Things are moving forward for us. We've put the works in motion to move to Peru before only to have them all halted. So what's different about this time? The support is much higher, and coming in at a pretty steady pace, making August an extremely likely departure goal. At times we're overwhelmed. It's easier when one of us is overwhelmed at a time, so at least one person is available to lift the other up. This week, though, we were overwhelmed at the same time. We had to stop...take a deep breath...and encourage each other as best we could through honesty, conversation, and God.
We're balancing a life of building a ministry team, preaching around the state, getting our stuff packed up and organized, getting the house ready for sale, regular church life, t-ball, oh yeah, and being a husband and wife/Dad and Mom, and worshipping our Holy Father. There's a poem out there that starts off saying something like, "today I was too busy to pray," and then the day goes on and it's really hard, so the last line is something like, "I'm too busy NOT to pray." That's how we're feeling. Our week started off really crazy with events every night, a realtor coming on Wednesday morning, and Justin going out of town Wednesday afternoon. Add in that I wasn't feeling very well. All the makings of a great, "Poor Me" pitty party. Believe me, I had a great big pitty party on Tuesday. That night, LATE because of our busy schedule, Justin and I worked on getting the house clean for the realtor to come the next morning. We were both overwhelmed, and we bumped our way through it, thinking that we were about to put our house on the market the very next day as Justin headed out of town.
We finally just stopped. We had a heart to heart about how crazy we were working, and seriously contemplated rescheduling the realtor meeting. Evaluating our efforts and our spirits we decided to KEEP the meeting, but QUIT breaking our backs...we had NO peace about putting it on the market on Wednesday, but we still wanted to meet with the realtor. In the morning we finished basic cleaning just minutes before the realtor came. After our meeting with her, we both felt a sense of peace and direction. Our house will go on the market in a week or so, when Justin's been home long enough to finish the few odds and ends we need to get done. Now it's Thursday, and it's GORGEOUS outside, and things are in better perspective...WE'RE HEALTHY, OUR MINISTRY IS COMING TOGETHER, WE'RE SURROUNDED BY LOVING FRIENDS AND FAMILY, WE HAVE A ROOF OVER OUR HEADS, FOOD IN OUR BELLIES, AND WE LOVE OUR KIDS, AND WE LOVE EACH OTHER! It's amazing and humbling how quickly the big picture can get lost among the clutter of details.
Just today I went out to the mailbox and found a card of encouragement from a supporting church with a few personal notes from friends inside. I have been convicted of my previous care of missionaries that we supported. I always thought they were too busy for our emails and whatnot, so I contented myself with reading their newsletters and praying for them. I now know, that they may not always have time to respond to our letters or emails, but they do need the encouragement. What a blessing words from "out there" can be, when we're too involved being "in here"- our own little world of getting ready to start a new life in full time ministry.
It's too easy to lose sight of the good stuff. In Philippians 4:6-8, NIV, God writes through Paul:
"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition , with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me - put into practice. And the God of peace will be with you."
There's a promise to stand on! "...And the God of peace will be with you." :) I praise God for his awesome wisdom in how to protect our minds from the things that will weigh us down needlessly and keep us from acknowledging His Goodness and Peace.
I don't know if anyone ever reads these blogs, but this one really helped me put things into prespective.
May God bless you and me with peace as we think of things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy.
In Christ,
Gillian
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