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?
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