Provision

Told in one of our classes we were talking about God's provision for us. We were talking about Abraham and Isaac. Not only did God provide Isaac in such an incredible way, but He provided a situation for Abraham to prove his faithfulness to God. God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son, that he loved very dearly, and Abraham did not even hesitate.

I was thinking about this today in class and wondered how much I am willing to sacrifice for God and how often is my trust 100% complete in Him. Before we moved to Canada, finances were never really an issue for me. I was raised to work hard and save my money. As soon as I did move out and got married, God always provided a steady job. So in leaving our life in Arlington Heights and moving to Canada with no job and no stable income, I was slightly nervous, but excited to see how God would provide.

Today after sitting through class, amazed at the trust Abraham had and how God continually provided for him, I was just really excited. It may have been that I actually made it through class without leaving to throw up, but I was really in awe of God. So here are Brion and I, sitting in our house. Me watching friends and Brion on his computer playing video games and our doorbell rings. Now my first thought is, SHOOT, it's trick-or-treaters and they came to our door and we don't have candy for them!!! Brion's idea is to ignore the doorbell. Well, then they knocked. They obviously knew we were in here.... Brion went to break the bad news while I hid under the covers pouting. Turns out it was a couple from our church that we attend here. They had a huge box of stuff for us, I mean HUGE. They brought us Francine Rivers books, potatoes and ham, a humidifier (the dryness has really been bothering Brion), a baby blanket (which I may or may not have been snuggling with the whole night), cookbook, candy, flowers, magazines on parenting and some other stuff. I was floored. I teared up going through all the stuff, especially when we got to the baby blanket.

Ok, so I probably didn't have to go through all of that here on this page, but I am just so astounded. Since we have moved here, people have been showering us with love and kindness and food! God knows what we need and He provides. ALWAYS. I am shocked. I feel undeserving, but God doesn't care. He knows exactly what we need and He provides always.

I always tell myself that I won't write so much, but God is great and I guess I just couldn't keep this in. I hope this encourages someone. God knows your needs and He will meet them. I have so much to be thankful for!!

Whoa Baby

This was Written a few days ago....

Today is a beautiful day. Sure it may be raining, cold, windy and destroying all the fall leaves, but it is a wonderful day. Today Brion and I got to hear our baby's heartbeat. What a miracle. Instant tears in my eyes. I am so overjoyed. So excited that I couldn't even take a nap, which these days seem crucial at times. In six short months Brion and I will become parents. What a beautiful blessing and responsibility God has given us! These past six weeks of nausea were all worth it for the thirty seconds of  hearing baby's heartbeat this morning. To know that God knows everything about this tiny person inside me is just incredible. Needless to say, I am one very happy lady today :)

The Perfect Fool

I am such a fool. Who am I to question my Heavenly Father and what He thinks is best for me? I go through a small trial and wonder why God made me go through this. The timing seems so wrong and so unfair. Sometimes I am surprised at how small my faith is. I question the reasoning behind the trials, but I already know the answer. James explains to us that the trials we go through help us develop perseverance.

Just 15 minutes ago I was asking God why. Why this. Why now. I am so tired and just want relief. Here I am, having a pity party for myself, and I hear a knock at our door. I go answer it and there is someone standing with a loaf of bread for me. (She also gave me her leftover lasagna for Brion and I for dinner tonight!) My relief is in Him, He is my refuge and my strength.

SLAP IN THE FACE

I think thats what God was trying to do, but it was with His blessing. Who am I to question my Maker, my Master. He has blessed me so richly and always provides for my needs. First of all He gave me a wonderful husband who has been taking such great care of me. He has used so many people around us to shower us with their wisdom and wonderful cooking. He has used my sisters and my friends to lift my spirits. So why do I still question Him? I am such a fool, but God loves me anyway. When I am weak, He makes me strong. I could be looking at this time of hardship as a blessing, but sometimes that is just so hard to do when we're in the thick of it.

All this to say, I'm feeling a bit humbled today. God has me in the palm of His hand and that is the perfect place to be. I need to just trust Him and learn to be content right where He has me!

People Person

Since we have moved here and met tons of new people, I am asked the same daunting question quite often, "What are your hobbies?" Seems painless enough, right? Not for someone who really doesn't have any "skills". I wish I was artsy and I try often, but it never seems to work out. I can put together awesome ideas in my head, but I can never get them to turn out right. I will of course keep trying, but it never makes me feel very good about myself. That question really has made me think of what I really like to do with my free time and I figured it out. I just love people. I would rather spend time with my family or friends than by myself painting or gardening. Though I wish I could paint and I wish I had a green thumb, at the moment, it's not me.

Now in realizing this I am slightly confused by what God has laid on my heart to do with my life. I love my family, why do I keep moving farther away from them? I love my friends, why do I make it hard for them to come visit me? I never thought of myself as the type of person that would get homesick, but I have never been sick without my mom somewhere close by and I have always had close friends to keep me preoccupied. Now, I have no family close and the people we have met here are awesome so far, but we are still getting to know them. From here on out it is going to get harder. I still can speak the same language as all these people and the culture is quite similar, but it won't always be that way. We are going to keep moving further and further away from "normal" life.

Brion and I want to some day move into a remote group of people who have never heard the gospel. I know that because of my heart and love for people, this passion will never die. I hope that one day I will look back after years of living in the tribe and understand why God gave me this heart. I hope that I will be able to love those people like they are my family and I hope that they will learn to trust and love us as well. I also hope that even after we leave I will know that we will have all eternity to spend together.

I guess that is what it all boils down to, living life with an eternal perspective. It's hard for me to be away from my sisters that I am so close to. My parents who love and care deeply about me. My awesome friends who make me laugh. Our two great church bodies that I love and care for. All of these people that I am thinking about and thanking God for right now, I know that we will have an eternity together in Heaven. What an amazing promise that we will all be together forever. I have to lean on that. I have to keep that in the front of my mind. I know that God is using all of these people in unique ways, just as He is using Brion and I. What an honor to be a messenger and light of Christ.

Cheeseheads

Ok, so this may seem strange, but lately I have been feeling like cooking really isn't all that hard. I don't know why I had it in my mind that it was, maybe because I really never did it. :) It always seemed it was easier to put something frozen in the oven or something from a box on the stove, but tonight we had a great diner and it really only took us maybe 10 minutes of prep time. We used all fresh veggies, had some great potatoes, some cheap steak and threw it all together. For those of you thinking, man this girl has been married for a whole year and is just figuring this out now?, well kind of i guess. I always felt I needed to follow recipes and needed all these crazy ingredients to make a great meal, when in reality I can be as creative as I want.

This is all very random and yet it seems like it's going to change my world significantly. Just thought I would keep people in the loop with what is going on in my brain. Uh, oh, maybe a blog was a bad idea ;)

On a more serious note, we had an awesome first day of orientation. I think this year is going to challenge us to grow in all areas of our lives. Growing deeper in our walk(s) with the Lord. Growing deeper in love and leaning more on Christ in our marriage. And tons of other stuff, but my brain is failing me right now. It's going to be a great year.

Lovers 4 life signing out



(that was for you Marie)

Adjustments

Alright, this is my first blog ever so you are going to have to cut me some slack if it's all over the place :)

I can't believe we are actually in Canada. This past year, as we were working and saving up for MTC, we hit a big bump in the road. New Tribes has had some pretty awful stuff go on in their past and our pastor wasn't sure if this was the most solid mission for us to go with. Brion and I were caught totally off guard with this. We knew God put us at Arlington Countryside Church to be our sending church and we also really felt God calling us to New Tribes. Our pastor and the mission board researched and prayed about this for months and in the end God worked it all out. When we were told that they would still back us up if we went through New Tribes we were overjoyed. But the overjoyed-ness was soon followed by, wow, we have a lot to do! 

As I sit here just remembering this, I am amazed at God hand. He genuinely cares for us and He really does work in our lives. We serve a powerful and Holy God!    

So now that we are actually in Canada and our orientation starts tomorrow, I still can't believe we are actually here. I think that fact may shock me for a few weeks yet. We have an awesome apartment and the people here are so friendly. It will be weird getting used to being in "the bubble" again. (In our own little New Tribes city inside Durham). Everything seems to be more expensive here, which to me is strange. For example: 4 liters of milk (little over a gallon) = $5, gas = $1.27 per liter which translates into about $5 a gallon, cereal is about $5 a box and cheese is just crazy! Needless to say we will be buying in bulk next time we are in the states :) 

All in all. we are so glad we move here. Our campus is beautiful, the people are wonderful, and we have already scored some sweet free stuff from the mission barrel (which is like a free goodwill at New Tribes). I will try to keep you all posted on the interesting stuff that is happening in our lives here in the great white north!  

~ Annette ~