Dishes and Dreams

I love how our heavenly father speaks to my heart through His Holy Spirit when I am being faithful in some of the most mundane tasks of caring for my family such as unloading and loading the dishwasher. I get frustrated that no one around here takes the initiative to unload or load it; it frustrates me to tell someone to do it so I unload and load and clean the sink again..... The Lord whispers to my heart "be faithful in the small things." He reminds me that although everyone else has a full belly and has walked away from the table and is hanging out in the living room, that He hasn't forgotten about me. He is there with me while I wash the dishes. He speaks something so tenderly to my heart that only He would know that I just feel as if I am wrapped up in a huge God- sized hug.

Last night, Nov.22nd on a regular Tuesday night, He says to my heart " I haven't forgotten about the things that bring you the most joy. I haven't forgotten about the teamwork you and Jimmy experience and the triumphs you've had as you have made over 5 houses your home over the past 13 years. I know what you want to be when you "grow up." Keep being faithful in the tasks I have given you to accomplish for now. Be faithful in this season and bloom where I have planted you and ordained that you take strong roots...for now. Continue to join me in my work where I have brought you to be my mouthpiece, my hands and feet, to kids,their parents, and your co-workers. I know it isnt 't your most favorite thing but it give you the most time to be with you favorite people-Jimmy, Harleigh, and Maverick. There wil still be time... there can be windows of time even in this season for you to do what brings you the most joy. Be intentional- ask me to provide you opportunities. Make it know what you love to do. Get more experience. Grow more skilled. And Jimmy, yes, I haven't forgotten about him. The skills that his hands are learning will provide for you for the rest of your life in more ways than one. He is a craftsman and a tradesman. Your gifts compliment each other- that is why you work best together and have always called yourselves "project people." I have a plan for you two- it is bigger than the dreams you've dreamed. It is time yet.. today or tomorrow or next year, but it will be time before you know it. Keep doing the work I have given you to do.When you trust me with your dreams and are faithful in obedience to the work and ministry I have given you for now, I wil take your dreams farther than you could ever imagine.

He gave me a word that will one day be the "face" or "name"
for this dream. He showed me how this word has proved true over the past 12 years of my and Jimmy's marriage. How it has proved true through each of the 5 houses we have made our home. He showed me how he has proved this word true time and time again in my life and in my children's lives and how through this dream of one day helping others make their house the home they have envisioned  through redesign, and remodeling that He will give us ways to share our story and be faithful in their first ministry that He calls us to- our family.

Scary to say out loud. I don't know when it will ever happen, but I know that God is a GOOD GOOD FATHER. I know He makes good on His promises. I remind myself of how He has worked in my past so I can TRUST HIM with my future.

For now... if you have a bedroom,nursery, child's room,living room,kitchen,bathroom, porch or any other space that your have a vision for but the thought of shopping for all of the pieces to make it just right, or choosing a paint color makes your eyes cross then I would love to talk with you about it! I do teach full-time. I am a busy mom who coaches my kid's ball teams, But I know that God will give me windows of time to do things that refresh my soul and give me the most joy if I am looking for them with him. He will make the times work out to meet both our needs. I have no formal education in home design but grew up with a mom who was always redecorating.My favorite birthday gift was redecorating my bedroom for my 13th birthday. I was the girl who asked for dishes and home decor my senior year of high school to help make the house
Jimmy and I knew we would buy soon, our home. I bought an antique mantel from the 1800s as well as a two chairs and a couch for my future home with graduation money when I was 18 years old. I am the girl who now lives in a small and simple home, even still when people come over it makes my heart swell when they say " can I walk around and look?" " I feel so at home here" It is so cozy" " your house is so homey and you have all these things to look at in just the right places" " I can tell you like being creative." I always answer them with a thank you and tell them that decorating and making my house a home is my absolute favorite thing to do.

I have a knack for finding the "just right pieces" at the "just right price." Let me know if your have vision or dream for a space in your home that you want but don't enjoy the steps to take to get there.Give me a timeline and a budget and I wil see how I can help you. I really want to coom amazing meals. I wish I loved to make food for people. But I don't.I loathe it. Cooking involves trips to the grocery store- following recipes which is hard for me because ai get distracted.. and cooking makes a mess. I hate messes. So I have finally accepted that cooking isn't one of my gifts and that's ok.  So if you feel the same way about your home and are tired of looking at builder beige walls that have nothing personal or charming on them that tells about the family or people who live there then let me know.

When God Takes You On The Scenic Route...

This is a little long….haven’t written on my blog since last summer….but over the past week the Holy Spirit keeps nudging me to write….. there will be incorrect grammar. there will be typos. I have kids who woke up and wanted breakfast, and dogs who needed to go out to potty and an outside cat my feet... plus the goats and chickens starting at me through the french doors just watching me as I organize my thoughts and type.





"Are we there yet?" "Mom, mom, mom, mom, how many more minutes?" " Dad! Dad, why is it taking so long to get there?" "You said it was 6 hours, so why is it taking 100 hours to get there?" ........Familiar? Every time we drive somewhere further than church or "town" these questions always come from the backseat. The kid's sense of time is not the same as ours. They are usually bored and in a hurry to get where we are going...fast. Riding in the car for long periods of time can be very boring, even with in car DVD players, tablets, and books. Sitting in the car while riding for a long time is very hard for my kids and even me, because we are movers and people who don't sit still for long. We long to get to the store, the mountains, the beach, Disney, Dollywood, the ball game, but we have to drive and ride to get there. The journey is rarely fun, but it is necessary in getting us to our destination which is where we so desperately long to be.





      Do you ever feel like God is taking you on the scenic route? You trust Him to get you where you are going, but it is taking waaaaay too long for Him to get your there?





     Last week while reading my Bible and having my quiet time... I had one of those moments where the words truly spoke to my heart and registered with my Spirit. One of those moments where you look back on events or things that have taken place and you say "oh, ok, now I get it." In a Bible study I am doing at my church under our facilitator and a spiritual mentor of mine, Dawn Smith, we are repeating this phrase every time we read scripture. "Your word is for me and your word is for now." This phrase reminds us that God's word (The Bible) is living. It is alive!  It is active! God has the power to use the Holy Spirit to minister to us and every time we open the Bible and read God's words in scripture we can relate to His words for us specifically and they can speak to us for our life right now. His words can speak to us about our past, our present and give us guidance and His promises for our future.








So as I was sitting there on my front porch, with my coffee cup, my dogs, my Bible, and my journal…A story from the Bible in the Old Testament, Numbers chapter 10 came alive to me. I had my “oh, now I get it moment.” The devotion started with this quote: “Lord, use the dessert days to deepen my faith in you.” –Wendy Pope





Numbers 10:22


            The Israelites were so full of hope to move to a fairer land full of God’s goodness. An 11 day journey had taken them 2 years! (do you ever feel like you are on what should be an 11 day journey and it is taking God 2 years to get you there?)  You see, God in his sovereignty guided his children on the scenic route, rather than the fast track, for their PROTECTION as well as for their EDUCATION. This is where the past 4 years of a life changing journey my family and I have been on just came flooding at me with memories, situations, choices, paths, all part of our journey that I feel like has been the scenic route instead of the most efficient way to get us from point A to point B. When I say we have been on a life changing journey I mean lots has changed in four years, our home ( 3 times), my kid’s school, church, my job, our lifestyle, etc. I asked God so many “Are we there yet?” questions over the past 4 years. Why not me? Why didn’t I get that job? Why didn’t that house work out for us? Why did you send us to this church or that church for this season of our lives? Why is my kid on this ball team or that ball team? Why are they in this class? What is your purpose for me as far as my occupation goes? Why didn’t you allow things to work out for us to buy the land and build the house we have always wanted to build a house on? Why does my husband have to work so much? Why does he have to do a job that is so hard? ……..God! Hurry Up! Get me there! Get me to the promise land where all these questions are answered and all of these “things” are figured out! The Holy Spirit brings this to my mind like a whisper of calm over my heart “God in his sovereignty guided his children on the scenic route, rather than the fast track, for their PROTECTION as well as for their EDUCATION.” Instantly, question after question and situation after situation from the past 4 years was brought to my mind and clearly answered in my heart. God was taking us the long way around because he knows us best. Jimmy can be very stubborn. I am extremely strong- willed. We tend to need a little more time for God to break us down, build us up, and work on us than some others do. Why didn’t our house sell to those people? How did it then sell to these people that live across the country and needed to close and move in in two and a half weeks? We didn’t build a house there because God was educating us and protecting us. He has us in the home we are now for a purpose and is fulfilling dreams and longings here as fast as we dream them. We were patient. We waited for this place. We came about this house in a very unconventional way and God had to guide us through purchasing it step by step for over three months…while we were waiting and had been living in an unfinished basement for 10 months.  I didn’t get that job at that school then, because God knew where our next house would be and where my kids would go to school and he was already making a way for me to work there back then when I hadn’t even thought about it yet. He didn’t give me the teaching job I asked for after taking time off to be a wife and mom for a few years. He didn’t give me the teaching job I wanted at a good school . He gave me the teaching job that wasn’t even really available at the time.. and it was at a great school, the school that is 1 mile from my house and where my kids attend daily! He knew my kids needed to be in this class or that class to help push them to be their best, rise above, and work harder. He gave them the right teacher at the right time to grow them specifically in the season they were in. He knew the ball team we needed to be on to help and push my kids to give their best no matter their circumstance. He brought relationships and friends ships that are enduring and lasting much longer than a losing ball season. Though Jimmy’s hard physical work, he has blessed Jimmy with exposure and experience. He has been exposed to so many things construction wise that he can do ALMOST anything which has been necessary and essential as we are “always under-construction at our current home which is a fixer-upper.” Through his hard physical work, God is also setting him apart. Not many men can do what he can do. Not many men are willing to work that hard, for that long, in the weather…..He has been given leadership at work and while learning to lead others at work he is also leading more at home.





     You see during the past 4 years, we have gotten discouraged a lot. Our kids have. I have. Jimmy has. Sometimes we still do. I am very discouraged and heart-broken over a situation this morning, even as I write this… “Discouragement can easily take root when our expectations don’t align with God’s timing. Worry replaces peace, and contentment and turns into complaining. What if our wilderness experience is where God will reveal himself to us and prepare us for a bigger purpose? “ –Wendy Pope


 


  


 


 


 


  While in the wilderness we can often:


            See his miracles more clearly


            Feel his presence more intensely


           Worship him more authentically


           Obey him more sincerely

• From First Five, Wendy Pope with Proverbs 31 ministries

 


John 5:17 ….even when we don’t think God is working he is!


 


1 John 4:13 “This is how we know that we live in him and he in us. He has given us his spirit.”


 


 


        I am reminded of another time during the past 4 years where I felt that I was on the long way around/ the scenic route. I was in another summer Bible study at Lakewood and it was July 2014. It was a study by Priscilla Shirer on Discerning the Voice of God. I was in the middle of unpacking and moving into the house we live in now. I was trying to decide what to do about school and leave my kids where they were comfortable and happy and provide my own transportation for them and keep them there through the charter program OR leave the school we loved, leave their friends and make new ones, leave the teachers I had gotten to know and go to a new school, the school right through the fields and woods from our house as the crow flies. I was trying so hard to know how to make that decision. I was in tears over it. I felt sick over it. Then I was brought to the story in the Bible about Moses and God speaking to him in the dessert through a burning bush. I remembered something from one of Priscilla’s video lessons….”Bushes don’t burn in the palace….bushes burn in the dessert.” Moses had to get out of the palace. He had to get out of his comfort zone. He was in the dessert, but all the time in the dessert had put him in a situation where he was very focused on God. He had to trust God with that season of being in the dessert and with the how do I get theres? And with the what do what do I do next? Now that I am away from my home, out of my comfort zone and this is not what I am used to…. God was protecting Moses and educating him to be a great leader for his people and influence, lead, and help change many lives, not to mention history!


 


            Back to the Israelites in the dessert….. remember, they were traveling. They were depending on the Lord. Numbers 9:23 “At the Lord’s command they encamped, and at the Lord’s command they set out. They obeyed the Lord’s order in accordance with his command through Moses.  “The cloud was shade by day and fire by night. It would rise and fall to tell them when to set up camp or when to move on. It was also a message to surrounding nations that God’s favor was on them.”” When the time arrived to pack up and go, they forged ahead into the unknown wilderness with bold confidence trusting God was leading and protecting them.


Deut. 31:8 (…He goes before me…)


Isaiah 30:21 ( …this is the way, walk in it…)


Romans 8:31, 37 ( We are more than conquerors)





- Wendy Blight


The Israelites never knew when the cloud would move. They watched, they waited and they obeyed. When we are on the scenic route, we don’t always know when God will tell us to turn next or make a move; we have to watch, wait, and obey so we are ready to make to turn or get off the exit when he tells us to!


I have a note in the margin of my Bible that goes back to Jan. 5, 2008. Dawn Smith reminded me of a promise I could pray and count on God for. We were trying to sell another home we had and find a home in a different area and that was a better fit as Harleigh was almost 1 year old at the time and I was pregnant and expecting Maverick that August. Dawn reminded me of Deuteronomy 1:32-33 “But even after all he did, you refused to trust the Lord your God. Who goes before you looking for the best places for you to camp, guiding you with a pillar of fire by night and a pillar of a cloud by day.”  


Instead of the cloud, we have the Holy Spirit that lives within us at all times. (Romans. 8:14) She said, Lindsey! The Lord has determined your boundaries, just like he did the Israelites. He had gone before you and knows the best place for your family to set camp. Trust him. Claim this promise. He is good! Y’all, I know this to be true! I have clung to this verse on many scenic routes and long journeys and can say He goes before us. He knows the best route! He knows the best path for our journey and plans our route specifically to align it with his will and purpose for our life and how he can best use us and get the most glory for our story


 I prayed that same verse 5 more times and made notes in my Bible from Jan. 2008 to Oct. 2015 because it specifically applied to my waiting on a home and a job. God is so faithful!





     I am now praying for God to help me be BOLD and stay in the car with him on my next journey….teaching 2^nd grade!   I have moments where I just want to jump out or while we are at a rest/ food/ gas stop….I hope I can sneak off without him noticing. ) It is a new grade for me to teach! A new group of ladies to teach with! A new age of kids to teach and curriculum that isn’t all that familiar to me, but God made a way for me and has brought me to this position and for that I am thankful. I don’t have a whole lot of confidence in myself but I do HAVE CRAZY STRONG CONFIDENCE IN GOD because I know without a doubt that he has determined this is the best place for me to set camp occupationally. I know it is where he will best use me and I know that he will get the glory for making me strong when I feel weak  and uncomfortable and growing me to know more about him and his character, and his heart for me.





 


So….all this to say….Thank God for the scenic route. This morning and over the past week, I have a new appreciation for the journey is has taken me on to get to where I am today. BUT I have to be so intentional on remembering and sharing how God has worked in my past to trust him to work in my future. I get in a hurry. I panic. I FREAK OUT! I cry a lot. I get “fear paralyzed” and forget everything he has ever done for me at times. Then I open my Bible or my journal that is filled with words that the Holy Spirit has given my heart when I need reassurance to continue on the journey God has for me and to let go of the steering wheel and sit back and enjoy the scenic route that God has already prepared in advance for me.


                        A grateful girl that is super grateful he provides grace for the MOMent,

Lindsey