I'm sitting on my couch with Brandt. Doug, Austin and Jazz just left for Thanksgiving with the family. Brandt's been sick for several days, so I'm staying home with him. It looks like he's finally getting better, for which I am very thankful. I hate that I'm missing family Thanksgiving. For most of them, this is the only time during the year that I see them. But, I get to spend the day with my boy. We are planning on playing several games and just having fun, for as long as he's up to it. Sounds like a good Thanksgiving to me!
I've really been thinking about all I have to be thankful for. This whole year has been filled with thankful moments. One year ago Doug and I were fasting and praying if we were supposed to move to Indiana to help plant Second Chance Church. I can hardly believe it's been a year! Since then, we're both 100% certain of this call God has put on our lives. We've finished remodeling our house, listed it and at this moment are under contract with a closing date at the end of January. I've started homeschooling our kids and we all love it. My Jazzy Girl business has grown and has enabled us to get out of credit card debt and pay down our car loan significantly. We have all been healthy and Doug and I will be celebrating 18 years of marriage on Sunday. Wow! What a year!
As I reread that paragraph, I have to give 100%, total credit and glory to God.
James 1:17
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
None of these things are coincidences. I'm not even sure I believe in that word. God has worked everything out so perfectly. It was hard waiting so long for our house to sell. It's hard being one of the final couples to make it to Fishers. It's hard to miss all of the meetings and bible studies that are going on right now. But, God had a plan. He still has a plan. We are on His path for us and I'm so thankful. Doug recently got promoted to a temporary sergeant position. It will last until the end of January and possibly the first few weeks in February. We close on our house January 31st and Doug will work a few weeks after that. They both coincide so perfectly, it can only be a God thing.
It's so exciting to see God do things in your life. I hope others are watching and seeing how God is working as well. I'm so thankful for a God that loves me so much. Sometimes, I just can't comprehend it. You know what I do? I look at my kids and think, wow, God loves me more than I love them. Now that is something to be in awe of and so thankful for!
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Road Trip!
Over the weekend, Doug and I and the rest of the Core team for SCC took a road trip. We visited Elevation church in North Carolina and New Spring in South Carolina. I'll give you all of the boring details first. Doug took a half day off on Friday and when he got home we headed to Indiana to drop our kids off with my mom. We then headed to the church where a charter bus awaited us. We left that night at 7 and headed to London, Kentucky where we spent the night. We hit the road the next morning and made it to Charlotte, NC late that afternoon. We attended Elevation and then headed to Anderson, SC. We attended New Spring on Sunday Morning and then were back on the bus to head home. All in all it was a whirlwind weekend, but I am so thankful I went!
Pastor Matt has talked about Elevation a lot. Not that we as a church are going to copy them and be our own Elevation in Fishers, but it is a very close model of his vision of what we are going to be. They are only 5 years old and run over 10,000 people. We watched the video they put out on the story of how they started the church. There was a group of families, just like SCC, that left their homes and moved to Charlotte with a vision for this church. It is the most amazing story. The funny thing is, is that Doug and I and several other families are living that same story right now.
I was blown away by the generosity of the church. They were expecting us and had two people that gave us tours of the building. They told us everything and answered any and all the questions we had. They gave us all their brochures and print outs and even Tshirts. After the service, the associate pastor, Joel, sat down with us and answered even more questions and shared with us. They were so ready to help us. It was amazing.
I was totally unprepared for the service. I thought I had an idea of what it would be like, but it was so far beyond what I could have imagined. It was the most intense experience I have ever had in a worship setting. You were so focused, it was crazy. I can't imagine what it's going to be like when I can attend a church, serve a church like that every week. How can they not run 10,000? How can we not be a huge impact in Hamilton County?
I was also amazed at both churches how God used the messages to speak to our group. He knew exactly what we needed to hear. We took this trip with a main focus of gaining knowledge to plant. God still used the time to grow us spiritually. It was awesome!
The other great thing about the weekend was just getting to know all of the couples better. There were a couple of families that we really didn't know well. It's amazing that God put this awesome group together. It was so much fun to sit and chat and laugh the miles away. I feel like I know everyone now and I can truly say that I love all of them. There's not a person in the bunch that I could say I don't like. I have to admit, I was a little nervous. We are going to be so tight with this group and what if there was one bad apple? I'm happy to say that I guess God knew what he was doing :)
To top off the weekend, it looks like we should have a finalized offer this week on our house. Looks like we'll be permanently in Indiana the first of February! I can honestly say that I cannot wait!
I was blown away by the generosity of the church. They were expecting us and had two people that gave us tours of the building. They told us everything and answered any and all the questions we had. They gave us all their brochures and print outs and even Tshirts. After the service, the associate pastor, Joel, sat down with us and answered even more questions and shared with us. They were so ready to help us. It was amazing.
I was totally unprepared for the service. I thought I had an idea of what it would be like, but it was so far beyond what I could have imagined. It was the most intense experience I have ever had in a worship setting. You were so focused, it was crazy. I can't imagine what it's going to be like when I can attend a church, serve a church like that every week. How can they not run 10,000? How can we not be a huge impact in Hamilton County?
I was also amazed at both churches how God used the messages to speak to our group. He knew exactly what we needed to hear. We took this trip with a main focus of gaining knowledge to plant. God still used the time to grow us spiritually. It was awesome!
The other great thing about the weekend was just getting to know all of the couples better. There were a couple of families that we really didn't know well. It's amazing that God put this awesome group together. It was so much fun to sit and chat and laugh the miles away. I feel like I know everyone now and I can truly say that I love all of them. There's not a person in the bunch that I could say I don't like. I have to admit, I was a little nervous. We are going to be so tight with this group and what if there was one bad apple? I'm happy to say that I guess God knew what he was doing :)
To top off the weekend, it looks like we should have a finalized offer this week on our house. Looks like we'll be permanently in Indiana the first of February! I can honestly say that I cannot wait!
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Still Waiting
I haven't posted in awhile. Too be honest, I've just been crazy busy. I kept thinking my business would slow down once my fall shows were done, but that just didn't happen. I've added some Thanksgiving and Christmas items and they are just selling like mad.
The whole family went to Fishers last weekend. It was the first time Doug has been to SSC. We went because my sister and her husband got baptized and dedicated their little girl. It was an amazing service. Just this glimpse of the amazing things God is doing and is going to do. We head back this weekend for a trip to South Carolina and Elevation Church. It is just going to be earth shattering. At least, that's how I feel. I don't think our core team can go there and experience a church that is so similar to what God has called us to and not be changed.
We're still waiting for our house to sell. We are actually expecting an offer at any time. In fact, we were supposed to receive it last night and have not heard anything. I'm not worried about it. I'm at the point where I know that God has to sell our house and it has to be in his time. My worrying or being anxious about it is not going to change anything. Do I want to be there? Absolutely! If it was my choice, we would be there already. But, it's not my choice. This journey never was. It was God's call on our lives. So, he gets to call the shots. To be honest, I do not want to be in charge of it. God has a plan, a path for us, and it's our job to be on it. So, here we sit. Waiting. And you know what? That's ok. We're just sitting in the place God has for us at this moment. How can we complain about that?
The whole family went to Fishers last weekend. It was the first time Doug has been to SSC. We went because my sister and her husband got baptized and dedicated their little girl. It was an amazing service. Just this glimpse of the amazing things God is doing and is going to do. We head back this weekend for a trip to South Carolina and Elevation Church. It is just going to be earth shattering. At least, that's how I feel. I don't think our core team can go there and experience a church that is so similar to what God has called us to and not be changed.
We're still waiting for our house to sell. We are actually expecting an offer at any time. In fact, we were supposed to receive it last night and have not heard anything. I'm not worried about it. I'm at the point where I know that God has to sell our house and it has to be in his time. My worrying or being anxious about it is not going to change anything. Do I want to be there? Absolutely! If it was my choice, we would be there already. But, it's not my choice. This journey never was. It was God's call on our lives. So, he gets to call the shots. To be honest, I do not want to be in charge of it. God has a plan, a path for us, and it's our job to be on it. So, here we sit. Waiting. And you know what? That's ok. We're just sitting in the place God has for us at this moment. How can we complain about that?
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