Opportunities

God's been opening doors left and right.  Now, it seems, we just need some to shut so we know what ones to go through.

Michael interviewed, as was mentioned in the previous post, so now we are waiting to hear from that.  The interview went well, she asked him for references.  And now we wait.

A tutoring opportunity has come up in the area and if either of us wants that job, we have to speak up by the end of the week.

We went to an AMIA conference this past weekend where we learned of another opportunity that we have teaching abroad.  If God has this planned for us, I think we could leave as early as this summer.

That evening (after learning of the opportunity to teach abroad), it was told to Michael, from a lady not knowing about this possibility said that God would tell us "when."  Bam.  God will tell us when to go.  We just have to seek Him in all of this. 

I'm trying to keep my mind from thinking too much because I have a tendency to think about how things would work out perfectly and then handle them too much to where my will doesn't exactly line up with God's will anymore.

So I'm trying to stay out of it.

God, take these opportunities and do as you please.

It's exciting to suddenly have these opportunities flying around.  God has been so good to us.  He has been so faithful.

My best friend is flying to Korea tomorrow.  She will be there, teaching ESL, for a year.  I could be jealous.  As, I will admit, I have been of various friends who have gone overseas during the course of this last year.  However, God has given me peace and acceptance.  Yes, I would love to be one of the ones traveling to Asia one of these days.  But today, I am here and I am happy for my friend.  I will miss her but she has such an exciting year ahead of her and I'm glad that God has guided her to this point of total trust in Him.  Of trust enough to go to the other side of the world and live a life of adventure through Him. 

And who knows, maybe we'll be over there before the year is out.

Past Due

It's been a long time.  

I guess that's what happens when you get wrapped up in planning lessons, cleaning your house, spending too much time on facebook, and whatever else I've been doing rather than blogging.

Even so, life has been taking interesting and exciting turns lately.

After fighting God about our plans vs. His plans since probably-the-day-we-got-back-from-our-honeymoon, we are finally okay with where we are.  With where He has us.

Yes, we live in a so-called retirement town.  Yes, we can likely count the people on one hand that we have met who are in their early to mid-twenties in the almost 8 months that we've been married and living here.  Yes, the layout of our house is rather odd (being that you have to walk through our bedroom, as you would a hallway, in order to get from our living room to the kitchen or the bathroom).  Yes, we spend many evenings eating dinner while watching tv shows on netflix because we don't have friends that we can call up to come over and eat with us and hang out for the evening.  No, we aren't making tons of money.  Yes, we have a lot of student loans hanging over us.  Yes, we've had to work some pretty lame jobs since we've been here.  Yes, we've been through some intensely difficult times since we've been here.

But you know what?  God has brought us here.  He has given us all that we have.  He has been our source of strength.  He has surrounded us with the right people at the right time.  He has provided just the right jobs in the right time.  And now, He has brought us both to a place of peace and rest with where we are.

No, this might not be the place that most newlyweds in their early twenties would pick to move.  There is zero to no nightlife here.  Shopping is minimum (though we do have a TJ Maxx and there will be a Michael's opening soon).  But God brought us here and He is opening doors for us to minister in ways that we do so desire to minister.  He has given us both a spirit of contentedness that we were both missing since we moved here.  We now have rest.  Finally.

Something happens when you let go of selfishness.  Pride.  Lies.  Your own plans and ideas.  It's so interesting that the one thing you must do in order to obtain rest, peace, freedom, and joy is to let go of everything that you think you want and need.  That is such the opposite of what is en-grained in us as Americans (or perhaps people anywhere, though I can only speak as an American).  In America, we have freedom because we can do what we want, when we want, the way we want.  However, with Christ, this is totally backwards.  We gain freedom by surrender.  This is not necessarily freedom to do whatever we want, but freedom from the world's ideas that we must be perfect, not mess up, make lots of money, and "be successful" in order to be happy.

Oh, if the world were right, what a miserable place to live this would be!  To feel as though to be free is to do what you want when you want.  To feel as though you are not allowed to make a mistake.  To feel as though success is measured by the amount of money you make or the job you have.

As it is in Christ, and as Michael and I have finally come to grasp, we are free, at peace, and able to rest because we know that, no matter where we are living, how much money we have, whether or not we have any peer friends, whether or not we have enjoyable jobs, God is taking care of us.  He has provided all that we have and all that we need and He will continue to do so.  He knows our passions and desires and He will provide us with opportunities to put them into practice when the timing is right.

We have decided that we don't want our lives to be "safe."  We may never own a house.  We may never have lots of money.  There may even be times where it doesn't seem like we have "enough" money.  People will probably look at us like we're crazy but as long as we are able to live lives that are sold out for Christ, helping people in need and using our God-given passions and desires to do so, our lives will have been worth it.

If you want proof about God's provision, we have that too.  Michael and I have both had to work difficult jobs since we've been here that we have not exactly enjoyed; however, God provided me with a job teaching ESL part-time.  This is what I have certification in and this is something that I have loved doing.  It was just a matter of waiting for the right time for God to bless me with this job. 

Michael has a job interview on Wednesday for a job that he would, seemingly, enjoy as well.  The job came to us via email rather than us looking for it.  We're praying that if God wants Michael to have this job, it would be offered to him.  Otherwise, we don't want the offer.

Also, there is a guy moving here for a few months (at least) at the end of this week.  He is Michael's age.  And a believer.  Potential friend.  BAM.

God's just been giving to us right and left.  It's so exciting.  Who would have thought that living in a retirement town could be very exciting?