CHANGE

Recently I have moved...and it has rocked my world! Everything I did, all my routines, are now different. Everything takes more effort when it's new. I don't know if it's getting older that made this move harder than ones in the past, but I'm going to blame it on that! Guess I'm getting set in my ways.

A couple months after I moved, people would ask me how I was liking my new place. I would tell them, "Ask me in six months." I knew I should love my new place but I just didn't. My new house is 3x times as big, in a charming neighborhood, closer to work, all new appliances, beautiful and cute and everything I could have asked for...all things that you would think would make me grateful and make me love my new place. But even though it wasn't logical at all, I wanted to go back to my small apartment. It was familiar. It's what I already knew. I wanted to escape all the change.

I couldn't help but relate to how the Israelites must have felt when they were complaining to God about being in the wilderness after he had moved in mighty ways to free them from slavery. They missed the meals they had in Egypt. They missed the predictability of life that they used to have, even though they were slaves. I wasn't in slavery, but I had prayed about moving and God had provided an amazing and perfect place for me. I wanted to move back because change is hard. I made me wonder where else in my life am I resisting change. Where else does God want to move me to another place, a better place, but I am too 'comfortable' in my current place to trust him to take me to a new place.

So, now I love my new place. I am settled...it doesn't feel unfamiliar anymore. I know where my new groceries stores are. I know some new shortcuts if I want to go somewhere nearby. I have met my new neighbors and so it doesn't feel as lonely. So I was right...it just took six months! As I look back I see how the first two months were horrible. I had to deal with fleas, my car breaking down, little things went wrong that I used to call maintenance for and now I had to figure out how to get it fixed on my own, my neighbor's dog bit me...for a while it seemed like everyday I had something knew thrown at me. But I see now how I grew through all of these challenges as well. (I now know how to fix a running toilet for example.)

God can use our challenges and uncomfortable situations to grow and change us. We look to him when more when we are scared, stressed, or stretched. So I am grateful that he moves me when I need to be moved.

Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.
Isaiah 43:18-19

CIRCLE YOUR PRAYERS

I just finished a bible study on the book The Circle Maker. Here is what I learned about prayer:

Pray BOLD prayers.
Pray consistently everyday for 21 days and circle your prayers.
Be specific with your prayers.
Step out in faith.
The goal is not answered prayers but a deeper relationship with our LORD.