Quick Before I Get Sidetrack'd

First, a little of this…

Lauren is so kind; she named me a “Thoughful Blogger”. This was designed to recognize “those who answer blog comments, emails and make their visitors feel at home on their blog; for the people who take others people’s feelings into consideration before speaking out, and who are kind and courteous. This award is for those generous bloggers who think of others.”

I am honored that Lauren thinks of me in this way. Thank you!

And now, a little of that…

Susan and Janice of 5 Minutes for Mom are having another great giveaway. They’ve teamed up with Best Buy to give their readers a chance to win an Insignia 37” flat-panel LCD HDTV!! Click here for all the details.

I hope you are all having a wonderful Monday!

As I mentioned in my last post, things are not turning out as we had envisioned in regard to our upcoming move.

We were slated to move on Friday, the 20th (a week from tomorrow) and for Matt to begin his new job on Monday, the 23rd. We have a truck reserved, utilities transfers ordered, boxes packed, and are set to sign a lease on an apartment in Nashville on Monday, the 16th.

But now, everything is changing.

The information Matt came across indicated various levels of personality conflict, mismanagement, and incompetence. There also appears to be a huge amount of employee turnover considering the size of the company. In total these factors are significant enough that we began to doubt that things were as good as they originally appeared.

Through much prayer and conversation, we have decided that this isn’t the right position and situation for our family. If the job didn’t require a long-distance move, selling our house, etc, it might be a risk we felt comfortable taking. With things the way they are, it isn’t worth the uncertainty.

Over the last few days we have come to several realizations about God’s work through out this process. From the beginning we have prayed for wisdom, discernment, and that all we did would be about the righteousness of God. I believe this information has come to light in answer of our prayers for wisdom. As my friend Diane said yesterday, it seems like this is protection from the Holy Spirit.

And now, we walk by faith and not by sight. Matt is scheduled to leave his current position as of Thursday, July 19th.

I anticipate the things that are to come. I recognize God’s sovereignty now more than ever. I sit in trust of His faithfulness, of His provision, of His love.

The God I serve has a sense of humor; and if this isn’t proof of that, what comes next will be an even greater adventure!

“Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.” Proverbs 19:21

This week has been one filled with drama, stress, disease, and broken phones.

It all began early Monday morning. As I walked out the door headed for the grocery store, Little dropped my cell phone on the driveway. The top portion of my flip phone is now only attached to the bottom portion on one side. It still functions, although, it is a kind of touchy to open and close. My first thought, was “wow, it’s going to be a Monday.” Little did I know.

Next came the doctor visit and the diagnosis of impetigo. Nothing dramatic here except that we had to wait an hour past our appointment time to see the doc. I’m just thankful she was able to fit us in on Monday morning!

I left the doctor’s office headed for the pharmacy and got a call from Matt. He called to tell me that some dear friends of ours are divorcing. The news shocked me and broke my heart.

And the drama culminated on Tuesday afternoon when Matt called with some negative information about the company he is supposed to start work for on the 23rd. The information is significant enough to make us rethink the job and our move.

As I type, he is on a phone interview with another company. Please pray for us – for wisdom, discernment, and most of all that God’s will be done in all of this.

I’ll be back later with more on the job/move situation, but right now Little is waking up from her nap.

I hope you are all having a happy and uneventful week!

We just got a call for a second showing of the house this evening.

I have a friend coming over in about an hour.

My house is a wreck.

Hopefully I’ll be back later with more!

~ Little’s face is looking much better after 2 doses of antibiotic; I think we’re on the mend.
~I’ve walked 9 of the last 10 days.

Sheryl at Peanut Butter and Jelly Boats is challenging herself to 21 days of prayer and fasting to help her overcome some issues with what comes out of her mouth (see post here). She invited her fellow bloggers to join in the challenge, and I’ve decided to come alongside both in praying for her and challenging myself.

Although I’m not planning to share whether or not I’m fasting (I’ve decided that this is best left between God and me), I will write about the specific things I’m praying about and through and how God is at work in those things.

Now, since that last sentence was clear as mud, let’s get started.

~~ I will be praying, along with Sheryl, about the words that come out of my mouth; this is a constant struggle. I want the words that I speak to be edifying, gentle, and kind whether I’m speaking to a stranger, a friend, or Matt and Little. I will focus specifically on praying the following verses:

~~ I will be praying about the sale of our house and our impending move; that everything we do will be to the glory of God.

~~ I will be praying about finding a new church home in Nashville. It took us a year and a half to find a church here (that’s a long story for another time), and I’m hopeful that the lessons God taught us in that time only have to be learned once.

Today is actually day two of the challenge (yep, that’s me – a day late and a dollar short), so for the next 20 days I will be praying with and for Sheryl about the words of our mouths and also about these other things.

In other (but somewhat related) news, I’m also challenging myself to get back in the habit of exercising; I’ve always heard that it takes 21 days to create a habit, so the timing is just right. For the next 21 days I will walk or do some other form of exercise (like load and unload boxes) for 30 minutes each day. As a kind of accountability, I will add to the bottom of my posts a note about whether or not I’ve had my walk for the day. So far, so good – Little and I walked for at least 30 minutes both yesterday and today.