Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Answered Prayers & Living in God's Will

The most obvious/consuming/amazing/etc. thing in my life at the moment,  I'M GETTING MARRIED! In less than 60 days, I will become wife to the man God fashioned for me, and I for him. When I think of answered prayers, it is very easy to come up with things to be thankful for, chief of those, my fiancé. However, it doesn't stop there. Mere weeks after I said YES, I had a job laid out in front of me, a dream job I thought I wouldn't be able to consider for a few years. God's timing? I believe so. Within a month of engagement, we had the basic and big wedding details planned, reserved,  and ordered, a feat thought impossible by some for a wedding only 5 months away. Again, the Lord is wonderful and works in surprising ways. During this time, my robotics coaching came to a close, science fair wrapped up, and my job got a little quieter, with the exception of state testing looming in the future. All of these deadlines and craziness I have been able to put behind me thanks to the Lord's guidance and an understanding fiancé and family.

Most recently, my life has been crazy with the afore mentioned state testing and trying to get my house ready to sell so that I can move this summer. If packing up my life isn't enough crazy, try adding a classroom to that mix! On top of all this, I still feel God's presence and hand in my life. For the last couple of weeks, my house has been on the market. Every week, just when I'm about to get discouraged that the house hasn't been snatched up yet, the Lord sends something or someone to put me at ease. While it is still early for my house to actually sell, we have had many showings, and when there happens to be a lapse of time between the showings, I get a call from my realtor with great feedback. We have had some talk about buying the house, but it mostly has been talk and nothing put in writing as there have been a few hiccups on the buyers' part. Today, just as I get home and can feel the discouragement after not hearing back form the last showing yet, a neighbor who is renting stops by and asks about the house! It seems like just when Satan or discouragement starts to move in, the Lord sends me a little message through the people around me.

Much like when I lived the single life, God found ways to keep me going, engaged, and involved in His ministry and His will. Living in His will, I found myself content and at peace with my life, even though I felt like the Lord had planned a different future for me, a future with a life partner to serve alongside. Despite my feelings about my future, the Lord clearly directed me to a church and community with few people my age to fellowship with. Over the course of my last 8 years of service, there have been many times where I felt discouraged, especially when I came to finding someone to share my life with. As I've mentioned before, the people with whom I served, my family, and friends were all invaluable when it came to surviving this time of singleness and still feel like I wasn't just waiting for the next phase of my life to begin. While this period of singleness is over for me and I will begin the next phase of my life, the changes and life experiences will be valued and treasured. These experiences help make me the person I am today and gave been invaluable in my ministry and service so far. While it is easy to dislike the trial or phase of life we are in, or wish for something completely different, there is a reason for this season, and it may pass. However always remember our Lord and master encourager will always be present to help us through, in His timing, perfect as it is.

Kristy