What God Has Been Doing

Despite the silence on the blog, God has been up to big things in the past month.  Many of them haven't quite been at the sharing stages yet, however. 

Yesterday day was Father's Day, and it felt very appropriate that my scheduled Bible reading ended up including the story of David and Abigail.  A good reminder that Abigail won't just be my daughter, but my husband's, too.  And oh, how God has been working overtime in his life!

For the past 7 years, my husband has taught at a school 35 miles away.  He has really enjoyed his time there, and felt that God really led him to that school when we moved to the Midwest.  But for the past few months, there was a discontent with knowing that he would be having to leave a grade that he loved teaching due to enrollment.   Despite this, he was prepared to switch to a new grade and make the best of it in hopes that someday he would be able to get back.

Then in a series of events that could only be God, he ended up applying for a job at the school district a few blocks from our house.  That began a roller coaster of a few weeks that included an interview for a different position than he'd applied for, only to find out he didn't get that job.   We both mourned lost opportunities, while he resigned himself to remaining where he was and taking steps to do that.  Almost immediately, he was contacted for an interview for a different position at the close school, which led to a crazy day of determining whether it would still be possible to make a switch.   That came just before the long Memorial Day weekend, so we spent an agonizing four days waiting to hear back if he would still be able to interview for the position.  He did end up getting to interview for it, and was contacted the next morning with a job offer!  All this in the middle of the end of the school year and dealing with sickness making its way through the house.

So thanks to God's hand at work, instead of commuting an hour and a half each day, it will take less than ten minutes.  The savings in time, gas, wear and tear on the car .  . . almost too much to count.  And, he will still be with the age range that he's come to prefer teaching.

But there's probably more in store that just hasn't been revealed yet.  Because while it would be nice to think that all of that is blessing for doing such a great job, chances are God has a bigger reason for moving him closer.  Whether that is in preparation for new ministry focus, in preparation for Abigail, or both remains to be seen.   In any case, the way the details of this job change came about left us with no question that it was God's hand at work. 

And during this process, I learned more than I dreamed about the way that God can move when something is part of His plans.  So often during it all, I found myself thinking "this will be the roadblock that stops the whole thing ~ God, if this is part of your plan, you'll have to be the one to move the mountain."  And time after time, that's exactly what He did.  I had to face the possibility that I'd put more emphasis on the things that would make our life better with a job move than on the One who could make our lives better no matter what the circumstances.  The depth of my disappointment when it looked like there wouldn't be a job change was humbling, as was the realization that we'd been letting some of our walk with God slip, especially as a couple, in the midst of the daily grind.   I realized that I was approaching this new possibility with guarded emotions, afraid to let myself hope too much ~ quite similar to the way I'd approached pregnancy after miscarriages.

So now we prepare to trade in the green and gold for the orange and black, and head into new directions.  The job change is only the tip of what God is doing in my husband's life.  I can't wait to see what else He has in store!