At His Command

Over the past year, I have felt a shift in my phase of life.  As our children get older and more independent, it's almost like coming up for air after a season of survival.  Surviving the daily grind of discipline and training little ones...staying persistent and wondering if anything was sinking in...managing 3 schedules of extra curricular activities and piecing it together like a jigsaw puzzle each month.  This is certainly not to say that I think the challenges of parenting are coming to an end.  That proves daily, not to be the case.  But there is a significant change in the issues we deal with and how we go about handling them...it feels just a little less all-consuming.  With new phases, come new challenges and questions.  What does this new phase look like?...as my kids are requiring less of my physical presence, time, and discipline and more of my understanding, encouragement, and oh so many prayers.  Am I effectively encouraging their independence, while at the same time modeling complete dependence on God?  Do I have an open heart to any new areas where I may be able to serve, possibly in ways I would have never chosen?...and the list of questions could go on.  I love the verse in Numbers 9:23 that says, "At the command of the Lord they remained, and at the command of the Lord they journeyed."  I'm not wishing for a second that I could trade places with the children of Israel...the persecution, the years in the desert, the long pursuit of the promised land that many never even experienced in their lifetime...yikes...but when the tabernacle was complete, after they followed all the instructions given to Moses, and every detail was accounted for, the Bible says that a cloud covered the tabernacle.  The nation of Israel had the unique privilege of actually seeing the visible presence of God.  The cloud hovered over the tabernacle and as long as that cloud stayed put, so did they.  But when it moved, they packed up camp and were on their way.  At His command they moved.  At His command they stayed.  As the phases of life shift and change I want to be content to stay.  To stay the course in motherhood and patiently allow God to work in the lives of my boys.  To stay the course in being a loving partner to my hubby and encouraging him in every way I can.  To stay faithful to serving in the ways I have been called.  To stay content in the place that I am.  At the same time, when God says move, I want to move.  I want to have eyes open to the possibilities and opportunities that new stages of life can bring.  I want to be confident that God will continue to lead as long as I keep seeking Him. I want to remember that he will never stop growing and maturing me in my faith as long as I am alive on this earth.  So while in some ways, new phases of life are hard as we say goodbye to seasons we can never get back...new phases are also exciting to see how and when God is going to say, "here we go, let's move".

These winter sunsets have been something to behold...

Happy Tuesday!