Our life

Sorry it has been a while, we've been running around like crazy. Natalie is walking better and better each day. Today, she traveled all the way across the living room. She is so proud of herself too. Candy is here for the week, which is wonderful. She is watching Natalie while we attempt to get ready to move. Today, we tackled our basement, and got a lot accomplished. We have a huge trash pile. Anyways, I was packing and feeling a bit sad when I came across something I wrote when I first moved to cornland. God definitely put it back into my hands this afternoon. So I thought I would share it with you. Here it is:

We have been told this is what life is all about. Some of us hate it, while other thrive on it. No matter our feelings, if we live, it will happen. But, whoever told us life is all about change, lied.

I discovered this lie in recent months as my life changed dramatically. I was a single youth pastor focused on those lives God was bringing into my path. Now I live half way across the country from those teens and have been handed an entirely new ministry. I am engaged to a pastor. Yep, I'm going to be a pastor's wife. I packed my life into a moving truck, got lost in thought about my fiance' and moved far away from home.

I was at peace about this transition and adjusting fairly well to the small town until I looked around the church and discovered I had no place. My heart tells me to invest in the kids; however, God is placing far more then children in my path these days. I came home and sobbed. I told God I missed my family, my friends, and the disciples He had given me. Quite simply, I told God I missed my life.

Somewhere in the middle of my chaotic night, God spoke. He explained to me, I did not pack my life into a moving truck, nor did I leave it. My life was not even new. Just when I thought I was hallucinating, I was brilliant enough to open God's word. "For you have died and your life has been hidden with Christ in God." Years before I was a youth pastor my life became Christ's. He hid it for me with God. "When Christ, who is our life..." becomes a reality for us, we suddenly realize our life never changes. Our circumstances and surrounding do, but we are safe, we are loved, and we are still His.

Those boxes cannot hold my life. Jesus breaks the tape every time I try to put Him into one. He will not be confined or closed up. He will not be put in a corner or on a shelf. And He certainly will never allow us to cry out to Him that we miss our lives without running to meet us in our tears and reminding us He has never left. We may face hundreds of things on earth that shake us up and test our faith. Our life though is not shaken or tested. He who looses his life here on earth will find life in Christ. Life in Christ gives us love, hope, grace, and mercy. Life hidden with God is good and it is constant. "Jesus Christ IS the same yesterday, today, and forever." Our life was secure yesterday, it is secure today, and it will be secure for forever. The forever part happens to be my favorite.

Thanks for all your prayers. If you know Christ, treasure the fact that your life is hidden today with God. I cannot think of a safer place to hide something so precious. If you don't know Christ, I encourage you to talk with Him today. He loves you more then you can imagine.