It's been a lot of years since I did anything with this blog. So much has happened, both to me personally, and to the world. It would be impossible to capture it all in one blog post. I guess the highlights would be that we had a fourth surprise baby in 2019. We lived through a world-wide pandemic. And Jeremy severed from the nuclear plant in Alabama and after a very long year of looking for a new job (this was due to a lot of stuff which resulted from the aforementioned pandemic), he finally got one in Nebraska. Which would seem completely weird, if we hadn't limited our search to the Midwest, with a heavy focus on Missouri. And that was just based on feelings he and I both had.
Anyway, that's actually what leads me to this blog today. To the decision to try to start writing on it again.
See,
I've recently been listening to a podcast that goes along with the Come
Follow Me curriculum for church (of yeah, there's another big change
since I last wrote! Two hour church and a home-centered church program).
Anyway, I won a book by the lady that does the podcast. I posted the picture of the book with this post. And I love it.
One thing she has said on both the podcast and in the book is that
Heavenly Father knows where the words are that we need at any given
moment. Today I needed the words I once wrote almost 15 years ago. You can find those words here.
There's really something about reading your own words testifying of something you need to be reminded about. And having your past self direct your present self to a talk that is just as applicable now as it was then. I'm so grateful I once was so diligent in keeping this blog. And in including the spiritual experiences of my life. Because it blessed me today. So I think I will try again. I will try to be better about keeping a record. For myself, and for my posterity. To me, these events today, leading me to my words from 2008, are a little miracle.
Anyway, so what has had me feeling like I needed these words? Well, life. It's such a complicated story that to tell it all would take longer than I have. But the long and short of it is that it's been over a year since Jeremy moved to Nebraska to take a job. I was determined this past summer to find a house myself. To go up there and "fix" things. And I tried. Goodness, I tried. And then, the day I left Nebraska to come back to Alabama, I decided to look at a house that had come up in Nebraska, even though we'd started focusing on Missouri for a place to live. And I thought, after looking at it, that it was worth considering. And I told Jeremy so. It took me about 2 weeks or so to convince him. So then we were going to make an offer on it. But before the written offer was submitted, Jeremy got a call from a former co-worker here, asking him if he'd consider coming back. This was a possibility we'd never considered, because it was basically told to him when he severed that it would never happen. So, we backed off the house offer to fast and pray. Both of us had the same thoughts (which is so rare for us, we pay attention when it happens): our biggest growth opportunities lie in staying with his employer in Nebraska. It makes no sense. Absolutely none. But we both felt it. So we turned down the Alabama thing, and returned to pursuing the house. And things were going along so well. In fact, I'd be sleeping right outside of St. Louis right now, if things had continued as I had anticipated. But I'm not. I'm in Alabama. And Jeremy is in Nebraska. Because the house inspection happened and it didn't go well. It has hurt a lot for things to be this way. For every door we've tried to go through to close in our faces. I have felt so confused and frustrated and powerless. And I needed the words I wrote so long ago. To remind me. That I'm not forgotten. That, though I can't see it right now, the Lord is orchestrating things to bless me in ways I can't even imagine. I just need to exercise active hope, hold on, and keep going.
