and scaled back the search process yet the temptation was great. Then one month later, hubby was laid off of his job.  He then had to take another job (his current one) making less than half of what he was making before.  Wow.  Yet we have persevered because...I kid you not...on paper, our budget does not work out. Yet for the last 3 years we have been just fine. For 3 years we have seen God's provision in a mighty way.

Jesus, I magnify your holy name. 

A few years ago I took Beth Moore's bible study Believing God.  There are numerous nuggets of wisdom I gleaned from this study but one thing that stuck was something I have said over and over since hearing it...

"We see little because we believe little."  

I know that statement is a tad negative.  Because a more positive spin is 'We will see much if we believe much."  But the negative highlights where our faith is deficient.  And what I have come to know is that the end result is not the reward.  It is the faith journey to whatever end result God has already established. 

Faith is not believing God gives us what we want.  Faith is believing God for His best and sometimes His best is a RESOUNDING NO and giving us the last thing we thought we would need. 

That is the holy God I serve and I rest in His perfect plan for us.

So I just wanted to take a moment to say hi to all of you.  To confess to you yet again that I still get sick to my stomach when someone decides to stop following my blog, questioning myself and wondering what I did.  

Then I remember that when I put my hope in what man thinks for me, I have wandered from the path to sanctification that my God has me on.  I have focused on the temporal instead of  the eternal. I am not of this world.  I am merely in it, as an ambassador to Christ.

So I have regrouped and remembered that my blog is a wonderful way to give praise to my God and to remember I am not here to please man but to glorify my King.

And to remember that I have precious friends, of whom I have never met yet encourage me greatly. For that I thank you.  So hang in there with me as I go through a tumultuous process that may result in frequent absences. 

And please, please always remind me of what is truly important.