The start of another week...

Monday afternoon-and I'm having a pretty good Monday actually! Monday's would probably be my least favorite day as my husband gets that day off every week and I am off to work for 8:00AM! It especially kills when it is -31 outside:)
Crazy as it sounds, I bundled up at lunch and walked to the mall to treat myself to a Cinnamon Dolce Latte at Starbucks and check out the shops. It was a little chilly, but there was no wind chill which really helped! It felt good to get out and get some exercise and walk...I cannot wait until this cold spell ends and Stephen and I can get out of the house in the evenings and walk a little bit. Staying couped up for so long doesn't sit well with us!

So much news to share with you all...I don't even know where to start. Our lifes have done somewhat of a 180 these past few weeks. First things first...I quit my job that I have been working at for 2 1/2 years now. God, in all his creativeness and craziness dropped a job opportunity into my lap that I could not refuse! I am so amazed at how perfect his timing is and how well he knows my heart. Basically I was offered a job...a better job for me in every way. More pay, full time hours, and lots of opporunity to grow and be challenged, which lately I had not been feeling like I was challenged at all or growing in my work environment. I wasn't even looking for a job at all...God just placed it there infront of me. So I have given my 2 weeks notice, and as of February 26 I will be working at Parr Autobody full time managing the front the office! I am really excited, nervous, and scared all at the same time. I know this is where God wants me to be, so I am trusting him that he will give me the wisdom and ability to learn everything I need to!

As if this wasn't a big enough decision for Stephen and I...another one will be coming up shortly. Our landlord is selling the house we are renting. Therefore, there are many changes ahead for us. As of right now, we have until June before our landlord puts the house up for sale. If the house sells, there is a possibility we can continue to rent the house if the person buying is only looking for an opportunity to invest. If not, then we will need to find a new place to live. We have given much thought into buying a house, and will continue to pray about it. We are really at a loss for what we are going to do. You can pray that it gets figured out.

Amongst all of these big decisions, I have been hugely struggling with my family leaving in the next 4 1/2 months. It has been such a hard process for me to go through. Stephen recommended a book for me to read...partly to help understand my feelings about everything that has been happening in my family in the past few months.

The book is called Shattered Dreams-God's Unexpected Pathway to Joy by Larry Crabb. The back of the book says this: "Shattered dreams, "writes Dr. Larry Crabb, "are never random. They are always a piece in a larger puzzle, a chapter in a larger story. The Holy Spirit uses the pain of shattered dreams to help us discover our desire for God, to help us begin dreaming the highest dream. They are ordained opportunities for the Spirit first to awaken, then to satisfy our highest dream."
To help you understand this neglected truth in the deepest and most helpful way, Larry Crabb has written a wise, hopeful, honest, and realistic examination of life's difficulties and tragedies. He wraps his insights around the bold story of Naomi in the Bible's book of Ruth.
As Crabb retells and illuminates this sometimes disturbing and often profoundly touching story, we are shown how God stripped Naomi of happiness in order to prepare her for joy. And we gain an unforgettable picture of how God uses shattered dreams to release better dreams and a more fulfilling life for those He loves.
Shattered dreams have the power to change our lives for good. Forever.

I haven't even gotten through half of the book, but already I relate to every single word. Some things are hard to swallow in the book...realities that I never wanted to believe, but it has been so helpful for me. Just last night I was reading and something jumped out at me...He talked about six lessons that we can learn from the story of Naomi in the Bible.
Lesson One: Our fondest dreams for this life, the ones we naturally believe are essential to our happiness, must be fully abandoned if we are to know God well. Shattered dreams are necessary for Spiritual Growth.
Lesson Two: Shattered Dreams produce excruitiating pain. Something wonderful survives everything terrible , and it surfaces most clearly when we hurt.
Lesson Three: Some dreams important to us will shatter, and the realization that God could have fulfilled that dream pushes us into a terrible battle with him.
Lesson Four: Only an experience of deep pain develops our capacity for recognizing and enjoying true life.
Lesson Five: Not many Christians drink deep from the well of living water. As a result, our worship, our community, and our witness are weak.
Lesson Six: When good dreams shatter-better ones are there to newly value and persue. No matter what happens in life, a wonderful dream is available always, that if persued will generate an unfamiliar, radically new internal experience. That experience, strange at first, will eventually be recognized as joy.
This was the thing that stuck out to me the most. When our dreams that we have shatter...new dreams will come! New dreams that if we persue them, will bring joy into our livs. That we can move on, that we can dream again! The hard part is letting go of those experiences and dreams that we feel necessary for happiness. How true-that in our minds we feel like there needs to be dreams or things that happen in ours that should make us happy. That our lives depend on them happening.
I strongly recommend reading this book-for anyone who has a hard time in this area-like myself.
If I continue this post will be so long, your eyes will hurt by the time you finish-if any of you actually end up finishing it. Thanks for listening to my two cents...