a glimpse

I don't even really know where to begin today's post -- let's just say that I have a really thankful, content heart today! It's great! Here's what happened: I had a date today with my husband. We left our house at 9am and returned home at 6pm (weird time for a date, huh?) Well, remember from the previous post if you will, that I was in Houston earlier this week with my mom when I noticed a billboard advertising the Crocs AVP Tour in Houston today, tomorrow, and Sunday! Lance LOVES the AVP! He wears yellow AVP crocs pretty much everyday - no joke! So, I immediately thought that we should go. At first, I wanted to make it a surprise to him, but I was having a little trouble arranging a babysitter AND remembered that we were having a college fellowship (SMACKDOWN, to be exact) here at our house Friday night, so I decided to go ahead and let him in on my plans so I could see if he thought we should try and go or not. He, of course, wanted to go. So, we figured out babysitting, got everything ready for the party and left our house at 9am so we could watch some of the tournament and get back in time for the party. So, what makes me be so thankful/content today?
A few things: 1)my relaxing, fun date with my husband - it is so good to get away, even when you're just watching sand volleyball, 2) the ability to stay home with my kids, and 3) the fact that God knows best and only gives us glimpses of our future, revealing only what we need to know right then
I met Lance in High School and got one of the 1st glimpses of my adult life: that I would be his wife! That was awesome and God worked it out in His own time (that story is a totally separate blog post -- maybe even it's own blog page)! I graduated High School and got another glimpse: just go to school and finish (so I did, with no real career goal in mind, but was totally okay with that). While in college, I got a really important glimpse that I have never questioned and am so glad that it's not something I struggle with: that the purpose of my life with Lance is to serve Him vocationally. I've never been on the payroll where Lance has been the minister, but I never questioned that it was my full-time job as well, to be a minister there. If it's being a student minister, then those students are our lives -- we invest in them and do our best to point them to Jesus each and every day. If it's being the minister of recreation, then we played T-Ball or Basketball every Saturday and had practices every night of the week, in hopes that someone would come to know Christ. If it's being a worship pastor at a brand new church where students still need ministered to and college kids need discipling and TONS of little things just have to get done, then that's what we do with our time and energy. That was a long description of the glimpse God gave me, but I embraced it and have lived it and LOVED it. There is a point here, I promise. And maybe all of this reflecting is happening because I have a milestone birthday coming up (no, I'm not turning 30 yet, but 29 is really the milestone, because it's your last year of being in your 20's)! Anyway, I just realized today, when I got home and started getting ready for our party and loving on our boys that I am so incredibly thankful in so many ways. I'm so glad that I am able to stay home and be a mother all day, everyday. Was that EVER something I aspired to do with my life? No, not necessarily, but I believe God gave me another really important glimpse today. I left my house at 9am and returned at 6pm and felt like I missed my kid's whole day; I felt like they probably missed me, because we are usually together all day. Then it hit me: this is what working moms do EVERYDAY!!! Thank you, God, for giving me a glimpse of the purpose you have given me with my kids. Thank you for directing me to get a college degree, then moving me somewhere where that degree provided no real job opportunities. Why should I be thankful for that? Because had I tried to be in control of all of that, I would have been career focused when Boston came around, but instead I had a job where I got to continue to be with Boston everyday and be the minister alongside Lance that He had called me to be.
I feel like I am totally rambling here, which I am, but my heart is just so full - I can't get it all out in type fast enough. I'm just so glad that God tells me, little by little, what I am to be doing with my life. Marry Lance. Go to college. Get a Degree. Be a Minister with Lance. Be a Mother to your children. So, I'm going to keep doing those last 2 things until He gives me my next glimpse. I'm not going to worry about a career or the future or other menial things --- I'm exactly where God wants me to be, doing exactly what He wants me to do and I'm so glad! I'm glad my life is all about Him. It's my pleasure to serve Him with my everything, to open my home up to students 24/7, to let my husband spend his time doing the things that need to be done in a new church, to raise my kids among all of this!
Thank you God for the glimpses!!!