Well it seems as if this is certainly a year of change for our family. First with the adoption, and now with jobs.

After nearly six years with Palm Valley Church, Mark is leaving
his position as Executive Pastor. We truly love our church, the staff and our
friends but Mark feels as if God is calling him on to something else. We’re not
sure exactly what that “something else” is at this point. After months of
praying for God to show us what he has for Mark next, we feel as if we just need
to obey his “Go” and take a leap of faith that will allow him to show us the
amazing things he has in store for us. (And there is no doubt that they will be
amazing.)

Of course having the major breadwinner leave a job in the middle of an expensive adoption is quite a scary thought. But we are so blessed that we are in a position of NO debt and a nice emergency fund that allows us to be obedient to God’s call without the hesitations that many people would feel because of the finances.

God has also opened the door for me to step into more of a full time role at our church as the Communications Coordinator – handling the print and web communications. He is so faithful to provide in our time of need.

We appreciate all your prayers for wisdom and clarity in what God would have for us next. We are both super excited to see what the future holds. We would also appreciate your prayers for Noah and Natalie as we realize that there is a lot of change happening in our family this year and we want the best for them.

You can read Mark’s thoughts here.

Last weekend at our women’s retreat we heard from our beloved Beth Moore on the subject of “Loving Well”. She of course said it much more eloquently, and in much more detail, but the bottom line of our weekend was that we need to live, and love, out of the overflow of God’s love for us.

God is love. He loves us completely and unconditionally and we need to accept, and truly dwell in that love before we will be able to love others. Loving others is the second greatest commandment and really a measure of our spiritual maturity. (Mark 12:28-31)

Some probably have a really hard time just accepting the fact that God loves us unconditionally but I think I have a pretty good grasp on that.

But what does it mean to let God’s love “fill me up”? Because, really, if I let his love fill me then it should be enough for me. Love from my husband, my kids, my friends – that would all be icing on the cake, not a necessity.

So, since  my “love language” is acts of service I was thinking about how God loves me through acts of service.

What came to mind first is the biggest act of service – he sacrificed his son to die on the cross so that I would not have to pay the price for my sins. I do not know of a greater way that God has shown his love.

While I can’t pinpoint tangible acts of service (like doing the laundry and the dishes) I know that God loves me in this way. How? Because Jesus, his son, chose to love by serving others.

1. Attending a wedding and realizing the bride and groom were out of wine, he chose to perform his first miracle and turned water into wine…really good wine. (John 2:1-11)

2. He healed many, even raised some from the dead.

3. He calmed the storm when the disciples were fearful for their lives. (Matthew 8:23-27)

4. He washed the feet of the disciples. (Ew, gross – that takes a true servant’s heart.) (John 13:1-17)

5. Jesus prayed for us. (John 17)

6. He takes away my fear and anxiety. (Phil 4:6)

There are so many more but this gives me a start. So what’s your love language? (Acts of service, words of affirmation, gifts, physical touch, quality time?) Think about it and then think about how God speaks to you in your love language. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

So, to continue with our 3 friends and the fiery furnace…

Daniel 3: 25 says that King Nebuchadnezzar exclaimed, “Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.”

The only thing that God allowed to be touched by the fire was the ropes that bound the men. Sometimes we are so bound by the sin in our lives that God allows us to go through a fiery trial so that we can be freed from that long term bondage.

When the men came out, “They saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them.”

Nine years ago my husband’s grandparents house burned down. There was not much left but some things were boxed up and have been sitting on the back porch of their new house, out in the air, for 9 years. A couple of months ago my father-in-law opened them up and the smoke smell STILL permeates the stuff.

But these three men walked through their fiery trial and came out with no smoke smell. How many of us go through a fiery trial, came out the other side but continue to rant and rave about the trials and the hard times that we went through. We’re still bitter and angry – we still smell like smoke! Instead we should give praise to our almighty God who walked through the fire with us and brought us out safely on the other side.