As I'm sitting here thinking how I could start my blog again after a three-year hiatus, I realize we are nearing the end of the year 2016 and I can't believe it's almost ending. This year, with all its ups and downs, all I can say is that God still remains faithful.
This is yet another time of the year where things change; seasons change, temperatures and the climate changes, but one thing remains the same ... God. Through every season of change in my life there has always been one constant. How do I know that God remains unchanging? Still the same God he proclaims to be in his word? That he is the same faithful God who hears our prayers? That he knows the hopes and desires of our hearts and the best timing for everything? I know because "I have tasted and seen".
This year has been a year of stepping out in faith, and believing God will provide in his perfect timing. Since the beginning of 2014, my husband and I set out on attempting to buy our first home. The test proved daunting. We fell in love with many homes, just to see them removed from the market just as soon as we would have placed a bid on them. With the birth of our second child, we decided to take a break from househunting. Then, in the beginning of 2015, we continued our search once again. At the end of 2015 (September to be exact) we placed a bid on a home that we had been eyeing for about a year but had not been placed on the market yet, since it was in foreclosure. Our offer was accepted, and we were extremely excited, only to find out that shortly after our bid was accepted, the home had been broken into and some damage was done. After seeking repair so that we could continue with the purchase, it took us six months to finally get the home.
And looking back, I'm so thankful that God was patient enough with us to teach us to be patient, prayerful, and wait on him and to learn again that he knows what is best for us. Sometimes we can so easily get caught up into what we want, that we forget to see that God wants to do things a little bit differently than we have planned. Subconsciously we find ourselves dying to Christ, and living for self instead of dying to self and living for Christ ("For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again." (2 Corinthians 5:14-15 NIV))
So, as this year draws to a close, I urge you to look back and find reasons to be thankful to God for where you are in your life, no matter if you are in the valley, or if you're in a place of blessing, if you're in a place of peace or in the eye of the storm, ask God to help you find the good in whatever situation you are in.
I'll leave you with "Thank You God" by Chris Tomlin:
This is yet another time of the year where things change; seasons change, temperatures and the climate changes, but one thing remains the same ... God. Through every season of change in my life there has always been one constant. How do I know that God remains unchanging? Still the same God he proclaims to be in his word? That he is the same faithful God who hears our prayers? That he knows the hopes and desires of our hearts and the best timing for everything? I know because "I have tasted and seen".
This year has been a year of stepping out in faith, and believing God will provide in his perfect timing. Since the beginning of 2014, my husband and I set out on attempting to buy our first home. The test proved daunting. We fell in love with many homes, just to see them removed from the market just as soon as we would have placed a bid on them. With the birth of our second child, we decided to take a break from househunting. Then, in the beginning of 2015, we continued our search once again. At the end of 2015 (September to be exact) we placed a bid on a home that we had been eyeing for about a year but had not been placed on the market yet, since it was in foreclosure. Our offer was accepted, and we were extremely excited, only to find out that shortly after our bid was accepted, the home had been broken into and some damage was done. After seeking repair so that we could continue with the purchase, it took us six months to finally get the home.
And looking back, I'm so thankful that God was patient enough with us to teach us to be patient, prayerful, and wait on him and to learn again that he knows what is best for us. Sometimes we can so easily get caught up into what we want, that we forget to see that God wants to do things a little bit differently than we have planned. Subconsciously we find ourselves dying to Christ, and living for self instead of dying to self and living for Christ ("For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again." (2 Corinthians 5:14-15 NIV))
So, as this year draws to a close, I urge you to look back and find reasons to be thankful to God for where you are in your life, no matter if you are in the valley, or if you're in a place of blessing, if you're in a place of peace or in the eye of the storm, ask God to help you find the good in whatever situation you are in.
I'll leave you with "Thank You God" by Chris Tomlin:
