Where Have I Been?????

I have been with God!!

It has been over a month since the last time I posted here. And I must say, what a month it has been! Thanksgiving came and went and the time that I was able to spend with my immediate and extended family was memorable. As I get older, I cherish those times more and more - especially times with my aging parents. I know that my time with them is limited. My camera never got a rest as I tried to capture every moment!

The Christmas season whirled in with its' usual stresses and quite honestly I didn't know if I really wanted to deal with it this year. However, as the season progressed I came to realize that this Christmas was going to be different. Different because God was working (sometimes to my annoyance and fear) in my life this year and He wasn't going away. He was making sure that THIS Christmas I didn't miss Him!

Now, this may seem surprising to you. SHOULDN'T God be present in our lives at Christmas??? Well yes, he should! But that doesn't always happen with me. Most times I am so caught up in all of the "trappings" of Christmas and all of the "to do's" of Christmas that many years Christmas comes and goes and Christ has been so excluded that the only evidence that He was a part of it, sits in the form of a statue in the Nativity set on my piano.

Not this year. No, not this year! God was VERY present this year. God was stirring in me. And, He wasn't going to be quieted or packed in a box until next year!! You see, my life has changed dramatically over the past month. Many "constants" have changed. After serving in my church as the Coordinator of Christian Education and Jr. & Sr. High Youth Leader for approximately 15 years, God has called me to a new church and to new possibilities.

It has not been without its' struggles and its' tears. I have wrestled and struggled with God over this one. But my God is a persistent God and He wasn't going to back down on this one. This decision came with many convictions that where I WAS is not where God NEEDED me, or WANTED me to be any longer. There are many "reasons" why this is so. Reasons that I don't need to share here. But the greatest thing, and the thing that God planned for me in all of this, is that He has stirred and renewed in me a desire to seek Him like I have not sought Him in the recent past!! Isn't God cool that way!!! He ALWAYS turns something that we perceive as bad into something so good that we often cannot see it until our unbelief and doubt is erased by His faithfulness and mercy.

Now don't get me wrong, there have been many times over the past few weeks when those questions of doubt have raised their ugly heads. But in those times, God has spoken loud and clear that I need to trust Him and believe Him for those things He has promised me through all of this. He has closed one door, but another window has been opened. He has promised me that He will never leave me and that He will reward me for my "earnest" seeking of Him through all of this.

My prayers for myself, as well as for you, are that we would be "God Seekers" in 2009. I want to search out and seek God's direction and His will for EVERYTHING in my life. Stayed tuned as I see how God continues to work through and in me over the next few weeks, minutes, seconds....

God is Good!!