Well, a lot is changing...

Just a week ago, it seems like my life completely changed course. If you are a military wife, then you would know exactly what I am talking about. My husband joined the Marines. I grew up in a military town (mostly Navy pilots) so I'm not a stranger to the military but I will tell you this: it's a totally different ballgame when you are part of it. I do consider myself to be a part of the military as well because my husband and I are one (Mark 10:8 "and the two shall become one flesh; so then they are no longer two, but one flesh") and that means we both joined. Trust me, I went through enough paperwork to have joined myself! We get to go through a lot of it all over again when the baby comes...whew, I'm tired just thinking about it. Right now, he won't be leaving for anything until after the baby comes but that all could change. 

I feel like all my life God has been teaching me two specific lessons over and over. The first one is trusting Him. (2 Samuel 22:31 " As for God, His way is perfect; The word of the Lord is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him.") We had been in the process of my husband trying to join for a couple months now and it finally went through. It was a long and very frustrating process! The Lord planted the idea of being in the military in Ryan's mind in college and since then the Lord has been working on both of us to trust Him when He moved us in that direction. Up until this year, there was never a time that we both agreed that it was a good idea since my Junior year of college (about 3 years ago). The last time we talked about it, we both agreed that maybe the Lord was pushing us toward that goal. We are both very excited about how the Lord will use this in our lives and the life of our family. We both have had a burden for awhile now for small churches and church plants and this looks like a great opportunity to serve in MANY different churches! Our kids will be able to live in different places that might not have been possible with another job. Of course, we haven't committed to a career in the military...we are waiting on the Lord for that decision until we have been in that lifestyle for awhile. 

The second lesson is flexibility. (Blessed are the flexible for they shall not be bent out of shape. ~Anonymous) This one will come in very handy with the military. I'm the planner of the family so we have Plan A-Z mapped out for how all this could "go down" in the next couple (or several!) months but we could totally scrap all those and finish with a plan we hadn't even imagined! I truly believe that God has a sense of humor and every time I worry about something or how it will turn out God laughs and says "Look, I had a plan for you and you weren't trusting me again. My plan was much better than you could ever have thought!" So I guess these two lessons go hand in hand with each other. But the major lesson here is that I have my plans, God has His, and I know He sees the big picture when I don't. (Proverbs 16:9 "A man's heart plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps.")

Right now, I see the changes and I am choosing to look forward to all the lessons that we could possibly learn between now and when everything starts to happen. It helps that I can see how excited my husband is about it and how calm he stays about everything. I am so thankful for him and how God uses him in my life.