It's Not the Place, it's the Grace!

I was tempted to entitle this "I Figured it Out" but that was pretty misleading...

I didn't want people to think that I ...well,...had it all figured out...or at least thought I did!

That's a lot to live up to, after all...

But I came to one small conclusion yesterday...

"It's Not the Place, it's the Grace!"

I was trying to figure out why we're so blessed in our new home in Ohio.  I know that it's not that Ohio is magical because if it were, millions would be flocking here.  And I must confess that I wasn't thrilled with Ohio when we underwent our first tornado watch 3 days into living here!  I was ready to move back to Arizona!  We actually prayed that night as we slept upstairs all bold and in-your-face believing that nothing was going to happen that God didn't want to (well, Bryan believed that, I was a tad scared...to death!  Trying not to be, but kinda was.) that if it was His will that we moved here, that nothing would happen to the house that night.

We were concerned that we had just earlier that day put up a brand new trampoline for the kids which in no way had we secured before heading to bed.  It resides next to a sunroom of all windows.  We thought for sure that if nothing else, it was gonna go through the windows and cause a lot of expensive damage.

It did not.

God keeps confirming that we're supposed to be here.  And that blesses our souls.

We gave up a lot to come here.  We felt led by God to be part of Alistair Begg's church.

We seriously reconsidered the day we left when the entire family, aside from Trevor (who was at school), was bawling their eyes out in leaving Tim behind.  Trevor was already settled in college in California and we'd had more time to detach from him in healthy ways but Tim...Tim had just graduated and it felt like we were abandoning him.

So fast forward to my revelation yesterday.  "It's Not the Place, it's the Grace!"...Sometimes I worry that in all my postings on Facebook, I'm trying to validate something...like we're happier than we are, I'm a better mom than I am or something.  So, I'm posting all these new pics in Ohio: the trampoline, the treehouse, the swing set, the dogs and kids running wild and free...

It's not because of Ohio.

It's because we were led to take a chance, take the spiritual "Nestea Plunge" and trust God by moving here and His Grace is what keeps blessing us over and over!

My cup is truly running over!

No, Bryan doesn't have a job yet.

Yes, we're way behind in homeschool.

No, we're not over abandoning Tim yet.

Yes, we miss Trevor like crazy too.  We didn't see him that often but every 6 weeks is better than once or twice a year.

But there's a huge blessing taking place in our hearts and spirits as we've obeyed the calling we've felt He's placed in our lives.

So, once again: "It's Not the Place, it's the Grace!" of God...

Have a nice Friday...
:)