Recently I sat down with my journal after getting the young ones to bed and looked back at my entries from our first couple of months living in North Carolina.
I don't write in this particular journal every day or even every week. I write in it when everything comes to a head and I just can't deal. I appropriately titled it my Things That Feel Too Hard journal. It's where I keep my big feelings. I write prayers. Lists of worries and hard things. I give myself pep talks and reminders from Scripture too.
This is what I wrote last fall in the middle of some angst and question filled days:
What do I fear?
✔️ there will be no close friendships forged
✔️ I will be rejected here
✔️ we will mess up our teens
✔️ our kids won't have any friends
✔️ no other families will not want to be around us because we're too big, too weird, and we might not look like we need them
I wasn't in a bad place as a whole, but I sure had my questions.
Looking back these several months later, I can see some of these fears have lessened. Some of them are still lingering, but that's only because these things take time. But it helps me to be able to see the real places I've been, and where I've landed just a few months later.
Don't we just need a little perspective sometimes? To look back at our questions when we know differently now? I knew I needed to be patient. I knew in my heart none of it was true. But it sure felt true at the time.
What do we do when false things feel true? What do we do when fear taunts us with possibilities that terrify?
We call fear a liar and put our hope and trust in the One who called us. He is present. He does see. He is working behind the scenes in ways we couldn't dream up. Let's give Him room to work without rushing the process.
We just love to rush the process, don't we?
Should I whip out some stats about waiting from the lives of some of our favorites from the Bible? Abraham? the Israelites? David? Elijah? Noah? Joseph? Some of them waited half their lives or more to see the promises of God to them come to pass.
Why then do we think our timeline should be sped up? I'm preaching to myself here, but maybe it preaches to you as well.
"Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!" - Psalm 27:14
** You may or may not have noticed my monthly newsletter didn't come at the end of April! I decided writing quarterly newsletters would be best for me and my use of time, so I'll be back to writing another one near the end of summer! To sign-up to receive them, click HERE. If you get these posts in your inbox already, you're all signed up. **
Until then, let's keep up on Facebook or Instagram!
Until then, let's keep up on Facebook or Instagram!
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