I am a person that loves my friends. The groups of people that I see all the time. Church family. I take them all as a gift from God and so when changes happen, my insides turn into butterflies. I like my life of comfortableness. I don't like to be stretched out of my comfort zone too much.
I also like routine. I could very easily get up the same time each morning. Eat about the same things for breakfast and lunch each day. I buy groceries on Monday to stock the fridge with fresh fruits and veggies for the week. I do laundry Monday, Wednesday & Friday. I do a load of towels on Saturday. I clean the house on Thursday and dad's shop on Friday and the Yukon on Saturday. I am fine with switching things up every now and then but this is just how I function the best!
When my house is out of order and a total mess or really dirty (which does happen with children and a family that spends time together at home!), I tend to feel out of control. I can not go to bed with tons of dirty dishes in the sink. Or with the living room full of toys and puzzles. It must look decent, not everything has to be in tip top shape, but decent! To wake up the next morning with things looking out of hand, would put me in a tizz! As long as the surface looks good, I'm good too. That does mean that often there is a load of laundry to fold in the dryer but no one but me knows that because you can't see it there! If the dishes are clean but still in the dishwasher, that can wait for the next day to be put away. I'm not sure if some of these shouldn't be on my 'new year resolution list' to improve but that seems to be OK with me.?.
I like lists. I like to plan out our supper menu's for the week, so the grocery list is usually fairly easy to make! When we pack up for vacation, I need my list of things to cross off so I don't forget anything important! If I have a really busy day, I'll make a list of the things I need to get done that day!
However, I am in the 'CHANGE' season of life right now. I am trying to embrace the moments and not get all in a frantic. Change is good. I truthfully wouldn't want EVERYTHING to stay the same. I want the children to grow up to be adults. Yet, I want to love and cherish on them now ... every day. And I need to. I want our marriage to grow. Yet, I love Mike right how he is right now! I want our baby inside my womb to grow and for sure want it to arrive right on time!!! I want a remobeled house. Yet, the packing up and making all the many decisions can look overwhelming yet exciting! I want to grow spiritually. Yet, when I am going through a hard time ... I seem to want to pray it away! Why? Why am I so routine bound? I know God made me like that! I am thankful for that but I also know God sometimes calls us/me out of our/my comfort zone to make us/me a better person!
The past year has brought many changes in my mind. One, was buying an another acre of land and making plans to remodel our home. Two, being pregnant! We are very excited about this one! Three, was church! When Mike and I first talked about visiting other churches, it looked scary!!! Really scary for me because it's not what I was "used to" or it was "out of routine". I've been in the same church family since I was eight years old. I grew up there in a sense. But, we prayed about it a lot! Making a change that involves friends, family, and the future we did not take lightly. If I'm honest, I didn't want to talk much about it back then. I knew better than to be silent though! Mike and I wanted to be on the same page if we would make a change. Time, God and prayer seemed to help out with this a lot!!! When we started to look outside "of our box" we noticed that there were so many churches we could visit. Then, when we actually went to visit some, we found out that each church is different. They have different people. Different views. Different ways of worship. Not that we thought the way we did/do things is the only way, not at all, but our eyes were opened. We were also blessed to notice that we really are blessed in our area to have so many thriving churches that LOVE THE LORD!!!
We felt God leading us to a church in Honeybrook. We visited there last fall once and like I said, it was different for us. We had church in a school gym - not a 'church'. We sat on folding chairs - not comfy, soft pews. We sang praise and worship with some instruments - not acapella using hymnals. They have Sunday School every Sunday - we were used to every other. The church had many community visitors. The whole experience seemed overwhelming at the moment. We went back to 'our home church' for months later and then this fall we felt we needed to make a move. A change. Another visit to that church.
This time it was completely different. No, they still did all the things above that they did a year ago, but it was different for me. This time I went with an open heart. God dealt with me many, many days last year about change and how when I feel like things are "out of my control" I really must trust and lean on God's leading. Always trusting in Him! In His direction! We still met in a gym which isn't so bad after all! :) We still sit on hard folding chairs but I have not yet seen anyone sleeping in church! We still sing praise and worship songs and I think we should sing twice as many as we do! We love the worship time!!! We enjoy Sunday School a lot and the kids have found their classes! There are always visitors from the community because Honeybrook's vision is to witness to those around them. We've heard prayer requests and praise reports from those who accepted Christ because of the believers here ministering to them. Letting God move!
Has the change been easy? Not all of it. The first weeks, the kids would ask to go back "to our church". It was hard to see new faces and not have names for them. We have a long way to go with this yet! :) The whole church has been so welcoming though and it's more than we deserve! I have to confess that I didn't do my part with this before. They have invited us into their homes and Sunday School classes and Small Groups! We've really been blessed by the sermons and fellowship!
So, change is good. I need to realize that more and more. I still appreciate my old friends and my old church but I can embrace making new friends at the same time! I still love the people and church that I grew up in but opening my heart to new places and new people has been fulfilling to! Our family is adjusting to these changes and following God's leading puts a peace in our hearts. Please pray for our family as we want God to continue to lead our lives. Now and always! Pray that Mike and I can be examples and leaders to our children! We want God to be number one in their lives. In our lives. In our motives. In our actions! In all that we do!
Our changes will be a lot within the next months. The house project will be in work mode soon. Well, we hope so!?! The baby joining our family in July will bring many changes but we can't wait! Looking ahead at our year, we will be blessed if we be blessings. We will be stretched but God's mercies are new every morning! We may be tried but staying faithful to God must be our main focus! God will help me through any changes life may bring! It's a wonderful feeling knowing God always cares for His people!!!
Amen!
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