Sunday, April 17, 2011

My Cinderella Story

Mark 11:22-25
"'Have faith in God,' Jesus answered. 'I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, "Go, throw yourself into the sea," and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins'"

Psalm 25:1
To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul; In you I Trust, O my God.

Phillipians 4:6
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Colossions 4:2
Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

No-a fairy god-mother didn't come and wave her magic wand and make all the world right around me. But my God did melt my heart and mold me through this prayer journey. I feel changed-accept I know that when midnight or whatever comes-my change doesn't go back. I began this journey for personal prayer growth. I knew I should pray but rarely did I make a habit of it nor did I feel a personal growth in my relationship with God. But I didn't enjoy it and I always felt like I was just asking a genie in a lamp for request-very one-sided wishful thinking. But now I see how it is so much more a conversation of my heart with my Creator. This conversation doesn't always go where I want it to but because I know that my God wants what is best for me and He is so crafty at bringing my heart to want what is best for me, I have learned to wait, watch, be patient, and look for God's ever-present peace, strength, wisdom in whatever situation I am facing.

Back many years ago-a decade-I made the decision to become a teacher. I was not happy in my major my freshman year of college and I loved helping kids learn something new. I also knew that I could move to where ever and pretty much find a job teaching kids. WOW-did God know what he was doing or what? He knew that I would marry my husband and we would start our lives together in SC. He knew together we would move to Texas. Where I easily got another teaching job. I have now taught over 300 kids! But...God also put another desire in my heart.

I have always wanted to become a mommy. And with God's timing (certainly not mine or Jason's) he blessed us with a sweet, precious, child that we get to raise! One of the reasons we waited so long to have a baby was as many couples think-we want to be ready-HA HA! I fell in love with my daughter as soon as I laid eyes on her-especially watching in being held in her daddy's arms as he displayed a look of terror-love-awe-joy-fear all at one time. But you are never ready for the wonderful surprise parenthood brings.

Even though I love teaching and helping children learn-I hated going back to school this year. I hated leaving my beautiful child and gift from God in the care of another person. God knew this desire and He knew He was going to meet that yearning in my heart.

As of Friday, April 15th, I turned in my resignation to my school. I will finish out the school year but I am not going back next year! God has been working over time in my life and I praise him for all the blessings He has given me, is giving me, and will give me over the many years to come. We are going to move closer to family and I get to be a full time mommy to our precious baby girl! I know that the moving journey and life will not necessarily get easier. There will be challenges living as a one income family and making a home in a brand new place. But I am keeping my trust in the Lord-he has provided and I trust he will provide for our family. He has laid out the path for us to follow and opened our hearts for this change.

Even though this is an exciting time for our family, it is also a sad time. We have loved our time here in Texas. This is the first place we were able to find a church home as a married couple, we have made so many friends here and we came as a family of two and are leaving as a family of three. But again-I am trusting in God to give us a new church home and friends to live life with as we go forward.

So prayer-my magic wand-has changed me. It has made me more patient, more swift to seek God's will for my life, more open to His wisdom for the future, and placed my heart in a vulnerable, seeking, trusting relationship with my Creator. And for this I praise HIM! While the road ahead is not perfectly clear-He is there with me and I can't wait to see where He takes me!

Our Texas Bluebonnet!

Since our baby was born in Texas, we did what all trendy Texans do...drove around and found a bluebonnet field to place our baby in while we snapped a few shots! I actually looked on the internet so I wouldn't have to drive to Brenham, TX and found someone who took them almost inside the inner loop in Houston. Since it was about 30 min away, I decided to try and find the place. Here is what it looked like:
I know not so pretty right? I was forewarned that it was on fairly steep hill so I knew about the setting challenges before I got there. There was also this hideous building from the seventies near by but I made sure not to get that in our pics. So this is what we got:
I was really happy since this will probably be Spencer's only bluebonnet picture. We took some flowers with us and we are going to press them for Spencer to keep in her memory book.