Are you willing?

I read this post this morning and just had to share it. I could identify with what the Lord has taught him, because it is so similar to what the Lord has been revealing to me. Not that he is calling me to be a Kenyan missionary. But then again, you never know...
Regardless of the call, I am willing to follow.

Sweet Surrender

I have been trying to post for about 4 days now. I finally have been able to get a bit of extra time and motivation to conincide with each other, so I started a post. I typed, and typed, and typed...and typed some more. After all that typing I still hadn't said all that I wanted to say! The post was long winded and just plain boring. I know that if I get bored reading my own writing about my own life, that other folks just might die of boredom. So, I scrapped it and I'm starting over. It may take several posts to let you in on all that God's been doing in our family, but I'm bound and determined to do it! Not just for your sake,(because I know that all of you are just dying of curiosity to know what is going on in my super exciting life *wink*), but for my own sake also. Posting is theraputic for me, and it helps to get my thoughts down where I can read them. And as long-winded as I can be, writing it on paper isn't always a viable option. Now, to get to the point...

I posted here about fully surrendering my life to the Lord's will. I've learned, in the year and a half since that time, that surrender is a continual process. It started out with the desire and willingness to fully turn every aspect of my life over to the Lord, but what I thought was the completion of my surrender, was actually the beginning of a whole new journey. And what a glorious journey it has been, thus far! It turned out to be very ironic that the title of my blog is "Surrender". When I picked that title I had a very specific area of surrender in mind, that being our situation with Treyson. But that trial started a domino effect of yielding my entire life to the Lord's control. Not that there haven't been bumps in the road, and times when I found myself, once again, trying to be in the driver's seat of my life, but the process has been far more amazing than I had anticipated.

I keep a spritual journal, of sorts. As I said earlier, writing is theraputic for me, and though I don't write in it every day, I do make an effort to write down major issues I'm dealing with. I write down prayers and thoughts about difficult problem that no one can fix but the Lord. I know that the Lord should be the first place to turn with any problem or difficulty, but it is so easy to try to handle things on my own and only seek the Lord when I feel overwhelmed and that the situation is out of my control. Therefore, alot of my spiritual journaling is desperate pleas to God to intervene in some situation or another. I am in the process of learning how to give even the seemingly meanial things in my life over the Lord, but I tend to only journal when I am feeling really good, or really bad. Journaling has been a blessing to me because I have been able to look back and see how God worked in some very difficult circumstances that felt utterly hopeless at the time. I also can see how He has been able to bless my life beyond measure as I have learned to truly submit to him.

He has given us financial peace after years of extreme burden.

He has transformed my husband into a man with a consuming passion to follow God's will for his life with complete abandon.

He is turning me in to the submissive wife that I never thought I could be.

And He is leading our family down a path that we would not have chosen for ourself, but we are joyful, knowing that in the center of His will is where we find peace.

I'm Baaaaaack!

So. I've been very out of the blogging loop for a good long while now. A rough pregnancy made my motivation for blogging dwindle, and then having a newborn takes up pretty much every waking(and non-waking) moment.

Now, I don't have a newborn any more and I'm not pregnant, and while I am still busy, I decided that I didn't really have an excuse not to atleast attempt to blog.

LOTS has been going on in the past 8 or so months since I blogged last. Besides the birth of our new little man, Kellen(who is now 5 months old), God has been doing some absolutely amazing things in our family. His hand has been so very evident in our lives and the effects have been simply astounding. I'd love to go in to it all in detail sometime in the not too distant future. On the outside we may still look like the same chicken farming, homeschooling, baby-wearing, bare-footin', Jesus lovin' family that we have always been. But inside our family's core God is teaching us some new truths about Himself that are drawing us in to a deeper walk with Him. The refining process may be difficult and painful at times, but as we are refined(individually, and as a family) the old is falling away to reveal the new. How exciting it is to catch glimpses of what He has in store for us! I have been thrilled to sit back and watch how He is weaving all things together for His good and perfect plan.

Much love to you all!