One of the most blessed things the Lord has broadened my horizons about is Himself. How little did I realize that I put God in a box… but, O how I did! I am ye of little faith and surely if I had been put in a rockin’ boat with Jesus, He would have directed that statement specifically to me instead of his shaking disciples. Ironically, he put me on a big boat (being our cruise ship) and began to show me what little faith I really did have and how very small my view of God really was. Yet the grace and mercy of our Jesus Christ never ceased to overflow in my life. Christ keeps showing himself to be more faithful, increasingly growing me in my faith more and more with blessings which appear out of no where! Besides all of the things our family and friends have given to us so generously (to which I have grown increasingly grateful for daily!), there are things on my heart I have only come to the Lord about and shared with no one else: like the puppy I prayed my husband would have a peace about (and we now own!) and the couch we desired and now have from someone who generously gave it to us as we were on a casual evening walk through our neighborhood.
And the biggest one just recently was a fence. I have been praying for one quite a while since pup loves to go outside, but I hate putting him on a rope and if I unleash him, he will run and attack other dogs/owners in all his wagging love as they walk by. I had been searching the spouse Yahoo group for sometime, but as fast as the post went up about the available fence, it was taken down (and if you live on Columbus Air Force base and own a dog, you know how popular these things are and how expensive they get if you were to purchase a new one! It’s a definite challenge). But that’s where God gets the glory for this gift. A girl and her dog were taking a walk by our house and, of course, Eli had to go check them out. I raced after him and apologized, but the girl (who I had never met before) said she and her husband had just gotten PSCed elsewhere and were moving soon. She stated she was coming to knock on my door and ask me if I was interested in her fence. I was shocked! Immediately, my heart was overjoyed with how God takes care of even the most minor desires of our heart. I just thanked her over and over again for her kindness, sharing how God has blessed me by her offer and her arrival! It was just one of those moments where you realize just how much God takes care of your needs in the most miraculous ways! The Lord has strengthened my faith for whatever our crazy future might bring us because I know He hears even the smallest things set on my heart…. How much more is He taking care of the bigger things in my life! Thus, my faith for the future has grown tremendously and my trust in God (which I had been greatly praying about) has increased so much more! Philippians 4: 4-7.
Another aspect of being in the military is constant adjusting, many changes and sudden notices of things that could affect your life even outside the work world… like the notice you get in the mail about your house being demolished in 90 days. Haha…. Actually, I just find it funny more than annoying because its just like the Air Force to tell you ‘Hey, I know you just moved in, but we have decided your house needs to be demolished… and soon. But never fear, we will make you feel right at home as we give you a replica of the house you’re in now, but just a bit smaller and closer to the neighborhood entrance’. We actually went to visit the house the day they told us they had one ready for us… and it was pleasant. And you know what? It’s a house. We still have a roof over our head, the government is paying us for our move, we are used to moving all over the states anyways, and most importantly we have each other, so... why not? Bring it on Pinnacle Housing! The Lord has made our hearts glad in Him alone—for what should we be ungrateful for? Philippians 4:11-13.
God has brought it to my heart to fast every Thursday (of course, I have to do a liquid fast because of how I am constantly on the go) for my marriage, my calling (my husband’s calling), the people on my heart and in our life, sin I struggle with (either consciously or unconsciously), my heart, my faith, our future and my view of him. After the two weeks I have been doing it, I can see how God is greatly blessing it and it’s been extremely fruitful. This is actually the first time I have done a fast like this, and I am grateful to God that I can actually do this now with a pure heart and right motives. Being anorexic once in my life and not really understanding how this fasting thing really worked (since I literally did it all the time), I never understood how to really fast correctly in order to bring glory to God. But when your heart is fixed on Christ, the cross and truly trust the Lord to be your source of strength for the day, doing it right makes all the difference in the world for your soul! So, if you could, would you pray that God continues to work on my heart to reveal things He wants me to grow in and sins He wants me to humbly bring before Him so I might better walk with a clean heart in His sight?? It would bring great glory to the Lord and bring pleasure to my husband that this would happen for Christ’s name alone.
An update on the pup: He has parasites =(. Poor thing. We spent two hours at vet trying to figure out all that’s wrong with him. However, the good news about parasites is they are curable. He is doing great right now, just loving his special diet of rice and chicken 3 times a day (…. Spoiled rotten, I tell you), and handling two different medications a day wonderfully. He is so good about taking his medicine and being obedient to come to me even when I make him take the most painful pill of all: it’s a pill the size of a quarter he has to swallow—poor pup! But such a great pup! God is good to us to have given us him.Tomorrow we have career day. Air Force Career Day is where you go to seminars and tour different kinds of aircrafts to get a feel for what you might want to pursue in your flying career. It will be a long day (8:00am-3:30pm), however, with my knowledge being so limited about our options and different paths, I am pretty excited to get a better handle for this new world in which we are now immersed in and learn more on how to make the best decision together for our future. Thus, after the event, we will post pictures so you can get a little taste of our life here on base and Air Force events!
May God bless you this week as you go out on your own life journey! What a joy to remember Christ now lives within us; live in that truth daily! That brings Him glory.