So let's catch up....Our trip home was one CRAZY ride! Remember we left off with our rv getting fixed in Tuscon. Well, we picked it up Tuesday morning about 10 and we hit the road...FULL steam ahead...We were Florida bound. We stopped on the other side of Dallas to get some sleep, then hit the road again early the next morning. Driving as far as we could, we stopped in Shreveport, LA, for the night and some shut eye. We figured one more night on the road and we would be home, but the closer we got, the more we wanted to just be home. So we kept on driving, and driving and driving. We made it to Lynne, FL, HOME in just 3 days! Our last day of driving ended up being 16 hours. Talk about a push to get home...and we made it! We pulled in around 11:30 that night. We gave our hugs to Greg and Zackary who we surprised with our early arrival and then hit the sack. What a great night of sleep, we were HOME!
Now being home was wonderful, hugging everyone around the neck and catching up on so many laughs and stories. WE WERE HOME......now what?
At first, I didn't want to post the last blog because I really didn't want to come to the reality that our trip was over. I didn't want it to end, so I figured if I didn't finish the blog, it wasn't really over. I know, doesn't really make since, but, it was my way of avoiding it.
It also helped me avoid all of the emotions I was feeling once I came home. I really wasn't prepared for them. Feelings of loss, of not fitting in, of not knowing where I belonged and not knowing my new normal. I felt like there was no place for me anymore. It was so strange, being HOME but not feeling AT home. Everyone was going on with their lives, children had grown so much, new relationships, new members, new studies, but yet, I still felt so out of sorts. I just couldn't put my finger on what was amiss.
I began praying about how I was feeling. It got to the point, I just didn't want to be here at all. I kept asking God to settle in my heart whatever this was that was going on. I wanted to come home and be reunited with my son, my church family and friends, but when I got here after the first few weeks, I was ready to go again, like I didn't want to be here. God being the great God He is, knew I needed to be here. He knew I needed to once again, let go of my thoughts and plans and trust Him with the details of my life. So He settled my heart and I learned to be content with my "right now" and to look for ways He wanted to grow me, transform me and mold me into who He created me to be.
On the road, everything we did required faith and trusting Him, when I got home, it was as if, I took over the reigns again. I took back over, just felt like I was back and I was jumping into the same ole routine, of doing life. Routine doesn't require much faith does it? How much of your life requires you to truly trust God? Sure, we say we trust Him, we say we have faith, but really how much of your life is on autopilot where you do the same thing day in and day out. I think that was where I found myself. I went from my everyday required so much faith to my days being filled with me walking through my life without even sharing it with God. Yes, this is hard to admit, but I never would have learned all of this had it not happened. I thank God, for allowing this unsettling season to come into my life. It was a matter of communing with Him all day to having my quiet time and then off to do what I had planned for the day. It wasn't easy, but looking back, it is so easy to see. I needed to get back into that daily communion with God, get back to that dependency upon Him, even back home in my daily routine I must and need to depend on Him just as much as when I was on the road. I feel that we are to be anchored solely to Him, not to the things of this world.
I also know the trip changed us. I think gave us a stronger desire to pursue holiness with everything we've got. We are NOT left here after salvation to just exist. We are to live lives pursuing holiness, pursuing the things of God, living transformed lives, living in obedience, even in the hard stuff, living daily saying YES LORD. This can only happen in God's Word, and we can't know Him apart from it. I long to know Him more, to have an even deeper relationship with Him.
So now that I just poured out all of that...on with the rest of our short stop at what our address calls home.
We all said we were not going to just jump back into everything and get crazy busy again. We were going to truly evaluate what we were doing and why, and then let God direct our paths on what we should and should not be doing. When you are in a small church it is easy to do everything, because you want to support the person presenting whatever. But is that what we are really to do? So we took it slow, yes, most things we attended and in a blink of an eye we were right back doing everything and having crazy busy lives once again as I said earlier, daily routine and run here, rush there, do this and hurry and do that. Grrr why is it so easy to do that and then live day to day busy and exhausted?!?! That is NOT how we are to be. God is a God of order, everything has a purpose and a plan. I truly believe that God knows very well that there are only 24 hours in a day since He did create day and night and that He created exactly the right amount of time to do exactly what He intends for us to do in one day. To have time for our family and to lay our head down at the end of the day with out being totally exhausted, day in and day out. I think we are a society that is just way to busy and have too many things out of order and wayyyy tooo much priority on things that have no eternal significance. If we aren't doing things for the kingdom, then it is of no worth to God. So with all that being said...hmmm how do we keep that balance, that tension? I have no idea, I'm still here trying to figure it all out myself.
Now, for some really awesome GO GOD news! When we were in Alaska, my sister came out to visit, while she was out there, God opened her eyes to who He is and she went from death to life and became most importantly, my sister in Christ. "Truly , truly, I say to you, whoever hears my words and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He doesn't not come into judgement, but has passed from death to life." John 5:24 came to life for her. We have been so blessed to walk by her side and watch her life transform in front of us. It hasn't all been easy, she has had to do some really, really hard stuff to walk with the Lord in obedience as she is pursuing holiness and a life that is pleasing to God. All I can say is Hallelujah and Glory to God on how excited we are to see her obedience to the Lord. The Bible says in Luke 9:23 "And he said to all, If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." We know to take up your cross means to let go of our wants and desires and surrender them to the Lord, literally "death to a whole way of life" (R.C. Sproul). To follow Him means to take on His desires and wants, to be obedient, YES LORD is our only option. So, together, we are doing just that. I am so excited to share on the blog that she will be joining us on our next journey. We are beyond elated that God has not only opened her eyes, eyes to see and ears to hear but also a desire in her heart by the Holy Spirit to say "Yes Lord."
We plan, Lord willing, to leave on Tuesday, May 31st to set out on our next journey to once again, come along side of different churches and ministries helping with needs they may have and to be a blessing to them for the Kingdom and for the glory of God.
Our journey will once again start in Savannah, well actually Guyton, GA. We will serve at the Savannah Baptist Assembly for the month of June. Helping Kevin, the director, with getting the camp ready for camps and helping with the turn around after camps are finished and anything else that might be needed.
We are tentatively, heading to all the states we missed on our last journey and hitting a few repeats along the way. So that basically means we will be hitting the middle of the US this time with a trip up into Canada to visit our snow bird friends Marg and Don. We figured, since we are already way up there we will continue on over to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick then back down to the New England states and back on down to Florida. Yes, this is going to be another long trip. Probably about a year or so, unless the Lord changes our plans.
We ask that you please keep us in your prayers. The whole dynamic is changing, so please pray specifically that the 4 of us will find our blend as smoothly and quickly as possible. There is always a time of adjustment to acclimate to RV living. Please pray specifically that God would bring us to the churches and ministries that we are to come along side of. Pray specifically that God would bring those into our path that we can share the love of Christ with. Pray ultimately for God's will to be done and for us to have eyes to see and ears to hear Him through His word.
We are all so excited about this journey and all that God has in store for us.
Keep us in your prayers as we continue the gift of RV'n 4 Jesus for His glory.
Serving Him for eternity,
Kristi
Bob & Carol
and CYNDI!!!! Yeahhhhh!!!!
"And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith."
Galatians 6:9-10
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