God's work

It is no secret that God is at work in our lives.  I have never felt His presence more in my life than I do now and it is amazing.  We are learning to not live for what we want, but what He wants; not our will, but His will.  That could mean moving to a foreign country to minister to others; it could be having 6 children because that's what He wants (just for the record, I am in NO way planning for that many!  Just saying we will be submissive to His calling!)  I know that God has called me to do things before, but if I'm being totally honest, I've not always listened.  It's easier to pretend that you don't hear than to get completely out of your comfort zone.  But part of my journey is realizing I have ignored Him, not always followed Him, and even hurt Him.  But I am living proof that our God is amazing, merciful, and forgiving.  I find great comfort in this verse:  "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."  Romans 5:8  That is so powerful!  Even if I was the only sinner in all of the world, God would still have sent Jesus to die for me.  For me.  It's a love that is above all.  We cannot even fully grasp this love.  But nevertheless, I am forever greatful for His love, and for this, I give Him back my life.  I will serve Him as He has called me to.

In the last few months, I have felt very led to serve at a pregnancy crisis center.  It's really cool how it all worked out, but to make a very long story short, I finally listened when He spoke, and it was through this that I heard His calling to serve here.  I am in the application process with a good friend of mine, and I too am grateful that I get to serve with her by my side!  Also, some really awesome women in our church are starting up a women's ministry team, and I am blessed to be a part of this.  We will be reaching out to women not just in our church, but from all over the city, all ages, and from all walks of life.  I am really excited to see where God takes this group and I'm looking forward to the fellowship and support that will make up this group.

And lastly, did you really think I could blog without mentioning at least one of my kids?!  Of course not!  We just returned from a wonderful week of vacation at the beach with Eric's family.  It's awesome...his entire family still goes together on the same week every year and stays really close to each other so that we can have beach time and dinner together.  There were 30 of us this year, but it was so much fun!  One night, Eric's cousin Megan sang "Amazing Grace, My Chains Are Gone" for us.  She will be singing this at Mandi's upcoming wedding.  It was beautiful.  After she finished, my precious baby Cole decided it was his turn.  He is so not shy at all, which is completely opposite from his mommy!  So, there my sweet boy stood in front of the entire family, and sang "Jesus Loves Me."  We've all heard this before; I hear it from him everyday because he loves to sing.  But when you get that many people together, something magical happens; they really listen to the words.  There stood Cole, innocently singing the song and giggling, and we were all in tears.  I, because I was so proud that he is mine and proud that he loves singing God's songs, and everyone else because of the words and Cole's faith at such a young age.  He doesn't question whether God really loves him or not.  He just knows, "for the Bible" tells him so.  It was a great moment.  I wish everyone could have the mind of a child when it came to God.