Waiting Gives You Time to Count Your Blessings

Now that we've officially been here a couple of months, I must admit that the shine is starting to wear thin. The heat and humidity is no longer "a nice change"; the long drive to everything is no longer "an adventure"; and the time spent with my brother and his kids is not so "precious" anymore. I have not landed that perfect job and we're starting to get a little nervous about our finances. God has us in a holding pattern, and nobody likes to sit still for this long.

And yet, while we're cooling our heels, we've had some time to remember all that He has done and how He's working through this and blessing us immensely.
1. We've joined a fantastic church - http://www.fotw.org
2. Our apartment has a great layout to accomodate Mike's ministry - http://www.actofgraceradio.net
3. Whataburger
4. Every other restaurant is a Mexican place!
5. We've already had opportunity to hear in-person some great Christian speakers - Nick Vujicic, Dr. Charles Lowery, Anne Graham-Lotz, Beth Moore (I'm actually attending her Bible study led by her - unbelievable!), and in a couple of weeks - Lee Strobel! (These have all been free events to boot!)
6. Getting to participate in my brother's 40th birthday party (and taking him to lunch on the big day).

Actually, the list is much longer, but it just starts to sound like bragging, so I'll cut it off here. And although we cannot deny our anxiety, we do know without a doubt that God's got some cool stuff ahead for us. Please pray for our sanity, as always.

Why worry?

The Bible says again and again, "Fear not." Apparently that's because we have a tendency to fear a lot. I haven't had the easiest life, but it hasn't been filled with vast amounts of suffering, either. We're always on the edge financially, but God always seems to provide just enough. I do the math, and there's no way we're going to make it to the end of the month. But God's math seems to work better than mine, because the end of the month comes and we squeak by. Somehow we've managed to maintain our health, regardless of our poor eating habits and sedentary lifestyle. My thought there is God will keep us alive long enough to fulfill His plans for us, and that's it. We're still here, so we must have more to do yet. World issues, terrorists, natural disasters are all beyond our control, so I rarely even keep up with the news. The end of the Book tells us it gets worse before it gets better, so these should be encouraging signs of His return.

However, I still worry. I worry about making the rent payment next month; I worry about something happening to me or my husband; I worry about the direction our country is heading and wonder how long Christianity will be tolerated.

I recently noticed, though, that when I am regularly reading the Bible, my worrying is less. When I stop (for whatever reason, usually time management issues), my anxiety increases. Maybe it's all the reminders that God is in control that keep me in check (and the fear not's). Or just the "renewing of my mind" that keeps all that other stuff cleared from my head. Whatever the reason, I think it's cool, and I'm glad I've come to realize this.

I just wanted to share that. Anyway, I have some reading to go do.