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Monday, July 14, 2014

Praise the Lord....

Clearly I was in fact not back to blogging!

Sadly, it has taken almost two months for me to log back and on and write. The pace of summer has been friendly to our family and we have been able to enjoy slowing down a bit. There has been somewhat of a revolving door at our house over the last six weeks as the kids have been to camps and mission trips and visited family and friends and there are still more camps and trips to squeeze in before school starts. I feel like I could write 5 or 6 posts all in this one blog post but today I mostly wanted to write to offer praise to the Lord.

I have decided that when God answers your prayers it is the most humbling experience. As a child I might have confused prayer requests with a list for Santa, praying I needed my parents to give me that new pair of Guess jeans or I needed that 100 on the Chemistry test that I studied 5 minutes for. I think as I grew older I confused prayer requests with gossip, like most good Baptist tend to do. I'll pray for her because look at how her children behave or I'll pray for those people because what a mess of a marriage. However, in the last few years I have found a renewed sense of understanding when it comes to prayer.

It is no secret on the blog that I wore God's ear out on praying for Brendan a roommate! And Ellie, too for that matter. I just could imagine all sorts of strange and weird children that could possibly be paired up with either one of them and then how would college go? I mean, in my mind, I had thought of all kinds of scenarios!

So, God convicted me of worry and I began to lay that burden down and just pray, pray and pray. In June, we had dinner with Brendan's roommate and I can't even begin to tell you the sigh of relief I felt when I saw this very normal family waiting on us in the restaurant. As we talked with them I began to feel more comfortable and at peace with the whole college dorm experience. I remember driving home that night and literally feeling like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders. And then it hit me....God answered my prayers.

I kind of wander if He thought "enough of Kristy Bailey! Take this roommate and move on sister!"

Kind of like what we do as parents when our kids just finally wear us down and we give in to that kitten because after ten thousand requests you just give out. And give in.

So, that was one prayer answered. But honestly, it didn't end there for me. For the last year and especially the last six months, Brian and I have been in limbo with his retirement from the military and what that would look like and how it would work. I began to pray God would just open doors for us and show us where He wanted us to be. We didn't know if we would stay here in Columbus, if a job would open up, if we would be able to afford to give the kids iPhones and cars and the things they have been accustomed to. Again I was convicted of worry, and I would daily and sometimes hourly lay down my worry and burden for our future at the foot of the cross. I prayed God would lead us, strengthen us and place us where He wanted us.

It was not easy!

Nobody works to keep people guessing like the military. Every week was a new turn and at times I wondered at the way the path was leading. Over and over again I would say to myself, "Trust in the Lord, Trust in the Lord."

Brian interviewed for a job in early June and by shortly after that they extended him an offer! But, the timing had to be just to right to take it. Paperwork on his behalf was scattered all over the country, literally, and people we will never meet were making decisions on his future in the military and in the civilian world. We began to ask people to pray for us and with us, that the timing would work out for him to retire and accept this new job. It would be something only God could do because the odds were not in our favor.

We finally got an answer on June 27, and slowly our future began to have clarity. At least for this upcoming school year, which seems to be how I measure everything.

And again, I stand amazed and humbled at the way God answers my prayers. Brian and I sat in a meeting just last week where the lady told us, "nobody thought this would happen" and "we don't know how this came through". I thought to myself, "lady I know because I am a child of the One True King" and great is His faithfulness to me.

So today, in the words of the Psalmist I say, "let everything that has breath praise the Lord." I have learned to praise Him in times of worry and in times where I doubted if He was really listening. I have learned to trust in a way that has grown my faith to a deeper level, and I am confident that "He who has began a good work will be faithful to complete it", even as that completion takes a long time or has the face of normal people.

I have much more to write about and I really hope to be more faithful to the blog. But for now, I wanted to take the opportunity to Praise the Lord for all He has done for us and to encourage you to cast your cares on Him because He cares for you.

"I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name for ever and ever." Psalm 145:1

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