Full of Joy

All of the sudden life has gone from easy-going, laid back, and chill to full speed ahead, faster than the speed of light, and plain old BUSY.  I anticipate life to remain at this speed as we continue to move forward in youth ministry.  With all the craziness going on, I just had to stop in and say PRAISE THE LORD for the privilege of serving him full-time and getting paid for it!  Could there be a better job on the planet (For Chuck that is, I'm just the faithful side-kick.)?!

My friend, Laura, was sharing with our ladies prayer group last night and her thoughts really spoke to my heart.  She was almost exclaiming how tired she is of suburbia.  Laura has such a longing for God to use her mightily alongside of her husband.  She longs to be out in nature, even on the top of a mountain and be able to open her arms wide and proclaim....everything....to God.  Though she struggled to make sense of the deep longing in her heart, those of us women in the room felt it, too.  I was particularly convicted because God has been stirring my heart about how I spend my time.  My days are a joy to my soul.  I am living in the freedom of doing what I love each and every day.  I have the privilege of watching my husband begin a new job that he finds so much passion, purpose, and meaning in.  Together, we are honored to serve God and teens.  Yet there are times when I know in my heart I haven't made the most of my day.  ...

As Chuck and I's one year anniversary approaches (20 days!) this month there have been some significant changes going on.  Before our wedding, we chose to take a year off from full-time youth ministry.  As we sought wisdom and counsel from others we were really excited to spend our first year focusing on our marriage and each other.  Chuck agreed to a verbal contract with IBM for one year.  We joined a church just a couple miles down the road from our apartment ( Reston Bible Church ) and began volunteering with the youth group there. We desired to serve God in our church for the year and believed He would lead us to full-time ministry come summer time.  We began the process of searching for churches in need of a youth Pastor.  It was incredibly encouraging to be in contact with several wonderful church bodies.  Deep down inside though, Chuck and I both truly desired to stay at our current church that we know and love.  As we talked...