Exciting News!

I can hardly stand typing this because it makes me just want to get up and SHOUT out how GREAT our God is! To God's glory it is with a joyful and humble heart that I get to tell you Billy got a new job that will keep him home 60% more of the time!!! This verse has been on my heart all week as I have remembered what the LORD has done. Praise Him!

Clap your hands, all you nations;

shout to God with cries of joy.

How AWESOME is the LORD Most High,

the great King over all the earth!

Psalm 47:1-2

When we first got married Billy traveled even more than he does now (which seems crazy since he is gone 80% of the time right now). I was in class at the time so it was almost a blessing for my grades. I was able to focus, study, read and write while he was traveling and then put it all away when he was home. But once we found out I was pregnant and then brought little Luke into the world things shifted a bit and we have both longed for Billy to be able to stay home more. After promises were left unfulfilled, job offers fell through on multiple occasions, and Obama's new tax law giving benefits to companies that hired the unemployed, I found myself frustrated, disappointed and longing for something different. There was at one point when we were so certain that Billy was going to get a new job - it was all things we prayed for, they were extremely interested and flew him to their headquarters to meet with their top 4 execs, it was the perfect salary...everything seemed right in our eyes but the Lord still said no. I don't really know words to describe how I felt....I just remember sitting on the floor looking at Luke play with his toys and crying out to the Lord wondering why another "no." Looking back on the past year I am so thankful the Lord did not give Billy a job any sooner, for my heart needed to be changed.

A lot of it was a battle with myself; What I wanted, what I pictured life to be like, what was convenient for me. But the Lord graciously reminded me that He is my portion, He is my strength, He alone is all that I need. I finally came to the realization that if this is what the Lord has for us, then that's ok. If this is what life for us will look like for the next several years, it's ok.

I've clung to Isaiah 40:31 during this time:

Yet those who wait for the LORD

Will gain new strength;

They will mount up with wings like eagles,

They will run and not get tired,

They will walk and not become weary.

God is my strength and my shield and He is made perfect in the midst of my shortcomings. On the nights I couldn't fall asleep He provided ladies to stay with me. On the days that I felt alone and like I couldn't do it on my own He brought encouragement in many different ways. On the mornings that I just needed a good Word from Him to help me make it through, He delivered! He gave me new eyes to start seeing opportunities of how He could use this time and gave me new ways to serve my husband away from home. And after finally surrendering to Him He graciously and undeservingly blessed us beyond what we could have come up with ourselves.

I am so thankful and look forward to see what God has for us in the coming months. I'm sure it will be an adjustment (ie living together full-time for the first time ever) but I gladly welcome it!