Hello, friends! I apologize that it has been a little while since my last post. Sept. was quite the crazy month and all seems to have settled a little. After going to Washington and submitting the visas and having some paperwork issues, the Bulgarian consulate said they would accept our background checks, "Praise the Lord!" The only issue was that it could take up to 40 business days to process the paperwork. The rest of the month of September we travelled to Panama City Beach to visit my aunt's condo and have some family "down/reflective" time and then drove down to visit Chance's parents that live north of Tampa for a few days.
When we got back to Columbus, we had our Commissioning Sunday at Christ Community Church and many family and friends came to support us. We are so thankful for you all (more than words...). We then prepared to leave the house, stepping out totally by faith, because at this point we had no buyer. At one point we had a "For Sale" sign and a "For Rent" sign in the yard. We would take what we could get. We knew we did not have a mortgage payment in the budget when we left for Bulgaria. We had many days of waking up and "walking by faith and not by sight" by packing the house, giving away items and then having an estate sale and having Valley Rescue come get the left overs. I also had a day or two of, "the righteous cry and the Lord hears and delivers them from all their troubles" days of weaping before the Lord and coming to the end of my strength.
We decided to move out of the house on the 23rd and spend a week getting the house cleaned up. Some of our great friends allowed us to stay in a mission house while we worked on it. The Tuesday before we were set to leave, I woke up and wrote what God had put in my heart, which is the title of this blog, My Resolve. It is my private devotion from the Lord that I never intended on making public, until God asked me to a few weeks ago. (Yes, it has taken me a few weeks to obey.)
MY RESOLVE:
To walk in strong weakness. In my daily walk, I resolve to know the Peace that I have and know the bigger picture. To not measure success or failure BY successess and failures. Those are OUR measuring sticks, based on OUR plans and OUR measures of success (or the worlds). This life is not about that at ALL, but to walk in the blessed assurance that I am His and HE is mine. He is the lifter of my head. We make plans in the earthly realm, but we do not walk there. In that is carnality. We walk above it in the spiritual realm. We walk in the Peace that is above all things.
Ultimate sacrifice is to give one's life (martyr). We should be laying down our plans and life down here everyday and choosing to live life above all things. HE will judge our life as sucesses or failures, and HE ALONE. I will not judge myself nor allow myself to be judged. "There is therefore no condemnation." I will not bring myself down to earthly matters, I will walk in the spirit only as one going into the coluseum to lay down my life. I will listen only to HIS voice, and only He will I follow...ONLY.
It is in the earthly matters that you are moved. I will not be moved! I will rise above circumstances. I will walk my daily walk and attend to His voice and follow His guidance, and rise above. My life is not determined by my circumstances, they are temporary and subject to change. I am above it in heavenly realms. I choose to walk here with Him.
That afternoon we got a call about selling the house. God is so amazing and He wants a life surrendered to Him.
We left the house as scheduled on the 30th after much cleaning and help and hard work by my kids and some AMAZING! friends (Kristy Jones and Beverly Pope). We attended a family wedding, then drove up to my parents house in the mountains of north Georgia. We drove back down last Tuesday to close on the house. We were scheduled to leave for Bulgaria on the 7th of October. We received a call last Tuesday that a Roma/Gypsy leader had killed a 19 year old Bulgarian and that racial unrest was happening in the country. The worst in more than a decade. Our visas did not come in as scheduled and we were not able to fly out last Friday. I am now reminded again of my resolve and that He is in control and will guide our every footstep. Please help us pray for peace and racial healing in Bulgaria. We LOVE you all and know we could NOT be doing this awesome walk with the Lord without our amazing partner support. We will talk to you soon and keep you posted on the new travel dates. God Bless!
When we got back to Columbus, we had our Commissioning Sunday at Christ Community Church and many family and friends came to support us. We are so thankful for you all (more than words...). We then prepared to leave the house, stepping out totally by faith, because at this point we had no buyer. At one point we had a "For Sale" sign and a "For Rent" sign in the yard. We would take what we could get. We knew we did not have a mortgage payment in the budget when we left for Bulgaria. We had many days of waking up and "walking by faith and not by sight" by packing the house, giving away items and then having an estate sale and having Valley Rescue come get the left overs. I also had a day or two of, "the righteous cry and the Lord hears and delivers them from all their troubles" days of weaping before the Lord and coming to the end of my strength.
We decided to move out of the house on the 23rd and spend a week getting the house cleaned up. Some of our great friends allowed us to stay in a mission house while we worked on it. The Tuesday before we were set to leave, I woke up and wrote what God had put in my heart, which is the title of this blog, My Resolve. It is my private devotion from the Lord that I never intended on making public, until God asked me to a few weeks ago. (Yes, it has taken me a few weeks to obey.)
MY RESOLVE:
To walk in strong weakness. In my daily walk, I resolve to know the Peace that I have and know the bigger picture. To not measure success or failure BY successess and failures. Those are OUR measuring sticks, based on OUR plans and OUR measures of success (or the worlds). This life is not about that at ALL, but to walk in the blessed assurance that I am His and HE is mine. He is the lifter of my head. We make plans in the earthly realm, but we do not walk there. In that is carnality. We walk above it in the spiritual realm. We walk in the Peace that is above all things.
Ultimate sacrifice is to give one's life (martyr). We should be laying down our plans and life down here everyday and choosing to live life above all things. HE will judge our life as sucesses or failures, and HE ALONE. I will not judge myself nor allow myself to be judged. "There is therefore no condemnation." I will not bring myself down to earthly matters, I will walk in the spirit only as one going into the coluseum to lay down my life. I will listen only to HIS voice, and only He will I follow...ONLY.
It is in the earthly matters that you are moved. I will not be moved! I will rise above circumstances. I will walk my daily walk and attend to His voice and follow His guidance, and rise above. My life is not determined by my circumstances, they are temporary and subject to change. I am above it in heavenly realms. I choose to walk here with Him.
That afternoon we got a call about selling the house. God is so amazing and He wants a life surrendered to Him.
We left the house as scheduled on the 30th after much cleaning and help and hard work by my kids and some AMAZING! friends (Kristy Jones and Beverly Pope). We attended a family wedding, then drove up to my parents house in the mountains of north Georgia. We drove back down last Tuesday to close on the house. We were scheduled to leave for Bulgaria on the 7th of October. We received a call last Tuesday that a Roma/Gypsy leader had killed a 19 year old Bulgarian and that racial unrest was happening in the country. The worst in more than a decade. Our visas did not come in as scheduled and we were not able to fly out last Friday. I am now reminded again of my resolve and that He is in control and will guide our every footstep. Please help us pray for peace and racial healing in Bulgaria. We LOVE you all and know we could NOT be doing this awesome walk with the Lord without our amazing partner support. We will talk to you soon and keep you posted on the new travel dates. God Bless!
