Changes

These last 2 years have brought a lot of changes in my life. First, after much study, thought, prayer, and debate, I became convinced, nay convicted, of the sovereignty of God and the reality of election from the scriptures, specifically Romans and Ephesians. This lead to looking for a new church home. A few months after we had found a Biblically based church, I found a book in the church's library entitled "Letting God Plan Your Family". After working through this book and the scriptures it referenced, I became convicted to stop all forms of birth control and give the control to God. This lead Cristy to the Above Rubies magazine and website dedicated to seeking God's plan for family. (Incidentally, she is at an Above Rubies retreat as I write this.)

Next, we moved to a new house which is much closer to my work. I've enjoyed having a ~10 minute commute instead of over 30 minutes. We finally sold our old house last week after it being tied up in a short sale for almost 6 months! The mortgage company was slower than molasses in giving us an answer in accepting/rejecting the short sale (due to the dropout in housing from the economy, we were forced to sell for less than we owed). God was gracious to us through this - despite having 2 mortgage payments for 9 months, we are in a better financial state today! In fact, we later learned that the mortgage company (actually the mortgage insurance company) wanted us to pay $13,000 as part of the deal, but forgot to include it in the sale papers (it was not mentioned in any of the closing docs!). But since both the buyers and us had already singed the closing documents, it was too late for them to force us to pay them! So this was a great blessing from the Father!

In February, I went to a men's retreat with men from my church. The theme of the study was on spiritual warfare using Ephesians 6 as the study text. During this retreat I was convicted of the importance of being a man of integrity and leading my family in God's ways. This lead to me considering quitting the counselor we had been going to since before we were married - all 3 convictions listed above are not shared by him, so we were growing quite far apart.

A few weeks after this Cristy and I went to an Above Rubies family retreat in Louisiana. At this retreat, I was further convicted of the need to leave our counselor, and decided to do so when we got back - Cristy was similarly convicted. Also, I was convicted to remove TV from our lives. So when we got home, I erased the DVR, disconnected it, and canceled our TV service. We still use the TV to watch movies (lately we've enjoyed documentaries)  occasionally and play Wii-Fit. Our home has been so much calmer and peaceful since we "cut the cord". Cristy and I have been spending more time together talking and painting (Paint-By-Number is great fun!). Removing TV grew out of the study of spiritual warfare: I felt the TV was an open access point for Satan into our home and family. Right after this, we were blessed with finally receiving a response from the mortgage company that they would accept the short sale (with further negotiations about the specifics)!

I have also been working on having daily family (which right now is just Cristy and me, but Lord willing, we'll add to this) devotionals. This was one of the things we men talked about in our study time at the family retreat. I have been using Daily Light on the Daily Path as a guide. It has a morning and an evening reading for each day of the year. Each reading is a collection of scripture verses organized around a theme. I have also been reading a chapter from Proverbs each day as well as other scriptures as moved.We have both benefited so much from daily reading of scripture and have seen God speak to us through it several times. We recently traded our 2005 Camry in for a 2009 Murano (another significant change!), and during the shopping around for our next car we read Proverbs 23. The specific verses that stuck with us in this were Proverbs 23:1-8, where it speaks of "not desirous of his dainties, for it is deceitful food". This verse ran through our minds the entire time we were shopping and helped us keep from getting overly attached to the shiny cars they put before us.

So, in summary, over the last 2 or so years God has taught me to rely on Him for everything. He has been working in my life mightily and I am excited to see what He brings next (hopefully children!).

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²⁰ Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, ²¹ to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21, New King James Version)