He will provide.....

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[a]?

28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

Matthew 6:25-34

Worrying is probably my worst trait.  I worry over everything.  Ask my husband any time and he will tell you that he has to tell me all the time to not worry so much.  It can be something as little as a sentence I said to someone all the way to how we are going to afford a bill.  Sometimes I even make myself sick over worrying over a situation and most of the time my worry was all for nothing. I've seen the verse above multiple times.  I've heard friends tell stores all the time about how God has provided for their every need.  How when they aren't sure how something is going to work out God finds a way to wow them. But honestly I still have chosen to worry, until we got into the current situation we are in....

Ever since the day God blessed us with Trav's new job I have been committed to not worry so much.  Is the house gonna sell? I know it will, in its own time...I'm so not worried.  How are we going to afford a place for Trav to sleep and extra gas?? Haven't been worried at all...just knew somehow it would work out.  How are we going to survive living apart? We just will, it will be hard but we will make it through.  Right now we have so much we could be worrying about and for some reason we just aren't.  And let me tell you, God is showing up in a HUGE way.  

The very first month Trav was in Canby I had 8, yes 8 cooking shows in 4 weeks.  Didn't know why God was throwing all this work my way when I didn't have a spouse to help with Maci but I did it anyway.  The check from those 8 shows covered Trav's hotel and then some for the 2nd month he would be there.  Praise GOD!! Had a super rough week and felt pretty alone....God used one of my good friends to send me some cheer and let me know she is there for me.  Praise GOD! We got word that after our house sells, we will be getting the go ahead to be able to purchase a house. Praise GOD! Our furnace needed a part replaced this past weekend, my Pampered Chef paycheck again covered the bill and then some.  Praise GOD! Trav's payment to have the hotel for another month is due in a week, today he found out he will barely be there for the month of December due to being in SD and the cities for training and conferences. Therefore he won't be needing it in December.  Praise GOD!!! 

In just 7 weeks God has provided for us in ways we weren't sure how we would make it work.  Ever since I stopped the worrying over everything, He has blessed me more than I could imagine.  He has shown me that I can trust Him. That He has my back.  That He will provide for my every need.  For my families every need.  

So this Thanksgiving I'm praising God for this crazy life He has me in right now. There are times its hard and sometimes down right sucks but He is holding us through it.  He is teaches us to lean on Him no matter what.  He is showing us He will provide for our every need.....  

This Way Child....

When we hear God's voice, sometimes it's so easy to say "Nope.  I'm not doing that." Or "I'm not doing it that way. I'm gonna do it my way." Or we start talking to others about what God has called us to do and they have an opinion on what we should do.  9 times out of 10 the way we think is best or the way others think is best is the easy way.  God's way is usually the harder way.  God's way usually involves challenges and of course lessons.  His way forces us to look deep into ourselves and find our strength in Him.  And in the end when we look back, almost 100% of the time, we see that overall His way was the better way. It may have not been the easier way but it was the better path to go.

When Travis and I first started this journey we are on, everything went crazy fast now looking back at it.  We didn't expect everything to go so quickly.  We didn't expect him to get an interview so fast, we didn't expect one of the first interviews he did they would offer him a job, we didn't expect they would make him such an awesome offer we couldn't refuse.  God handed us what we were asking for on a silver platter.  It was so obvious it was a God thing, it didn't take long for us to say yes.  It didn't take us long to realize that we needed to step out in faith and trust God to take care of all the other details that needed to follow.  I will admit though, at first I was expecting everything else to go as quickly.  I was expecting God to work miracles ASAP and BOOM: our house would be sold, we would buy another one and everything would happen just as fast as getting the job did.

Well it's been almost 7 weeks now and God isn't going BOOM here it is on a silver platter.  God is using this time to teach Travis and I so much.  About who He is, about ourselves, and about our relationship with each other.  I'm learning to fully rely on God so much more than I ever have.  I'm learning that even when it doesn't feel like it, He's with me holding my hand.  I'm learning that having faith in Him is knowing without a doubt that He will do what He said He would do for us.....no matter how long it takes.  I'm learning that I am so much stronger than I ever thought.  Do I like this situation? Absolutely not.  I have really bad days where I miss my hubby so much it hurts but I know at the end of this it will be so worth it because we were being obedient to God.  I'm learning to cherish every little moment I have with my family and not get distracted when I"m with them.  There is so much in this world that doesn't need as much attention as I give it.  Social Media, television, busy-work.  I'm learning how to date my hubby again.  When he comes back on Saturdays it truly does feel like we are dating all over again, and we are needing to learn how to communicate better so we don't feel so far apart all the time.  God is using this time to make us better people, better spouses, better parents.......

Trav and I aren't so naive to think that there aren't people out there who have better ideas of how we should be handling this situation.  What we should do with the house, with the job.  In today's world everyone has an opinion.  Everyone in today's world thinks that their way is the best way.  But I'm here to tell you God's way is the best way.  We are doing everything in our power to make sure we are doing what God is asking of us.  You have no idea how bad sometimes I want to say forget trying to sell the house.  Get a renter in here and let's move.  But then I calm my emotions and starting listening to what God wants.  And then that feeling leaves me and I realize right now, in this moment God is asking us to wait.  To wait on Him to move in the situation.  He has a plan and I don' know what that is yet but I do know we are doing what He asks of us right now.  In the past week I have seen so many blessings pouring out helping me to know and have peace over this situation.

If you are in a situation right now where you don't know which way to go.  Don't listen to what you want, don't listen to those around you.  Listen to God.  Spend time with Him and listen for His calming voice to say "This way child." It wont' be the easy path, it won't be the popular path, but I promise it will be the right path in the end....

I don't love this situation God, but I LOVE you.....

"Your own ears will hear him

Right behind you a voice will say,

'This is the way you should go.'

whether to the right or to the left." 

-Isaiah 30:21

Month One: 3 lessons learned

This week marks the 1 month marker since Trav left to start his job at Farmers Cooperative in Canby MN.  It marks the day we started a long distance marriage.  It marks the day we officially said, "God we are trusting you with this.  We are trusting that the path you have laid out before us is right one." In all honestly it has been the longest month of my life.....

Marriage isn't supposed to be this way.  Family life isn't supposed to be this way.  It's not 'normal' to only see your husband and father to your baby one day a week.  It's not 'normal' for a married person to sleep alone in her big queen sized bed.  I've always been used to long crazy hours 2 out of the 4 seasons of the year.  I knew what I was signing up for there.  But at least then I got to see a shadow sleeping next to me.  At least I got to stay up until he got home and make him some supper.  Now when he gets off he gets to go back to an empty small hotel room where a microwavable meal awaits him.  It's not 'normal'. Not 'normal' at all.  But in this past month, I have learned some things.....and in the next coming days and weeks until we are together again I'm sure I'll learn a great deal more.  And I'm sure that's what God has in mind.......

1.  It sucks. Didn't take many days to figure that one out.  When you say "I Do" it usually means you get to live with the love of your life.  It usually means when you have babies, you will share the responsibilities of parenting and that they will be there to give you a break every now and then.  Let's just say I have a great deal more of respect for single moms, military spouses, and any woman that has a husband who travels for work all the time.  It's not how it's supposed to be.  It's just not.

2. Trusting God has a plan is not as easy as it sounds. Sure we can all say we trust God's plan but when it comes down to it and God isn't working in our timing, it's just not that easy.  What's easy is saying I'm done.  I don't want to do this anymore I just want my husband back.  I just want to live together under one roof again.  And believe me I've had days where I've wanted to say that....was so ready to throw in the towel.  But God didn't bring us here just to give up.  He doesn't say His paths are the easy ones.  The devil takes any and every opportunity he can to make sure we fail and turn off on our own course.  And when that happens, we have to fall on our knees and pray.  Tell God how we are hurting and ask for strength.  With Him we are so much stronger than we think.

3. When we do fully trust God, He will give you peace and blessings more than you can imagine.  I'm a planner.  I should be freaking out most of the time.  And of course I have moments where I'm really sad and missing our 'normal' life. Times when I want to pull my hair out because Maci is driving me crazy.  But above all that I'm at peace with where we are at.  Our buyers for our house are out there.  I have no doubts.  God's timing is always perfect and once this is all over with we will look back as a family and go, "AHHH that's why you waited God."  And since we laid this all at His feet, He has been blessing us.  Right after Trav left, my calendar started filling up with Pampered Chef parties.  Last time I counted I had 8 parties in a matter of 4 weeks.  Craziness and I was trying to figure out why now.  Why now when I'm hoping to move any time.  And right now I can tell you 2 reasons why. Number 1: God knew I would need breaks from being a mommy.  He knows how much I love Maci but all mom's need a break.  This gives me a little push to make sure I get that break.  Number 2: Trav is living in a hotel.  Not a super fancy hotel but hotels for a months at a time are not cheap.  And we didn't know how we would be affording it.  I get paid this week and Trav's next months payment is due this week as well.  My paycheck is more than enough to pay for it.  A huge blessing.

I know there will be many more things I will learn between now and whenever our time in the "waiting place" is through.  I just want to encourage anyone else that's in the "waiting place" for whatever reason to keep waiting.  Keep praying.  Keeping believing.  Keep trusting.  We aren't out of it yet, and I know it will get harder before it gets easier.  But I know that without Christ by my side during all this, I would have fallen completely apart by now.......