Remaining thankful

I found myself wondering, "What would the world be like if everybody had her mind-set?"  She just reconfirmed for me a million times over that it's up to us to choose contentment and thankfulness now -- and to stop imagining that we have to have everything perfect before we'll be happy. 
Joanna Gaines

I have thoroughly enjoyed reading The Magnolia Story.  If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it. It's such an easy read and you feel like you're listening to Chip & Joanna speak to you, rather than reading it.

I love hearing people's stories of their life.  We can all learn something from each other.  Joanna was learning what it means to be content where she was in her life at that time and it made her be creative with what she had.

Sometimes I feel like it's hard to stay content and thankful in life.  It's especially hard when you are not where you want to be.  Making the effort to stay thankful is challenging but it's worth that fight.  Sean and I decided that we will make that effort to be thankful.  We have written down "I am thankful" statements and we read them daily.  Since we have started this daily ritual, we have been tremendously blessed by things that God has done for us.

When you start thanking the Lord for what you have or for what He has done, it shifts the atmosphere around you.  It's also okay to start saying that you are thankful even if you are in crabby mood.  I heard someone teach on that a while ago and it truly shifts the atmosphere as well as your mood.  If you have never tried it I highly recommend it.

Perfection can be an evil thing sometimes.  I strive for perfection and it has caused me some issues.  I've been learning that I don't need to be perfect since I can't be perfect.  I have learned to praise God during the times that I can't get something right.  I'm really learning that I can't have everything perfect right away while we renovate our house (my patience has been tested).  I want everything done and my house in order.  I know it will come so I just praise and thank the Lord for our home.  I thank Him for providing everything we need and what we have done.  It's been a great learning process for me.

For the Lord is always good and ready to receive you.  He's so loving that it will amaze you -- so kind that it will astound you!  And he is famous for his faithfulness toward all.  Everyone knows our God can be trusted, for he keeps his promises to every generation!
   -Psalm 100:5 (The Passion Translation)

Planting Roots

It's been a little over a month since have lived in our fixer upper home.  I'm still in awe that we have a house.  This home is our miracle home.

Three weeks before we left Florida we found out our housing fell through.  When I got the news of our housing had to change I honestly didn't know what to do.  My flesh wanted to panic, cry, and complain but instead I had peace about it.  I knew it was Holy Spirit giving me that peace.  So instead, I took a deep breath (maybe more), talked with Holy Spirit again to help stay calm and trust, and called Sean letting him know what happened.

Naturally, we started hunting for another rental property.  We looked for a few days and could not find a decent property that we liked or in the price range we wanted to stay in.  So our real estate friends suggested we look into buying a home and we decided to go down that route.  They were willing to go visit any home we wanted to "see" to make sure it was suitable for us and that nothing else was wrong with the house.  I don't think we even really "looked" at many houses.

We saw this house online and I immediately fell in love with the outside.  As we looked at the property details I knew this was going to be our house.  I told Sean that this home was going to be ours.  Our friends went to go look at this house and we put an offer on it within the next couple of days.  We never saw the house in person until after the contract was pending... That's God!

This home is a miracle.  The Lord orchestrated every part of this process.  I had moments of worry and doubt but I reminded myself to trust.  It's hard to trust when you are walking by faith and into the unknown territory.  By trusting and remaining faithful of God's promises to us we got this beautiful home.

This house has so much potential and we are excited to live here and make it come alive.  There are lots of updates that need to happen (every room) but we are so honored that we get to do it.  It's wonderful to know that the Lord has entrusted us with this home to make it our own and to know that His love will resonate here.  This home has been consecrated back to Him.  This home belongs to Him.

Transition

Transition seasons can be tough.  They can also be fun.

This transition has been an adventure for us.

When we lived in Florida, Sean and I could not do much.  We were always busy with work and working at the church.  I do not regret being so busy but we did not take vacation time or do much around town.  We also could not financially do much.  We know that our time in Florida was training for this next season for us.

Since we have left, Sean and I have done more together than we ever have.  It's been amazing.  It's been so nice to do things together and just spend leisure time together.  God has blessed us to do things.  We have gone to Waco, TX for Silobration and I've been able to go home (Alabama) 3 times to see family and friends.

It's been great to have the flexibility to do what we want to do but also to serve people throughout this time.

There were some hard parts during this time because we solely have to trust the Lord.  It's not always easy but in those hard moments I would just say, "I trust You, Lord."  It's been a great time of growing in my faith.

We know that the Lord is going to be doing some great things for us soon.  I can't wait to share the great things He does for us when that time comes!

In the mean time check out some of our photos from the Silos. :)

We saw Chip!