If Something's Too Good To Be True...

 I so don't want to be writing this after my last post not 48 hrs ago.

Having a clear direction sometimes means you've put blinders on. It seems that God has other plans for us that we are still trying to determine. A massive door has been closed on our planned move to Amarillo. The job didn't work out for reasons beyond our control or understanding. We are not hopeless though. Never hopeless. My husband has had no less than 3 places in Amarillo contact him about jobs available. So it could be that our move is just delayed rather than halted.

My feelings haven't changed at all on the subject of moving. I'm still open to it. If anything, this sealed it for me. Maybe that was the lesson. I can't claim to have any special insight from the events of the last 2 weeks other than God wants his followers to be ready.

For what though? For whatever.

That doesn't mean that I'm not disappointed. That I'm not asking God why this has happened. But, if I tried to speculate on the meaning of everything that happens to me in my life, I'd go insane. The point is to grasp that there is a bigger picture being created. It's so big that we cannot even see the edges of the canvas we are being spread out on. Being ready means that we need to stay fresh and pliable to the brushstrokes. I can trust in God to take care of me through the hard times because, like every artist, He pays attention to the finer details as well as the broad strokes. I can just imagine Him leaning closeer to the canvas in order to make sure the details are placed just the way He wants. So he does with my life too.

God already sees the picture in it's completed form. All I can see is the work in progress.

Psalm 139:1-18, 23-24

O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
² You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
³ You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
⁴ Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
⁵ You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.

⁷ Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
⁸ If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
⁹ If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
¹⁰ even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
¹¹ If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
¹² even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.

¹³ For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother's womb.
¹⁴ I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.^[a]
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.

¹⁷ How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
¹⁸ If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
I awake, and I am still with you....

²³ Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!^[c]
24 And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting! 

An Official Announcement... Sorta

How does the saying go?

Probably not the best metaphor since I live in a desert. I haven't told a lot of people what I am going to say, but it is sort of out there already in the form of Facebook posts on the day to day happenings in my life.

My family is moving from Albuquerque, NM to Amarillo, TX. TA-DA!

It's for a job. My husband has had a steady stream of bad employers for a while now and this is just a drastic enough change in situation to give us some hope that we won't be screwed over again. My own feelings on this procedure are that I am excited, but also sad. We have lived in ABQ for 2&1/2 years now. I have family in the area. We've met some really nice people. I might even have a friend or two that I can call close. But I have to confess I'm more happy for the move than I'd probably admit out loud.

I do genuinely love this place and I'm grateful for the opportunities it's given me to grow as an adult and, more importantly, a Christian.

I've just had this feeling over the last 2-3 months that it was time for a change. Our lease for the house we rent is set to expire at the end of July anyway. I thought, "Why not make a leap somewhere else?" At first we thought about moving closer to my husband's job site on the east side. That wasn't going to work since we had no money to make the transition. (His employer still owes him pay from 5 months ago. Long story..) Rents are higher near the east mountains. Financially, we were stuck where we were. Then, my husband finally decided to get fed up with his job and release his resume back out into the wild. And that is when the magic happened.

My husband starts getting calls from a company in Amarillo, TX that really wants to hire him. We were still waiting to tie up loose ends with the last employer when that call came. So my man said he would call them back in a week. They actually called him back the next week asking him if he would come "try the job for 2 weeks."

Now I have to say, that when a person that is used to working and actually LIKES working is NOT working, it messes up self-esteem and self-worth fairly quickly. My hubby is one of those kinds of people. He loves his family so much and wants to provide for us that he'd pack up and go to the moon if it meant income. That being said, this was (in our minds) not something we should put off to see if he could get anything closer to home. To have a job offer come so fast after he decided to move on was nothing short of a God-ordained miracle! It's practically unheard of in this economy.

The more we heard about the company and what they would offer us (in writing!), the more we liked them. The more we prayed about this, the better we felt about taking the leap into the unknown. I can't really say though that this is an "unknown" situation because it's all known to God. We have seen and felt His presence through all of this. As much as we will miss all the familiar of Albuquerque, we are welcoming the challenge of whatever God has planned for us in Amarillo.

A few things anyone reading this could pray for us, if you are so inclined:

1. We need to find a place to land in Amarillo. I am joining my husband next week to start searching with a realtor. We need this to go as smoothly and quickly as possible!

2. That I will have the strength and stamina to pack up our current house and clean it to the owners specifications by the 31st. 

3. I am going to need outside help for sure. Praise God for the offers I've already gotten.

4. That I can remain patient with my kids and figure out ways to include them in the process.