Awesome God

This week has been one of rediscovering how BIG my God is! Within the space of a week I've reconnected with several dear friends I've lost contact with along the way as well as found reconciliation with a friend that I thought was lost to me. On top of all of that, last night I went to the girls group I facilitate. This group is amazing. Now that summer is over there are 7 of us. 7 young women (early 20s) who passionately and whole heartedly long for the Lord. I showed up last night and felt that we were to have a time of prayer and waiting on the Lord. We put on some Misty Edwards cds and went wherever the Spirit led us. It was an amazing exclamation point to what the Lord is doing right now.

I got up this morning- pretty emotionally drained from the week- and my bleary eyes read the Oswald Chambers devotion for the day. It was too good- I have to share.

THE UNSURPASSED INTIMACY OF TESTED FAITH
"Jesus said to her, 'Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?' " (John 11:40)

.....Faith must be tested, because it can only become your intimate possession through conflict. What is challenging your faith right now? The test will either prove your faith right, or it will kill it. Jesus said, "Blessed is he who is not offended because of Me" (Matthew 11:6). The ultimate thing is confidence in Jesus. "We have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end..."(Hebrew 3:14). Believe steadfastly on Him and everything that challenges you will strengthen your faith. There is continual testing in the life of faith up to the point of our physical death, which is the last great test. Faith is absolute trust in God- trust that could never imagine that He would forsake us (Hebrews 13:5-6).

A NEW Adventure

We've been in Idaho for about 6 weeks now and are starting to feel settled. The weather has been fantastic. I never thought we would move to a SMALLER town but we did and it's been great so far. This past week we took the boys to their first county fair. They had a blast. One of the casualties of the move is that I cannot find our camera battery yet- so sadly I have no pictures of the fair. However, the boys rode their first kiddie roller coaster and several 'flying' rides. Their smiles were huge. Bryan did that He-man thing with the sledge hammer trying to get the marker to hit the bell. It was hilarious. When he was done we talked about how it is more about physics than about actual strength. We saw cows, sheep, horses, pigs, chickens, and geese.

Life here moves at a slower pace and it is nice. People actually know each other and there's always time for one another. One of the friendliest places I've ever been. We have these amazing neighbors who are strong believers and have two kids the same ages as ours. It's really nice for the boys to have friends so close that can just come over at whim.

Jacob starts 1st grade next week. Hard to believe he's so big now. He writes me love notes during the day and it is just the sweetest thing. I think he's going to be one of those men who love deeply and passionately. Noah is the free spirit who lives to have fun and laugh. He has this great full body laugh that just pulls you in and fills your heart with joy.
Life is good and the Lord has been so faithful to us through the season we just came out of. More faithful, gracious, and loving than my mind can comprehend.