Faithfulness...

Psalms 66:5-6 Come and see what God has done, how awesome his works in man's behalf! He turned the sea into dry land, they passed through the waters on foot - come, let us rejoice in him. 

Reading these verses this morning, made me pause and reflect on all God has done in my life the past 17 months. In the beginning of 2014 the Lord gave me two very clear and direct words.

1) I was going to homeschool all 3 of my kids for the upcoming school year. I had already been homeschooling my son and working a bit with my 2nd daughter, but my oldest daughter was attending a Christian school for the past two years and she LOVED it there. I wasn't sure how I was going to break the news to her and I really didn't know how she was going to take it. I didn't tell her right away and I started praying that the Lord would prepare her heart for the news.

2) He was going to sell our house. We bought our first home with the thought of living there a couple years, build some equity and then sell it to buy our first family home. Well due to the market crashing that was not the case. 10 years and 4 kids later we were still living in the house we thought we would only be in for a couple of years.

So after receiving both these words in January of 2014, I told my husband what I felt the Lord was saying to me. He was on board with me homeschooling, but selling the house, well let's just saying he and not heard that from the Lord yet. I went to the Lord and just started praying. Lord, did I hear you right? What am I to do if my husband is not on board? My Heavenly Father gently told me "You do your part and I will do my part." Those words gave me so much hope and excitement for what He was going to do. For the next couple of months I began praying that my husband would hear from the Lord; during that time I started cleaning out closets. About 3 months later my husband came to me and says I feel the Lord saying we are to get the house ready to sell. There was part of me that wanted to say "See I told ya!" However, I didn't. I was just thankful that my husband and I were on the same page. We started working together on the items that needed to be done so we could sell. We also shared with our children what we felt the Lord had told us and every evening during our family prayer time we would pray for the sale of our house and the purchasing of our new home. I begun to get excited to watch my kids' faith grow as the Lord fulfilled His promises to my family.

I think it was the end of March or the first part of April that we told our oldest daughter that she was not going back to school next year. She cried as expected, but the more we discussed it and talked through the decision, my daughter began to be ok with it and almost got excited to stay home. In June, the Lord started preparing my heart and mind to homeschool my 3 kids. I started planning and getting really excited. Now this past school year has not gone exactly how I had planned, but it has been good and it has been such a blessing to watch my kids' relationships with each other grow.

On September 22, 2014 we put our house up for sale. It was exciting and nerve racking at the same. On December 19th we signed papers, handed over the keys and walked away from a house that had been our home for the past 10 1/2 years.

God took almost the whole year, but He did it. I started homeschooling all 3 of my kids and He sold our house in 2014. It was a crazy, stressful and exciting year. My faith grew in more ways than I can count. God continued to be faithful time and time again. When things started to look like they would fall apart, He would gently remind me "You do your part and I will do my part."

Some times life doesn't look like what we thought it would or things don't work out the way we planned or some times God's timing is not our timing, but when we step back and allow God to lead and do His work, He will be bless us far more than we could imagine or think.

Ephesians 3:20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurable more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us

Remembering where the Lord has brought you from, reflecting on His faithfulness in your life is such an encouragement and a strong way of building your faith. Especially when you are in a place that is hard, that doesn't make sense and not what you expected or planned. For me, looking back on 2014 makes it easier to hold tight to the promises that He hasn't fulfilled yet.

Psalms 117:2 For great is his love towards us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.