The Wait

Ever since Christmastime our family has been in a purgatory-type of waiting phase as we are stuck between houses and waiting for that special place that we will once again be able to call "home." When I first came to grips with the fact that we would not be able to afford living at our last home anymore, I cried and cried. I wasn't crying because I was worried or upset at God, I was crying because we loved our little home so dearly and had invested so much into it over the past year. There is something that dies inside of you when you are told that you are no longer going to be able to have a home anymore. Your place of belonging shifts, and if you are materially-minded, that can be a scary and upsetting place. Thankfully, for us, God gave us an overwhelming sense of peace right away. We knew that our home really isn't here on earth at all, we live for a heavenly home. And right now, home doesn't look like four walls and a roof - it looks like a little family of 3, patiently waiting on and trusting in God.
Over the past couple of months, we have seen a lot of places come and go - some we were more than happy to let go and a few that we were SURE would be perfect. For whatever reason, every place we've looked at or inquired about just hasn't been the right one yet. There have been times where we were tempted to get overwhelmed and upset, but the undeniable truth always remained the same: "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28. In our 2.5 years of marriage we have seen firsthand how God remains faithful and how God always provides for our every need, and so this time when our home was pulled out from under us, we didn't waiver in our faith. We just geared up and prepared for another faith-building experience.
As I write this, I still don't know where our next home will be, but already we have learned so much along the way, and I feel certain that as difficult as it was for us to let go of our last place and wait here patiently for whatever God has planned for us next, that this will all be WORTH THE WAIT.
Here are just a FEW instances where we were at a loss, but God knew exactly what was happening:

• Ryenne Ashley's birth - born with a respiratory issue, we waited 7 days in the NICU to see what was going to happen to our little girl.  But God healed her completely and by the end of that week we were able to go home without any problems!
• Quitting my job at the Jewish preschool. While at the time I didn't understand why it would seem as if I had failed when I walked away from that terrible situation, a couple of weeks later I learned that I was pregnant and that staying under such stressful conditions could have been very harmful to my growing baby.
• Waiting for a home in Chicago. We didn't know where we were going to end up and we had one day to find a place! Although we were certain we had lost the perfect house, God provided another place above and beyond any expectations either of us had.
• And finally, back to the very beginning of this blog-venture, God providing the means for us to go on a life-changing mission trip to Eastern Europe. God chose to bring in HALF of the support we needed to go on our Eastern Europe mission trip in a single day, less than a week before we would be flying out.

Four examples of God's perfect plan being carried out is a mere FRACTION - the very, very, very, very tip of the iceberg. We may not always get to step back and see the big picture and say, "Oh, so THAT'S why this happened..." But God gives us so many examples of reasons to trust Him, that even when we don't understand the "why," we can cling to the truth that His plan IS bigger, better, and altogether more beautiful than any that we could ever dream up.

Thanks for reading, thanks for praying :)

^ Here's a photo that I thought epitomizes the concept of "waiting" ;) Hahaha