So, as it says, a big change has happened for our family. All within a couple of weeks, one of those weeks being the week Jaxson was born, Nick was offered a new job. He will now be the High School minister at our church. (The Avenue Church) Thanks J. Burns for the picture. He has been with Life School for 8 years and I know he will miss co-workers and coaching but he knows God has a bigger plan.
Everyone kept congratulating me and how they were excited about Nick and his new position. And then they would ask, "Are you so excited?" "I'm getting there" I would reply. I was getting there but no, no I wasn't excited. For all you holy people, just stop reading now or you are going to be in your prayer closet all night praying for me because I know you can't handle the next few sentences. No I wasn't excited. I was scared. I was frustrated. I just had a baby. I don't need another big change right now. We are finally on the same school schedule where we both have summers off and our weeks off at holidays. I didn't want a change. I wanted my perfect world. We are in a stable place financially now. I don't need that to change. I have thought about vacations for the next year. Now all of my plans were going to change.
Well then, a couple of Sundays ago, Pastor David preached about changing our perspective. I tried to download the video but to no avail did it work. If you want to hear the whole sermon, go to theavenuechurch.com, media, on demand, The Hour of Darkness (March 29th). Pastor David's words went a little something like this, "We gotta get a new perspective when God enters in through our lives. Because when God enters in, we gotta live not by how we feel but in faith. We gotta believe that God has a bigger plan, that God loves us and that he is going to take care of us. And He sees the picture in a way we don't. We've got to change our perspective. When we allow Jesus to enter our life, that perspective has to change." Well alrighty God. Thank you for hitting me in the head on this wonderful Sunday morning. I was thinking about vacations and time off together (which is still important to me) and how it affected me. I wasn't thinking about the student who may come in on a Wednesday night and Nick is the only one who can get through to him about the Love Jesus has for him. I wasn't thinking about how these students need us (Nick) and how God obviously has a plan for our lives to minister to these students right now. I wasn't thinking of how we could help change lives. My perspective had to change. Now that's real talk.
God's ways and plans are far more than we could ever imagine. You know how God speaks to people, like directly? Well, he usually speaks to me through a song or some weird event. When he speaks to me through a song, I know something is about to happen. I don't just sing it all day long but I pray through it. It probably doesn't make sense to you, but it does to me. Last year, I heard Oceans for the first time and the line "Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders" stuck with me. I prayed and prayed for that to happen. I became a computer teacher. What the what?? Computers?? That's Nick's job not mine. I want to teach Kinder. Once again, I was trusting and I'm so glad I did. And now, these past few months, I hear the song, You Make Me Brave. If you've never heard it, look it up. Anyhoo, these words just kept sticking with me and so I started praying through them.
You make me brave
You make me braveYou call me out beyond the shore into the waves
You make me brave
You make me brave
No fear can hinder now the love that made a way
See, I thought it was due to the fact our perfect little boy was about to be born and for some reason God was preparing me to be brave for this delivery. Now, now I know. He was making me brave for one of the biggest changes for our family because he already knew I would freak out. He knows me so well. I need to be brave in the fact that God knew the change to our finances. He's going to take care of us. Ways I never imagined. Our time as a family is important to God. He will give us the time we need together. God is for us, He is not against us.
So just to let you know, as my perspective has changed, so has my attitude. I'm excited for our family. I'm excited to see the things God has planned for these students and how he will use Nick to reach them. I'm excited to be welcomed by another group of church family. I'm excited to know that God has a lot more planned than I could ever imagine. I'm excited to be a part of an amazing church and am so glad God chose us for such a time as this.
