Ways...

"God works in mysterious ways"

I roll my eyes automatically when I hear that phrase, mostly because it has been said to me by well-meaning people who are at a loss to explain why life is hard or doesn't make sense. To me it always seemed like a platitude rather than a truth.

Let's be honest...

God works in some seriously bizarre messed-up and not-so-fun-at-the-time ways...and I have to say I'm actually thankful for that. Because it means that even in the midst of mistakes and crushed hopes and struggles, I can actually hang onto that truth that somehow God is working through this, through me and Aaron to move us in the next direction of our lives.

As we started this week, we were collectively holding our breath...waiting to see what disaster would hit us, since last week held so many pitfalls - culminating when a deer collided with our car. Amazingly this week really only had one disappointment, which we took in stride.

I can't really put my finger on what exactly helped change our outlook and attitudes, but I'm betting it is on our decision to stop reacting and being overwhelmed by things we cannot control. That doesn't mean we sit back and do nothing to find Aaron full time work or stop searching for a creative solution to finance the repair of our deer-bashed car. It really just means that we finally just let go. For two people who really enjoy controlling our lives, it hasn't been easy!

But when we finally agreed to let go of all that worry over finances and our future, just keep putting one foot in front of the other and most importantly give all of that over to God...we both felt like a weight had been lifted. Of course things aren't perfect. Of course we'll have rough days and frustrating times. The difference is the change in our perspective.

Today was interesting. We spent almost the entire day at church and are exhausted...Aaron led worship in 4 different services while fighting a chest cold and I spent plenty of time running after my favorite 2 year old Sunday school class while trying not to get sick to my stomach.













Our pastor's message was incredible, you can check it out here: http://orbc.net/messages.htm

This was the first Sunday we decided to tithe in a long time and its something that we plan on doing regularly and are looking forward to seeing how God is going to use that in our future.

We decided to join a small group and went to a "connection" event at the church to try to get synced up with one and guess what? Aaron is now LEADING a small group.

Ok God. Seriously? Are you chuckling up there?

Its a 6 week group we're trying out, so we'll see how it goes - I'm excited to see how being involved in a small group is really going to grow us in our faith and in relationships with the rest of the people in our group.