As Long as I'm with You

Well, we've moved into our new home and are setting up house.  While I don't particularly like the fact that the four snow days we recently had will result in Lawrence teaching school until June, I am thankful that they allowed him to be at home and help me unpack.  I NEVER could have accomplished all that we have gotten done so far without him moving box after box after box from the garage to the storage area upstairs.  He carried quite a few boxes to other rooms in the house too so I could put away clothes, dishes, pots and pans, cans of food, towels, sheets, cleaning supplies, and basically everything we own.

As I was reflecting on our transition to this new house, I was amazed at how well both Coralyn and Kellah have adjusted.  Neither one cried when we said good-bye to our old house.  Neither one have asked about it either since we moved, though Coralyn has spoken of our neighbors over there.  In fact, yesterday she asked if a June lived on our new street.  Sadly, we don't have a Miss June, BUT she was excited when I informed her that other KIDS lived on our block and that she would have friends to play with on a regular basis!  That idea got her mind rolling and she proceeded to tell me that we needed to bake bread for our new neighbors.  Banana bread, in fact, because "it's yummy and healthy for you!"  So guess what we will be doing this afternoon while Kellah and the daycare kiddos take a nap?!

Back to my point: the girls have taken to this house like they have lived here forever.  They run around and play and laugh and have a grand time, as if they have owned the place all their lives.  Coralyn is estatic about her new PINK room and the loft bed she has now.

She also gets a kick out of the fact that our new house has "a lot of potties."  Kellah, too, seems to think she is right at home -- climbing up and down the stairs, opening every door she can find, pulling out every box or can of food, tupperware container, or bowl she can get her little hands on.  It's as if we never moved at all!

Reflecting on how well the girls are doing, a thought came to me: They're with Mommy and Daddy, so of course they're good to go.  We could go half way around the world, and I think they would transition just fine, just so long as Lawrence and I were right there with them.  They trust us and know they are safe with us.  If we are here, then this is where they are supposed to be too.  It only makes sense!

How true should that be of us as children of God?!  Wherever God is, that is where we should want to be too.  That is where we should feel at home, no matter where we may be physically located or what our circumstances may be.  If God is with us, then we are safe.  No questions asked.

Made me think of the verses in Psalm 84:

How lovely is Your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty!

I long, yes, I faint with longing to enter the courts of the Lord.

With my whole being, body, and soul,

I will shout joyfully to the living God.

How happy are those who can live in Your house,

always singing Your praises.

A single day in Your courts is better than a thousand anywhere else!

I would rather be a gatekeeper in the house of my God

than live the good life in the homes of the wicked.

Of course, as I read David's words, I immediately started singing the song associated with them.  As I hummed quietly to myself, I read through the rest of the passage and was blown away with some more of the verses there.  They are so fitting, and thus I simply "have" to share them with you!

Happy are those who are strong in the Lord,

who set their minds on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

When they walk through the valley of weeping,

it will become a place of refreshing springs, 

where pools of blessing collect after the rains!

They will continue to grow stronger,

and each of them will appear before God in Jerusalem.

For the Lord God is our light and protector.

He gives us grace and glory.

No good thing will the Lord withhold from those who do what is right.

O Lord Almighty, happy are those who trust in You.

I thought back to a blog I wrote before we moved.  God spoke to me while I was painting our living room to make it more appealing to future buyers.  I was quite frustrated, and even angry, at the time that I had to spend money and take time to paint the walls.  Couldn't people look past the color of the paint!!!  Evidently not, and so there I was with paint roller in hand.  As I started to paint over the work Lawrence and I had done when we first moved into that house, God reminded me that HE IS MY HOME.  That I belong with Him, not in a particular house.  And, since He had called us to the Kellybrook area and laid it heavily on our hearts to reach out to the kids and families in those neighborhoods, then I should be more than willing to paint a few walls if that was necessary to help move the process of selling and buying a house along.  

And now, here we are in our new house.  

We've been here less than a week, but we already feel at home.  We are blessed beyond words as we walk from room to room and marvel at what God has done for us, how He has provided a place so perfectly suited for us to carry out the ministry He has given us.  As I watch the girls run around and play as though they have lived here for years, I am reminded that I too should remember that no matter where I am, I am at HOME when I am with God and doing the "good things He planned for us long ago." (Eph 2:10)

You will show me the way of life,

granting me the JOY OF YOUR PRESENCE,

and the pleasures of LIVING WITH YOU forever.

~Psalm 16:11

But as for me, how good it is to be near God!

I have made the Sovereign Lord my shelter,

and I will tell everyone about the wonderful things You do.

~Psalm 73:28

With that being said, you are all invited to come to our house next Saturday, March 9, at 5 pm to celebrate with us how God has brought us to this house so that we might serve Him here in the Kellybrook area, making Jesus known to all those around us.  We want to share "all the wonderful things" God has done in getting us here, the opportunities He is already given us, and the visions we have of what could come as we seek God's guidance and direction.