A New Beginning... (Part Four)

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

On August 13^th, J’s mom bought a new vehicle.  My car was getting a little old, and we had some major problems with it in the past.  It was working fine, but we had been planning on getting another used vehicle as soon as possible.  While we were working on the house that day, his mom called and asked if we were interested in her old car.  We said no at first, because it was a small standard vehicle, which I have only driven a couple of times, and we needed more room for the car seat.  However, after he got off the phone, we discussed it further and decided it might be a good idea after all.  I was still concerned about it, but we decided that it was a blessing, and told her we’d love to have it.

A couple of weeks later, we received another call from J’s grandmother, who had also just bought another vehicle.  She and her husband were offering us their old car, which was two years newer than my own car, and also a bit roomier!  We didn’t want to accept it at first, because it felt like too great of a gift.  However, we did need it, and they wanted to give it to us.  We finally accepted it, and I loved it!  How often do you hear about somebody being offered two vehicles in two weeks?!  The Lord saw our need, and once again, He provided.

On August 30^th, three days after he applied, he got a call for a phone interview that evening.  The company didn’t want him to drive all that way unless he sounded like he might be a good fit for them, which was considerate.  However, this also made us a little nervous.  It’s hard to make a good impression over the phone sometimes.  They hammered him with questions, and he answered them easily, which impressed them.  They asked him to come for an interview the following Friday.  We were very excited! 

His plan was to go down the day before and look at some places to live.  He called me that night and told me he had looked at a couple of places, and they were alright.  I kept wanting him to elaborate, but he just didn’t sound enthusiastic about either of them and wouldn’t give me any details.  This bothered me, because although I didn’t expect to move into a really nice place, I also didn’t want to move into a dump.  I was worried about it, but the Lord kept reminding me that He has taken care of us many times, so I needed to trust Him. 

The next day, Jarrod’s interview went very well, and he got the job!  Plus, his new boss even told us the company would cover some of our moving expenses!!  The company is faith based, which is a very good fit for J.

On top of that, the Lord had provided us a nice place to live!  I asked him where he saw the listing for our place, and he had to think about it for a second.  He realized that he was just passing by, and saw a “For Rent” sign in the yard.  We know that wasn’t a coincidence!  So, within a couple of hours, the Lord gave J a job, and us a place to live.   It was such a relief to see things falling into place after so much waiting!  How amazing is He?!  The Lord truly does provide.

Over the next few days, several things happened.  We listed my car on craigslist, and sold it that afternoon, for a good amount.  We also listed J’s tractor on craigslist, and sold it that evening.  We listed the chickens and sold them very quickly as well.  J’s parents told us they would take our cats.  The Lord was taking care of every single detail.  He is SO very good, more than we can imagine.

The next part gets even more interesting, because we had a major bump in the road.  God continued to take care of us.  I’ll try to write more about that soon!!

To be continued…

A New Beginning... (Part Three)

On August 8^th, J decided to apply for another job with the same company.  They had another position that he qualified for, that would be open until filled.  That sounds promising, right?  If J was qualified and they liked him, why wouldn’t they give him the job, or at least call him for an interview?  So, we continued to wait on the first job, but now we had another option.  I felt confident that we were going to ‘Auburn’, I just wasn’t sure that this was the job the Lord had in mind. 

Days kept passing, and we never heard anything.  We figured no news was good news, so we kept praying.  One day I just decided to go look up the listing of one of the jobs he applied for.  I noticed that at the bottom of the webpage, it said that background checks would be run on finalists.  They had sent him a form to fill out for a background check, so this was very encouraging news to us!  I thought it was really strange that I even noticed that sentence.  I had only skimmed the job description, but I happened to notice that.  I truly believe that this was the Lord giving us the tiniest bit of encouragement to keep holding on and knowing that He was leading us. 

  

On August 17^th, the first job posting was taken down.  We weren’t sure if that was good or bad, but J was still hopeful.  I wasn’t feeling very hopeful about it, although I still believed we would get to ‘Auburn’ eventually.  It was a little stressful at times, believing that something would happen, while not knowing how or when it would actually happen!  All we could do was keep having faith and praying!

The next day, we had a setback.  We found out the second job had been filled, but we still hadn’t heard anything about the first job.  

A couple of days later, J asked me if I thought he should apply for other jobs in ‘Auburn’.  I told him yes, because again, I was never sure that he was meant to have a job at the first place.  He applied for another job or two, but we didn’t think much about them.  On August 27^th, he found a job listing on craigslist.  The website of the job posting mentioned that their company was built on ‘Biblical Principles’ in their mission statement.  This was very appealing to us, so J wrote a short email and included his resume.  On his other cover letters or emails when applying for jobs, he had tried to catch their attention by telling them reasons why he would be a good match for their company.  This time, he decided to write a minimal amount in his email, trusting that if this was where the Lord wanted him, then He would make it happen.  In other words, he surrendered all control to the Lord.  If it DID happen, that would give us even more reason to believe that it was all the Lord’s doing, not our own.  We felt good about this one.

The very next day, he got a call for an interview!  It was funny, because we had been waiting so long, but I wasn’t very surprised when he called to tell me about the interview.  Obviously, the Lord had given us peace and confidence about this job.  

Later, we were discussing a passage from the Bible that J had read earlier.  It was Mark 8:14-21.  In this passage, Jesus had just fed thousands of people from only 7 loaves of bread, and a few small fish.  Not only that, but they had seven baskets of bread left over after everyone had been fed!  Look a few verses down…

The disciples had forgotten to bring bread, except for one loaf they had with them in the boat. ¹⁵ “Be careful,” Jesus warned them. “Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod.”

 ¹⁶ They discussed this with one another and said, “It is because we have no bread.”
 ¹⁷ Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked them: “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? ¹⁸ Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don’t you remember? 
¹⁹ When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?”
   “Twelve,” they replied.
   ²⁰ “And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?”
 They answered, “Seven.”
 ²¹ He said to them, “Do you still not understand?”


Translation:  "I'm taking care of this.  Wait on my timing."


This is what we felt like He was saying to us.  He has proven Himself to us again and again, which sounds silly, because He's God.  He doesn't HAVE to prove Himself to ANYONE.  Our five years of marriage have been very adventurous with all the things He has done in our life together.  There have been so many times that we have done things that seemed crazy, but He gave us the boldness to do it, and He has always blessed us for following Him.  So, here we were again, about to do something crazy, and waiting on His timing.  Why shouldn't we trust Him with this??  His timing is perfect, because He sees everything that we can't see yet.  


God's timing is perfect.  You'll see what I mean soon!  :)  To be continued...


Hope y'all have a fabulous weekend!!  :)

A New Beginning... (Part Two)

Since we had committed to believing we were moving, it was time to make some changes.  We had to do something with the animals.  We had three outdoor cats, three pigs (one we would butcher), two chickens, and a rooster.

A man had contacted J a few months earlier asking about the pigs.  The breed we had was somewhat rare around our area, so he was interested in buying piglets.  We didn’t have any piglets yet, but J planned on contacting him once we did.  At this point, he remembered this man, and contacted him, asking if he was interested in taking the pigs, because the female would be ready to have piglets very soon.  He was interested, and we received $550 for them.  Again, this seems like a small thing, but we kept thinking of how the Lord orchestrated this months ago.  He made the man contact us earlier, when we had no idea that we would be moving, so we would have someone to sell them to now. 

That very day, we received a medical bill for $555.  So, we sold the pigs for $5 less than the medical bill.  Jarrod had agreed on the price for the pigs before we got the mail.  Coincidence?  I think not.  God was taking care of us. 

J had also applied for a different job in a town near our house, and decided to withdraw that application.  If we believed we were going to Texarkana, then we better act like it and have faith! 

I had moments of feeling anxious, and other times I would feel calm.  I wasn’t worried about things working out, but I was worried about the moving process, and how my stomach would handle the stress of it all.  We kept that in our prayers as well.  Sometimes my mind can be calm, but my body doesn’t get the memo, and does its own thing.  I did NOT want this to happen.  J kept encouraging me to view the move as an exciting thing, rather than a scary thing.  He was right; I needed to change the way I viewed it.  I was afraid of leaving my “safe zone” and becoming uncomfortable for a while.  Fear is NOT from the Lord.  “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.” – 2 Timothy 1:7

There were also moments when I would begin to doubt if we were doing the right thing, but I would immediately try to shut those doubts out.  The Lord had given us peace about it days before, and I tried to focus on those verses that He had brought to our minds.  There was even one day that I was wavering in my faith, and I opened my Bible.  I opened it to a page where the passage title said “Encouragement to be faithful”.  And some people think the Lord doesn’t speak to us anymore.  ;)

We still had not heard anything about the job.  I wondered if maybe the Lord was delaying it so it would cool off a little bit.  After all, we had temperatures above 100 degrees several weeks without rain!  Plus, ironically, we have moved EVERY time in the summer.  It would be nice to move when it was a bit cooler!  I also think he was giving us time to prepare.  You see, we had plans to fix up our house over time.  When the Lord started telling our hearts we would be leaving, we decided we better get to work!  We painted walls, installed new floors, took down border wallpaper, etc.  It doesn’t sound like a lot of work, but we were busy! 

It was so difficult to wait for a call from J, telling me that he had gotten an interview.  My heart started beating quickly every time he called.  I even got annoyed with him a few times, because he would call extra times in the day to tell me something else.  ;)  It was especially discouraging once we reached the weekend and had not heard anything.  It was definitely a time to trust in the Lord and learn to not be anxious.   “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” – Philippians 4:6

One day Jarrod received a daily devotional email talking about Joshua and Jericho, and how Joshua had the faith follow what sounded like a crazy plan to do the Lord’s will, (Joshua 6).  Of course, the Lord calling us to go to a new town wasn’t exactly as crazy as walking around a city, expecting it to fall down on the seventh day, but to outsiders, doesn’t this sound a little crazy?  If you had talked to us around this time, here is what our conversation may have sounded like:

Us:  “Oh, by the way, we’re moving to ‘Auburn’.”

You:  “Oh yeah?  Did you get a new job?”

Us:  “No, but we’re waiting to get one.”

You:  “Did you find a house there or something?”

Us:  “No, but the Lord will find us a place to live.”

You:  “Do you know somebody or have connections up there?”

Us:  “No, the Lord has just given us this desire to move up there.”

You:  "Are y'all crazy??"

Us:  "Maybe a little."  ;)

It seemed crazy.  We didn’t tell anybody, because we knew that it only made sense to us.  We knew that the Lord would provide for every detail, if we trusted Him to do it.  And He did.

To be continued... (told you it was long!)  ;)

Part one here.

A New Beginning... (Part One)

Alright, I'm going to start writing down what has been going on the past few weeks.  This is going to take a long time, so I'm going to break it up into parts.  If you aren't interested, then just stop here.  ;)


It is my hope that this will encourage somebody, and that's why I'm sharing all of this.  As always, please remember that if you want to talk about anything, or have questions about what I'm saying, you can contact us at lovinggodwhilelivingsimply@gmail.com.  :)


I've blogged before about how God brought us to our home (Part One, Part Two, Part Three).  We really thought when we moved last time, that we would be staying there a long time, maybe forever.  Obviously, the Lord had other plans!  Counting our move made almost two weeks ago now, we have moved five times in our five years of marriage!  Whew!  Talk about exhausting... but worth it.  :)


Let's begin, shall we?  In early July, I received a letter from the school where I earned my master's degree.  It was a letter talking about a new doctoral degree program in counseling, which is what my master's degree is in.  I have NEVER considered getting a doctoral degree.  In fact, the only reason I decided to get my master's, is because I couldn't do anything with my bachelor's degree in Psychology!  ;)  When I first read the letter, I disregarded it, thinking that it was silly to even consider going back to school.  After all, I have a little one to take care of now!  Plus, did I even LIKE school that much??  I threw the letter in the trash, but couldn’t stop thinking about it. 

I was shocked that the idea appealed to me at all.  Was it even possible?  It turns out, it was, in theory, at least.  Even though the school is hours away, the degree plan is seminar style, so each class would only last 3-5 days.  The more I thought about it, the more I felt led to apply.  Lately, I had been missing counseling.  I missed helping people, and being involved in it.  I had considered taking out my textbooks and reading them, and we even sold a rooster to a Psychologist!  (I realize that sounds completely random, but the Lord works in ways that seem crazy sometimes!)  These things, although small, added up and made me feel like I should at least apply.  Finally, I talked about it with my husband, and he was very supportive. 

On July 13^th, I decided to apply.  There were many things to work out, such as J having time off of work to travel with me to school a couple of weeks or so each year, but I knew the Lord would work out all of the details.  That evening, he informed me that he had applied for a job in what we’ll call “Auburn”.  He chose to apply for this job because he was so unhappy at his current job, and this particular job appealed to him.  He had worked with the company at another location, so he already had experience with them.  I was surprised.  I had thought we were finally settled, but at the same time, the idea held appeal.  We would be closer to my family, other vacationing spots that we liked to visit occasionally, and we would be a good bit closer to the school, as well.  Of course, this would mean moving again, and leaving the place we had tried so hard to make into a home the past year.  This was a huge decision, and we certainly didn’t want to make the wrong one, so we began to pray for guidance. 

Although it seemed unlikely that it would happen, a big part of us believed it WOULD happen.  We were afraid to commit to believing we would leave though, because we wanted to be content with whatever God chose to do with our lives.  So, we straddled the fence in a way.  We looked at the positives of both sides, and continued to pray. 

At times I would feel freaked out.  If this happened, we would be leaving what had become familiar to go to a brand new place, where we would be starting over, yet again.  I could feel myself clinging to things around me, trying to find comfort in them, while distancing myself at the same time.  It was a struggle to place my comfort in the Lord rather than in my surroundings, but He was helping me. 

On July 21^st, even though absolutely nothing had happened yet, we decided to start believing that we were going, because we both felt that we would.  This is what I wrote in my prayer journal that day:

“Okay, here is what I decided.  I think if I feel strongly that you want us in ‘Auburn’, then I need to have faith that you’ll work it out, even though nothing has happened.”

Here is where the faith exercises really began.  On the outside, nothing had happened.  There wasn’t ANY reason to believe anything would happen.  Yet, in our hearts we felt it.  We believed that this was going to happen.  We didn’t know when, or how, but we believed it.  Everything that we had gone through up to this point in our lives, had prepared us to have this kind of faith.  However, we weren’t naïve.  I knew that because we were trying so hard to follow the Lord, things would be difficult at times.  The devil WOULD try to discourage us, as much as he could. 

There was one day J came home and told me they had extended the deadline for the job he had applied for, and he was discouraged at what this might mean.  We began to discuss that it would be difficult to keep our faith, and then in that very moment, the Lord began bringing verses to our minds.. 

“We live by faith, not by sight.” – 2 Corinthians 5:7

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” – Hebrews 11:1

“Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” - John 20:29

To us, this was a huge affirmation that we were heading in the right direction.  We weren’t alone.  J

To be continued…

Part Two here.

Linking up to Not JUST a Housewife

Struck down, but not destroyed...

"We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; struck down, but not destroyed." - 2 Corinthians 4:8-9

This is my theme verse for the next few weeks. It describes our past week pretty perfectly. You know what though? Evil has not, and WILL not win. Has this been a difficult week? Yes. Will it be difficult for a while longer? Yes. Will we make it through? Absolutely!
Things could be so much worse! God is good!

The Lord is faithful in ways we can't understand!

Just so y'all don't think the worst has happened, everyone is okay. Just a rough move in many ways. I'll explain later. I think it may be encouraging to somebody.:)

- Jennifer

Whew!

Well we have arrived to our new home, and as amazing as our moving story was before we moved, it has become even more interesting. It has ben an incredibly long week. We have been hit with a lot of discouragement, but through it all the Lord has taken care of us. Even small details. That doesn't mean everything is perfect by ANY means, but the Lord is faithful. He has blessed us. There have already been lessons learned and good things that have come from the bad. I promise to share more details later, but first we have a ton of organizing and unpacking to do! Until then, hope y'all have a happy rest of the week, and a relaxing weekend. :)

Jennifer

Happy News!

I try to keep this blog more of a craft/recipe kind of blog, and save more personal things for my other blog.  I want to share with y'all something exciting though!  My family is moving again!  Of course, if you've moved a lot, like we have, that doesn't sound exciting.  It's a lot of work, but there's a super happy story behind this move.  The Lord has helped us each step of the way, and I'm definitely going to blog about it.  I don't expect everybody to want to read about it, but I'll be glad if it's encouraging to even one person.  :)  It's a story about how faithful the Lord is, and how powerful faith is!  :)

So, until then, please don't forget about our blog!  I'll have some more remodeling pictures to post about it soon, but it may not be until we move.  We'll see!

Y'all have a happy weekend!  Hope the weather is as fabulously cool where y'all are as it has been here!  (Of course, right now it's in the 80's, but last week it was still in the 100s, so THAT is cool to Texas.)  :)