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Posted on September 30, 2022
My friends, I would like to first say that I’m so sorry for taking so long to post another blog! Life has been hectic with school, sick kids, church activities, and physical therapy! The time just slipped away from me, and here we are, two weeks later, and I am finally writing something else! Thank you all for your patience!
I want to talk a bit about the promises of God. But in order to really understand His promises, we need to first understand what a promise is. A promise is defined as
To tell someone that you will definitely do something.
onelook.com
That is how the world defines a promise. But how does the Bible define a promise?
The promises of God reveal His particular and eternal purposes to which He is unchangeably committed and upon which believers can totally depend.
Dictionary of Bible Themes
In both definitions, it’s clear to see that a promise is a big thing. It’s important, and something that we wouldn’t want to go back on. But can you think of a time where someone has broken a promise to you? Or can you think of a time where you broke a promise to someone else? If you could see me now, I’m raising both my hands! We get to a point where we either don’t make promises anymore, or don’t believe promises being made to us, because we aren’t wanting to break them or get disappointed when someone breaks theirs. Sometimes, because we’re sinful, we use promises to get something that we want, or to get out of something, or to just be sneaky. Sometimes people use promises intending to break it, and then hurt the person who they made that promise to. Promises weren’t meant to be weapons to use against each other.
It reminds me of an episode from an Australian kid’s show, Bluey. The episode is called Promises. In this episode Bluey and her dad keep breaking their promises, or using their promises to get back at one another. But after seeing how much Bluey’s little sister Bingo trusts their mom’s promise, Bluey learns the power of promises and why it’s important not to break them, or use them against someone. One thing I love about this episode is that it shows that even the dad was using a promise as a weapon against Bluey, and they weren’t understanding how important promises truly are. When someone says “I promise” to you, you cling to that, and you put your faith in that! You don’t use a promise to embarrass or hurt someone.
Now, I understand the times when our promises are broken and do hurt someone. You may not have meant to break it and hurt that person, but sometimes that happens accidentally. We’re humans, and sometimes we want to keep these promises and sometimes we can’t, no matter how hard we try. Remember that kid show I talked about earlier, Bluey? The whole episode started with the dad taking Bluey and her sister Bingo to an indoor trampoline park. While they were driving there, Bluey had asked her dad to take them to the library afterwards. Her dad said he promised he would take them after. By the time they got out, it was later in the day, and the library had closed. Bluey was upset with her dad because he broke the promise he made to her. As a parent, I got annoyed for the dad because there was nothing he could do! The library had closed. He can’t help it! But if you look at Bluey’s side, you also understand why she was upset. Bluey is young enough where she didn’t fully understand that the library was closed, so the dad had no choice but to break his promise.
I always try my best to not make promises to my kids, that I’m afraid I can’t keep. I don’t want to disappoint or hurt them. Do I always succeed in that? Definitely not. But there is one thing that I am truly thankful for, that we have a God that keeps His promises to us!
What an incredible reminder for us. We have this God that not only makes these promises to us, but He also keeps them! When He makes us a promise, we know it will happen. It may not happen right away, or when we think it should, but we can rest assure that it will happen! My next post I want to take a deeper look into the God’s promises and relying on them day to day!
Remember friends, promises aren’t meant to be used as weapons, or something to just say even when we don’t mean it. Promises are important, and something that we should take seriously, especially if we’ve made one to anyone!
Until next time!
Posted on August 22, 2022
Hello friends! It has definitely been quite some time since I have posted anything on here! My, how the times have changed, and things have just gotten even crazier! So let’s start with a little life update!
When I first began this blog, we were living in a small upstate New York town. My husband was pastoring a small church there, and we had lived in this town for close to 7 years. We loved the town, and all the people that we grew very close to. However, the Lord slowly showed us that it wasn’t where we were meant to be anymore. My husband then put his resume into different churches that were looking for a new pastor. I had known that things at our current church were no longer good, but had turned more toxic. My husband was coming home from meetings so discouraged and upset. He no longer felt he could minister there anymore, as he was being fought at every turn. I was hesitant to move because I had some really amazing friends there, and are our kids grew up there! I had known we were meant to close the chapter with the church, but why couldn’t we just stay in our town? Couldn’t my husband find somewhere else to do the Lord’s work while remaining living there? Can you believe that? Could I BE anymore selfish?? (Now say that with Chandler Bing style. If you know, you know.) I knew I needed to let go of my desire and trust that the Lord knew what He was doing and knew where He was leading us. So my husband then went through the interview processes with a couple of churches, and there was one church that we really connected to. So, on February 12th, 2022, we moved to an even smaller farm town in Pennsylvania where my husband is now pastoring! And guess what, we couldn’t be happier!
Yes, it was hard for quite a bit of time. The kids, especially our oldest who is 11, struggled the most with this change. But now if you ask her if she would want to move back to where we were, she would say no. She would say she would want to go visit more, because there are people she misses, but she loves her school, and the church, and is happy where we are. Dealing with this change had come in so many different emotions, and learning to handle them has been difficult. I wanted my kids, and myself, to feel the loss of the friends that we had because I felt it was important. But I also wanted them to understand that when we follow the plan that the Lord has for us, there are blessings in that! I wanted them to understand that they still had to be respectful to my husband and I, and even to the new church members that they would meet. It didn’t take long for them to fall in love with the area and church. For that, I am so thankful that the Lord allowed it to be a bit easier than we expected!
Change is inevitable, and also never easy! I don’t claim to be an expert in dealing with change, because I am not perfect at that, believe me! I still fight change when I can, but there is one verse I had clung to during this whole transition. In fact, I cling to it every day, because it is my life verse.
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Jeremiah 29:11 NIV
As much as I struggled with many emotions about moving, I knew that none of them would compare to the plans that the Lord had for us! I knew He wasn’t doing this to us to hurt us, or to make our children want nothing to do with Him, but He did this because He was giving us hope and a future! He was giving us a future that I never saw for our family, and it’s so much better than the plan I would’ve had!
Since we’ve moved, there have been many blessings that I never really knew our family needed. Would we have gotten these blessings if we stayed where I wanted? I’m not sure, because thankfully we didn’t stick with my selfish desires. I do know that I don’t have the desire to find out what could’ve been. Did I struggle with the change? Yes. Do I still sometimes struggle with the change? Yes, but only when it comes to missing certain people. Am I going to not live a life pleasing to the Lord because we aren’t where I thought we should be? Absolutely not! If anything, moving here has ignited a bigger desire to know, love, learn, and live for the Lord!
My friends, the Lord has that perfect plan for you! I’m not saying that everything will always be good, because we all know it won’t be! Even when we follow the Lord’s plans for our lives, we are still going to experience trials!
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
James 1:2-4 NIV
Trials are going to happen, whether or not we follow the plans that the Lord has for us. However, these trials are going to produce steadfastness in us, and a hope that we can only have in the Lord! Friends, I encourage you to continue trusting in the Lord, and surrendering your life to the plans that He has in place for you! The joy you will receive will be overwhelming!
Until next time!!
Faith and Coffee 