Driving Like Jesus

It's been a while since I've blogged, and it's because I just started my graduate classes last week and am still adjusting to the new schedule and balancing a slew of responsibilities. My work week has been cut in half, but that just means I have to be even more efficient at work since I'm not there as much. After work, I have been trying to find time for working out and doing homework. I have classes 3 nights a week; Monday's class doesn't get out until 10:20 pm! And when I'm not on campus for one reason or another, I'm fulfilling my role as a wife--helping clean, cook, shop, take care of the pets, and of course spend quality time with the love of my life. And above all these things, I'm trying to keep God at the forefront where He belongs. I admit my time with God has decreased in the last week or so. The best I can say is that I plan to work on it, and I praise God that He has already forgiven me for this lull in faithfulness that I'm showing. While I haven't been studying the Word or spending time in meditative prayer as often as I would like, I can still say that God has been on my mind and heart. In just about every thing I've done, I've thought about it in light of my Christianity. I've found that since my salvation, and even more in times that I have drawn closer to the Lord, my Christian lense for viewing life gets more and more clear. I find that God uses even the tiniest things in my life to teach me something or to make me wonder about something--which in turns draws me back to Him for answers.

Since moving to Portal (about 20 minutes outside of town), I've been driving a lot more lately. I make the 20 minute drive to and from Statesboro just about every day, either for work/class or for church. Saturday is the only day I don't have to go there, but there's usually some reason to do it anyway. I don't mind the drive, it's actually kind of nice to have time to think and focus before going somewhere. When I lived 5 minutes from work, I would push it until the very last minute and spend those 5 minutes sweating, tapping the steering wheel, and checking the clock. This automatically made my entry into work a less pleasant one. Now I allow for the time and can empty myself, talk to God, listen to music, or just zone out (as safely as possible!) before starting another busy day. My only complaint with the driving is the crowd. This year we have 20,000 students at Georgia Southern and they're out in full force! If they're not driving on the roads, they're riding their bikes, walking, running, etc... And all this driving, and all these people, it really got me thinking about our driving attitudes. What kind of people are we when we get behind the wheel?

Here's what I have gathered about myself and other people I've seen drive. We lose our patience much more easily than in other circumstances. Suddenly getting where we're going is the most important thing in our lives and any delays are devastating! If you're walking behind someone who is going too slow, you don't usually walk super close to them until they have the sense to move out of your way. But that's what we do when we drive. And we pair that action with frustrated words or sounds. We groan, sigh, growl...we say things like, "What is this idiot doing?" Some of us say worse things than that. If someone cuts us off, we may shout obscenities, use vulgar gestures, lay on the horn, or if nothing else, we steam on the inside with anger. From what I can tell, most of us become totally different people with different values when we're driving. Not always, but we're almost like time bombs when we're driving...we aren't always crazy, but it could start at any minute. It's like we forget who we are and we forget that people driving around us are people and not just inanimate cars. We may strive to exhibit and embody the fruit of the spirit in our lives, but that is not necessarily evident when we drive. How often do we show love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self control when we're driving? I feel like patience is often the first to go and the rest just follow along right after. Why do we do that? Does our Christian lifestyle pause when we get in a car? Maybe we don't think about it because road rage is so common and accepted by the world...but so are most of the sins that we try to avoid. Maybe it's because there are no teachings on driving in the Bible, maybe because Jesus himself didn't drive. But I would think (and I got this bit from Carl, who is the leader of the GSU Wesley Foundation), if Jesus came in an era of driving, He certainly would have driven. So, it's that question we should always be asking ourselves: what would Jesus do? If Jesus were driving, how would He drive? Would he transform into a frustrated, angry, impatient, and agressive person when He was driving? I seriously doubt it.

So, to deal with the admittedly frustrating task of all this driving around all these people, I have decided to remind myself that I am a Christian at ALL times. So, I should be acting like Christ. And He would drive with all the Fruit of the Spirit. He would love others enough to not be a rude or aggressive driver towards them, and He would be merciful and loving enough to forgive those who were rude and aggressive towards Him. He would not let worry and anxiety consume Him. If we find ourselves becoming someone we don't like when driving, I suggest turning down the radio, taking a breath, and talking to God. Driving is a great time to pray (with your eyes OPEN!), and I've found it really helps me to drive like Jesus!

"Jesus replied, 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" Matthew 22:37-39

"Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord." Leviticus 19:18

"Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse." Romans 12:14

Good, Goodness, and Getting into Heaven

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control." Galatians 5:22

I'm a big fan of the Fruit of the Spirit. I know that's a weird thing to say. What Christian isn't? But I really enjoy studying it and praying over it. Today I was thinking about it, and goodness popped out at me. Usually I think about the first bit--love, joy, peace, and patience. I often pray for those, seek those, and wish those upon others. Goodness I never give much thought to. But, in my opinion, it might be the most difficult one to understand. It's kind of vague isn't it? I mean, how often do we use the word good? All the time! "How are you?" "I'm good." "How was your trip?" "It was good." "This burger is so good!" "Good game!" "Good morning!" And the examples could go on and on. So what does it mean to have goodness? And while I was wondering this, I started to think about the claim, or complaint, people often have about "getting into heaven." I've heard many people say, "I don't know if he was a Christian, but he was a really good person. I'm sure he's in Heaven now." Other people, who have heard that you can only go to Heaven through Jesus, have gotten angry and argued that claim with, "If God is so good, how can he send good people to Hell just because they don't believe in Jesus?" And I think the answer to both of these questions, regarding fruit of the spirit and getting to Heaven, can be answered by carefully considering and studying what the word "good" or "goodness" actually means. So, that's what I did.

First of all, the English word good actually stems from the word god. There's a reason for this. The Online Etymology Dictionary (www.etymonline.com) gives us some definitions of good. Some of these include right, suitable, fulfilling expectation and purpose, bringing about a benefit or blessing towards another, holy, and Godly. So, if you think about it, when you say something is good, you usually mean that it is satisfying; it fulfilled it's purpose or your expectation of it. If you say a vacation was good, you mean that you expected it to be a certain way (fun, relaxing, etc...) and it met those expectations. If you've found a good doctor, you mean that the doctor fulfills the purpose and expectations held for that job description. Makes sense. Now the benefit or blessing part makes sense, too. A "good person" is usually someone who does nice things, tries not to be hurtful towards others, and helps people. Most of us think of that when we say someone is "good." These people are benefitting or blessing others by their actions. Okay, next up--holy, Godly, or "of God." The actual origin of "Good day" or "Good morning" meant "God be with ye." So, it was as if you were saying "God be with you this day/morning/night/evening, etc..." The phrase "my goodness!" or "Oh, goodness!" was actually started to replace the word "God" so as not to use His name in vain. Does it make it right? That's another discussion! More examples..."the good book" is the Bible, or more specifically The Holy Bible. Bible is latin for "book." So, "the good book" is actually a trasnlation of "The Holy Bible;" it's not just saying it's a decent read! "Gospel" is actually translated as "good news." You may have also heard of "good tidings." This is all refering to the announcement of the salvation through Jesus and the coming kingdom of God. In other words, the news of God.

Okay, so we have a solid idea of what the word "good" means and how it's often used. So, then, what does it mean to have "goodness" as part of the Fruit of the Spirit? In other words, what does it mean to be a "good" person in the eyes of God? Well, it means to be God-like. To have the qualities and characteristics of God. To be Holy. To benefit and bless others. And to be exceptable and pleasing to God, fulfilling His purpose for you in His kingdom. And what are these characteristics of God? Well, it's the rest of the Fruit of the Spirit: "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control." I've found in my studies and talks with God, that the Fruit of the Spirit is one thing. My pastor once explained this saying, "that's why Paul says 'the fruit of the Spirit is' not 'the fruits of the Spirit are.'" This means you can't have one without having them all. It's a package deal. They're all connected and you can't fully understand one without considering another. We've all heard "love is patient, love is kind..." Paul uses patience and kindness to describe love. And in the same way, I would use all the other fruits to describe goodness. So, to have goodness is to have all these other fruits--the attributes of God himself. It also means to be holy. In order to be holy we must have the Holy Spirit living within us. We only have this because Jesus came and died on the cross. He did this not only to cover our sin and save us from death, but to give us the Holy Spirit so that we have a living God inside of us, growing fruits and working in our lives. So, the Holy Spirit inside of us (meaning, we are Christians) is what grows goodness within us. Good people bless and benefit others. They are kind, loving, and patient towards others. You cannot be good without these actions because it's part of what being good is. This is why faith without works is dead, but I digress... And lastly, if you have goodness you are meeting the standards of God. You are exceptable to Him and are fulfilling His purpose for you. God's standards are nothing short of perfection. His standards are for you to be like Him.

This brings me to my next point. Why do "good" people go to Hell? Well, the short answer is--they don't. But if you know me, you know I'm going to give you the long answer, too! Bearing in mind what we just discussed as the definition of goodness, we have to recognize the impossibility of it. We all know that humans aren't perfect. We're definitely not like God. We sin, we make mistakes, we have impure thoughts and desires. We're not always going to exhibits all those other fruits. We become angry, we're unkind, we lose self-control, we're demanding, greedy, and impatient. The list of our imperfections goes on and on. No one can claim to be completely perfect by their own will. But these are the standards that God has set for going to Heaven. You must be like Him! You thereby must be perfect! But we can't be. That's why we need Jesus. Jesus has interceded for us and taken the wrath of God for us. Now justice for our sins has been met. It's just that we aren't being punished for them, Jesus was. As a saved Christian, we have the Holy Spirit living in us. The Holy Spirit grows the Fruit of the Spirit in us and it becomes evident in our lives. This is where the goodness comes in. God lives within us, growing us towards perfection. We are forgiven for the mistakes and we're being pushed towards the standard of perfection, always growing closer and closer. Growing in goodness is becoming more and more spiritually mature--that is, more and more like God. To have goodness is to have the other fruits of the Spirit, and to be actively fulfilling our purposes by building and benefitting the Kingdom of God. We are gaining His holiness, thereby meeting His expectations of perfection and being truly "good." So, if that's what it means to be good, then if you aren't a Christian, if you don't believe in Jesus as the risen savior, if you don't have the Holy Spirit living in you and working in you, then you are NOT good.

Now, people may be good by the world's standards. The world's standards are far lower than God's. We're okay with lying, cheating, sexual immorality, alcoholism, drug addictions, and so on. We may say someone is good because they always seem nice. Or they may even be involved in charities and help a bunch of people. But without Jesus, they simply are not good enough. Good enough for the world maybe, but not for God. And Galatians 6:7 says, "Do not be deceived. God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows." If people got into Heaven based on our standards of goodness it would be like saying it doesn't matter what God wants or believes. We think it's good enough so we're coming on in! No. We cannot mock God. When it comes down to it, He is more powerful and greater than any of us. His standards are perfection and that's what counts. And since none of us fallen creatures are capable of perfection, we can only get to Heaven through Jesus. And while this may anger some, let me assure you, this is GOOD news! He has saved us from our helpless states and is giving us eternal life through Jesus! Let us rejoice and embrace that love and mercy and grace! Hallelujah! God IS good; and He is growing goodness in me! And through the blood of Christ I am going to heaven! Amen!

Money's Just a Number

Today Scott and I paid bills. We balanced our checkbook, and set to writing various checks and paying several online bills. As I wrote my checks, clicked "submit payment," and subtracted the amounts from our checking account total I thought of how it seemed like nothing more than a math problem. Our total increased when I added in our paychecks on Friday, and now it was quickly decreasing. I was adding and subtracting. I was typing in numbers on a website and clicking "ok." I was signing sheets of paper with numbers written on them. Never once in any of this did I touch cash. We rarely use cash and when we do, I consider it play money. I almost feel like it doesn't count when I spend cash. Oh, goody, I have a dollar in my wallet! I'll buy a coke!
I realized in all of this that money is really nothing more than a number. It's not really an exchange of any sort, it's just changing around the numbers in various accounts. I looked at my online account for my student loans, and briefly thought how it seemed like an awful lot of money, but I quickly dismissed the fact. It's just a number that we're gradually subtracting from. Eventually it'll be gone. It will probably take a long time, but eventually the number will be zero. And in that moment I realized how insignificant money really is. It's just a number.

I started thinking about how much we let money rule us. God warns us against this several times in the Bible, and for good reason! It's extrememly difficult to not let money rule your decisions. So much of the world seems to run on money and you need it for almost everything. People decide where to live based on money, when to get married, where to go to school, what career to choose, how many kids to have, what to eat, what to wear, what to drive, how much to give....the list goes on and on. So, how do we regard it? How do we biblically approach the concept of money? I think it's something that we all struggle with--believers and unbelievers alike.

Before continuing, I must admit that this is all a hodge-podge of ideas in my head right now, and I should probably take some time to plan this out so that it's more coherenent and thorough, but because this is a blog and only a handful of people will read it anyway, I'm jumping right in!

First of all, we are told that we should not love money and that we cannot serve both money and God:
"No one can serve two masters; for either he will love the one and hate the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and wealth." Matthew 6:24
"keep your life free from the love of money, and be content with what you have." Hebrews 13:5

We immediately throw up our defenses, don't we? "I don't love money! I'm just being practical!" "What am I supposed to do? Just not pay my bills and go to church all day?" It's hard in this world where we're expected to pretty much live to make money (working) and spend money (the fun times...when we aren't working). Of course we need to pay our bills and we do have to work in order to do that. And no we shouldn't go spending our money all willy-nilly making crazy claims like "money's just a number!" ;-) But seriously, where is the line?

And I think the sin comes not from the money itself. There is nothing evil about paper money, nothing evil about checks, debit cards, or credit cards either. I used to be scared to get a credit card. I had heard so many horror stories of college students going into major debt. It wasn't until I finally broke down and got one that I realized the card didn't make you go into debt, it was your mentality towards the card. Some people see the card as endless magic money that gets them things they otherwise couldn't have. So, they charge up a bunch of debt and later blame the card. But the card didn't make them do it, their thoughts about the card did. And money in itself isn't evil and it doesn't make us slaves to it, it's our mentality about it.

It's the love of money that is a sin. It's the fact that desiring money and stressing out about money CONSUMES us! It completely takes our focus and trust off of God, which is really the problem with all sin. So many people are scared to do anything because of money. They won't give to others or the church because they're afraid they'll run out of money they need for themselves. They completely disregard the point that if we're faithfully giving, God will provide for us. Some will stay in jobs they hate, jobs where they aren't fulfilling the potential God created them for, simply because they make good money. And even if they aren't doing it because they claim to love money, they may be doing it because they feel like they need the money to survive. This fear/desire associated with money prevents them from taking a leap of faith and trusting in God to guide them and provide for them accordingly. And as I've said before, if we're stressed about money we don't have, we're essentially saying God isn't able to provide what I need in life. And I admit, it's definitely a challenge when funds are low to stay calm and trust in God to pull you through. But if you talk to God about it, and spend time in His word, you are guaranteed to feel better about it...no matter how challenging it is for you: "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Jesus Christ." Philippians 4:6-7 It may seem impossible to you to not let money get you down, but God promises that, though it's hard for you to understand or fathom, He will give you peace if you talk to Him about it.

And if you are always looking for money you will never be satisfied: "Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless." Ecclesiastes 5:10. Not only will you always be left wanting more, but should you end up in a challenging financial situation, you will be left devasted, anxious, and afraid. Those who trust in God know that He is bigger than money and will take care of us.

After all, if God can create the entire world and set it into motion, change a sinner's heart, heal diseases, and on and on and on because we believers know nothing is beyond God, then how is it so hard to believe that He can control money? After all....it's just a number.

Prayer Requests

Hey, everyone. I have lots of prayer requests today. Rather than writing a ton, I think I'll just list the requests. Thanks for your prayers and support!!

1. Someone that Scott works with just found out that he has stage 3 lung cancer. Apparently this is a terminal stage. He quit smoking over 20 years ago and has just now developed the cancer. Please be praying for God to heal him and to guard his heart and mind with the peace of Jesus. Also be praying for his friends and family as they deal with the pain and shock of this news.

2. Scott did not get the job he interviewed for. Please be praying that God's will be done and that He guides Scott to the right job. Pray for patience, peace, and faithfulness for me and Scott as we wait and continue to serve God.

3. Bobbie's mother has severe arthritis and is suffering with a lot of pain today. Please pray for God to take away that pain. And pray that He gives strength and peace to both Bobbie and her mom.

4. Jeff is having knee surgery on Friday. Please be praying that God is with Jeff and the doctors so that the surgery is a success and Jeff walks away completely healed and renewed!

5. My mom's fiance Mike's dad (so...my mom's future father-in-law) has cancer and is in the hospital. At this point everyone is basically waiting on him to pass. Please pray that God is with him and his family.

6. Brett started a new full-time job at Olive Garden this week! Praise God for that! Please be praying that God is with him and uses this job to make a change in Brett's life.

I think that's it for now! Thank you so much for your prayers! They are much appreciated! :)

And Why do You Worry about Clothes?

"Therefore do not worry about your life. What you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food and the body more important than clothes?" Matthew 6: 25

"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lillies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying 'What will we eat?' or 'what will we drink?' or 'what shall we wear?' For the pagans run after these things, and your heavenly father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." Matthew 6:28-33

I read this last night, and patted myself on the back. Scott was out of work for a month due to the mandatory 30 days off for casual laborers at GSU (no pay), we've had seemingly endless car trouble (expensive), and paid several moving expenses like Uhaul and paint supplies. We literally have about $30 in our checking account right now and close to $1,000 charged on our cards from car trouble and moving expenses alone. On top of this, I have had 4 friends and/or ministries ask us for money lately. I'm not saying all this to make you feel sorry for me and I'm certainly not asking for money, but I wanted you to know the extent of our financial burden right now. And here comes the back pat--I'm not worried about it at all! I read this passage and smiled and nodded my head and said a little thank you prayer. I know that God will provide for us and give us everything we need. I'm just patiently waiting for things to even out again. Great! Right?

Well, this morning I had to stop and think back through the verse I had so casually read. I was getting ready and, given my nature of procrastination, I had not given any thought to what I would wear today until 20 minutes before we had to leave for work. I pulled on a pair of hand-me-down pants from Scott's mom that no longer fit her and a hand-me-down shirt from Scott's sister that she didn't like anymore. I frowned at my reflection. I tried playing around with the shirt--buttoning different buttons. I sighed and went to my pile of shoes. Nothing looked good with the outfit. I decided the shirt was the problem. I tore it off and tried on an old shirt that I've had for a little over 2 years and am therefore sick to death of. (Girls...starting to sound familiar? Guys...sorry this is so boring!) I put on the best shoe match I could think of, still not satisfied, and left the house thinking I look like a blimp and I hate my clothes. I took one last look at my closest, groaned, and exclaimed, "I hate my clothes! Nothing goes together and nothing looks good on me anymore and they're all cheap and ugly!"

I then rushed to smear makeup on my face in our last 3 minutes before leaving while my poor husband resigned to making my lunch for me and politely asking if I wanted to take my book to read during lunch. I was fuming inside and out. My self-esteem had plummeted and my frustration had lead to a clammy face which made the makeup difficult to apply and I was running out of time. GRRR!!! I thought to myself, I know God is going to provide all we need, but what about all we want? He's not going to give me new clothes when I have a whole closet full already! I know our bills will be paid, but am I ever going to be able to buy new things that I want?

Then God told me to remember the verses from the night before. Why do you worry about clothes? Pagans run after these things. If God clothes the lillies, will he not clothe me? O, me of little faith!!! I'll sheepishly retrieve that back pat now...

God knows what we need better than we do. And He knows what we want. And He wants us to have good things and blessings in abundance. Is God going to give me a surprise $500 to go on a shopping spree with? Probably not. But He will make sure I have enough clothes and if I really need some new ones (which I think I might...), He'll provide a way for me to get some. But I can't be greedy, impatient, or demanding of these things. And I certainly shouldn't spend my time worrying about them. If God clothes his creation in unspeakable beauty, how much more will He clothe me? Again, I'm not talking expensive, closets full of clothes, but He will make sure I have what I need. Just when I think I know it all, God goes and shows me how much I still have to learn...imagine that!

Here's my plan, and I encourage those who struggle with this (or wants/needs of any kind) to join me.

1. be THANKFUL for what I DO have. Just b/c I might be tired of my clothes, doesn't mean I don't have any. I'm blessed to have several things to wear. There are so many people in the world with next to nothing.
2. Talk to God about it. There's no sense in hiding the fact that I want new clothes from God. He already knows. I can share this desire with God, but rather than just pray for new clothes, I want to ask God to redirect my heart to Him and help me trust that He will provide and that I need not worry.
3. The things that really don't fit anymore and just make me feel bad about myself when I try to force my body into them...DONATE to people who aren't as fortunate as me.
4. Give myself more time to get ready in the morning or (better yet) pick out my clothes the night before. And not just pick them out, but put them on and make sure I'm satisfied with them. That way I don't have to worry about starting my day out on a sour note.
5. Make my husband lunch tomorrow because he is the most patient and understanding man and he deserves it! :)

There are so many more important things in life than what I'm wearing. Why worry so much about it? Why let it consume me? And by worrying about it, I'm actually saying that God isn't good enough or powerful enough to fulfill my needs and I am not satisfied with what He has given me. Do I really feel that way? Do I want to feel that way? NO!!! So, be careful what you complain about and think about what you're really saying by complaining. Do you really mean that? I need to take my attention off the mirror and focus it on God. Then how could I be dissatisfied? "Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."

"Where God Guides, He provides."

I recently read this on a church sign and thought, "Wow. A church sign that is actually useful and not something silly." In the past month I have come to find that this couldn't be a more true statement.

I have heard several stories of people feeling God calling them to do something, being hit with all kinds of opposition, and God continuing to provide in the most miraculous ways. I had never experienced back to back, continuous provisions before...or at least not in such extremes that I really recognized it as God. This month, however, that is exactly what Scott and I have been experiencing.

We have been talking about moving into a bigger and nicer place than our apartment for almost 2 years now, but always ended up agreeing that it was worth the noise and the size to pay less in rent. We had decided to stay there until we could afford to buy a house. Every time another option came up, it never seemed to be a better deal. Even if it was a nicer place, the rent would be so much more that it would put us further away from affording a house of our own. We finally gave up on the idea of moving, deciding to be content with what we had.

Meanwhile, our pastor's parents, Jeff and Bobbie Williams had been dealing with a problem of their own. They own 14 acres of land. They live in a house on the property and they have another house that Jeff's parents were living in. Both his parents are in nursing homes now. They have been struggling to pay the insurance and taxes on the house and considered renting it out. They were nervous about renting and wanted to make sure it would be someone they trusted.

At the beginning of the month Bobbie brought the house up in our Bible study small group. She said she wanted to rent it out to a nice, young couple and wanted to know if any of us knew of anyone. I didn't immediately think of us because I knew we had already resigned our lease through December. I decided to mention it to Scott anyway and he asked me to email her for more information. After several emails and a trip to the house, we knew it would be perfect! It was only $15 more a month than we were currently paying, water included, and it is twice the size plus so much land! It all seemed perfect except that we had our lease...

We all prayed about it. We felt like it was God's will, but wanted to make sure we weren't imposing our own wills and calling it God's. Scott went by our rental agency and they said they could not let us out of our lease, but we could sublease it. This seemed like a set back. Regardless, I just kept on praying and knew that if God wanted us in that house, He would get us there.

I posted the apartment on the facebook marketplace and within 2 days I found a married couple who needed an inexpensive 6-month lease. It took 7 days total from finding out about the house to having the sublease papers signed! Awesome!

After signing the papers we found out that we had less than 2 weeks to be out of the apartment. The house still had furniture and a lot of the previous tenants' things in it. Our apartment had to be packed and repainted to the original color, and we wanted to put fresh paint on the house as well. In less than 2 weeks!!! But I knew that God wouldn't get us this far and then leave the situation. He made it happen! We were blessed to have Alora staying with us for the week and she was super helpful. The Williams helped out a ton (including Brandon and Susan) and Don and his brother from church moved all the furniture and boxes out in 1 day!

Then came time to move. We had rented a Uhaul but had no one available to help us move. Not only that, but I was supposed to be driving Alora back to Atlanta that same day! It was a blessing that she was able to come 1 week; we were seriously doubtful that she would be allowed to stay a little longer. Randomly, one of Scott's SCUBA friends texted him to see how he was doing. We told him we were moving and he offered to help! So, we had help, and managed to get it all done on Friday night after work!! THEN Alora found out that she could stay an additional week! These were all highly unlikely things, and God provided all of them! Just like that!

We are all moved in now! A lot still needs to be done around the house but we've made HUGE progress. God has truly blessed us and answered many people's prayers. OH--AND we didn't have a washer and dryer. We prayed about it, looked around online, but everything was either broken or way too expensive. Then, one day, we found a couple selling a fully operating set for only $150!! Thank you, Jesus! :)

So, the question now is, can we really afford even a slightly more expensive place, not to mention the extra gas money b/c it's 20 minutes outside of town, AND with me starting school and making less money? Well, we no more considered that when Scott got a call about a job interview for a full time job in the College of Education! He should find out in the next day or two if he got it or not. God has just been working overtime in our lives and we are so thrilled!! :) Not to mention the amazing blessing of having Alora around for 2 weeks! That was totally unexpected and I loved spending time with her. God is SO good! :) And where He guides, He certainly does provide. So, if you feel like God is calling you to something that seems impossible, just remember that everything is possible with God. He wouldn't call you to something and then stop. He's going to keep working to get you where He wants you. You just have to listen and be faithful. I'm so excited to see what He does in our lives next! :)

About Me

Hello, and thanks for stopping by my blog Living in the Promise. My name is Christy. I love Jesus, and this blog is meant to be a sort of chronicle of my love story with Him. I want to share with you all the things that God is doing in my life and the lessons He is teaching me every day. 

I'm married and completely in love with my husband. We live in south Georgia in a small town called Statesboro, which is about 45 minutes away from Savannah. I moved here to attend Georgia Southern University and I ended up sticking around for a Master's degree as well! Now I work at the University in Continuing Education. My husband and I recently bought our first house and we're having a great time redecorating and making it our own! 

This blog has been an ever-changing journey for me. In the past three years I have focused on various things--lessons from God, losing weight, exploring myself through a 30-day photo challenge, and every thing that has happened to me in between! Lately I have decided to rededicate my blog to God and get back to the original purpose of sharing His work in my life. 

Living in the promise means living in the promises that God has given to me--my salvation, my new heart of flesh, His provisions, His love, His presence, and my constant sanctification to look more and more like Christ. That is what I want to share with you. 

I'm sure there will still be fluff. I'll still share pictures of our redecorated home and my adorable nieces. I'll probably still talk about my weight occasionally and the fun date nights I have with my husband. But I want this blog to be a source of comfort and encouragement to others. That is my heart in this endeavor. I hope you'll join me for the ride! 

~Christy Curley~