Belated Happy New Year!  

We've been busy the last two weeks, trying to get 2 family Christmas' in, back to work for 2 days, a weekend with some not so hot news, 2 days of work, New Year, 2 more days of work.  I don't know about you but I'm not real crazy about Christmas and New Year holidays being in the middle of the week!  I was blessed to have Christmas Eve day off of work.  My new job is fantastic, truly God given.  When I worked at Goodwill there are no early days off.  

Last Sunday we received word from our current pastor that he is resigning.  In fact his last day will be next Sunday.  I'm not really surprised, but saddened.  It was past due.  It hurts me to say that but it was, and I'm upset.  I really never realized how much church politics there are, which if handled properly is a good thing, a policy of checks and balances.  But there was a flaw somewhere, we kept losing members.  2 of the 3 elders have decided to just stop, close up.  This saddens me the most because I think we could have regrouped.  But see, this is me, my plan, not God's plan.

I've found myself giving God a lot of suggestions lately.  Yes, I pray, I ask God to do His will, but then I offer up things I think would be closer in alignment to His will.  Silly girl, silly, silly girl.  This is GOD I'm talking to!  He knows how it all plays out, He has a divine plan.  The other night I had a sleepless night so I prayed, right about 2 hours actually.  I had so many questions, hurts on my heart.  The first hour was me venting, crying, wondering, asking.  The second hour was praising, loving His word and, get this, listening.  He revealed to me just a little, enough to calm my upset mind, give me that inner strength I'd been seeking, and helped lull me to sleep.  He gave me the heart to forgive, to accept, to love, to apologize.  Now I'm trusting and believing in Him to set our feet upon the path He has made for us.  I have no idea where we will begin to worship, but He does.  

Life is truly full of ups and downs.  I worried once I'd have a boring life, I needn't have.  Nothing in my life is boring!  This is a line from Parenthood, the movie with Steve Martin in it.  I've always remembered this...

Grandma: You know, when I was nineteen, Grandpa took me on a roller coaster.

Gil: Oh?

Grandma: Up, down, up, down. Oh, what a ride!

Gil: What a great story.

Grandma: I always wanted to go again. You know, it was just so interesting to me that a ride could make me so frightened, so scared, so sick, so excited, and so thrilled all together! Some didn't like it. They went on the merry-go-round. That just goes around. Nothing. I like the roller coaster. You get more out of it.

Ahead of us, my girls and myself is uncertainty.  My ex husband got injured and is off of work.  This equals me not getting child support.  I'm blessed that I do get regular support, so many women don't.  But this is going to be really tough on us.  I have to downsize and cut back even more.  We have to look for a smaller house to live in, I need to get a replacement vehicle for my rapidly declining van, and look for Megan a decent used car.  I had my neurologist appointment, they've found my back trouble is more than the degenerative disc disease, more than the herniated disc with nerve impingement but add to this a slipped disc.  Medical treatments start the end of January and I'm believing in healing, either miraculous or through my physician.  But I've had troubles like these before, challenges.  God has got us through each and every time.  While I can't sit here and say I'm not concerned, a little worried, I have to remind myself that God says not to worry.

Matthew 6:25-27  “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?

So I end this post praising God for all He has done, all He has provided me with, the love of my children, the love of a good, solid, Christian man and a good job.  I will indeed Praise Him in This Storm!

Blessings!

Lisa