In the Right Place

Today is Monday, the beginning of a new day and a new week, sometimes I need that chance to 'start-over'!! While the week after we got back from Florida was a total chaotic whirlwind, this past week was more of an emotional one. I am just so glad we've reached the start of another new one again!!

Some may say it's coincidental that all these things just happened one after another, after another last week. Not to get all heavy and spiritual about it but I totally believe we came under attack as a result of being in the right place at the right time, exactly where God wanted us to be.

Going to bed last Sunday night, already feeling exhausted after the crazy week before, we knew we had a lot to prepare before this weekend (just gone) which seemed overwhelming at the time. Catching up with ourselves from our return from Florida and then with both the MOPS resale, sorting through all our baby stuff til late every night, setting up Friday and selling Saturday and our churches Mission Conference, Saturday evening and Sunday morning, lunch and evening for which we were one of the main speaking families with more preparation necessary, seemed quite enough to cope with.

Last Monday morning started as any other ... but then the bath stopped draining .. and then none of the sinks would drain anywhere but into the bath. It was gross and the plumber couldn't come til Wednesday! We only washed up our dishes once a day and it wasn't pleasant to see all the water revisit us in the bathroom! Monday evening Naomi started getting a temperature and over the following 48 hours was feverish, not eating properly, not sleeping well and not detaching herself from me, day or night. So imagine ... no shower, no sleep and no space! Not a good combination when I had SO much to get done. Each day got a little bit more difficult and a little bit more emotional. 

On Thursday morning Naomi started screaming unconsolably which when exhausted already (the night before I'd had the least sleep so far that week, 2 hours on the sofa and 2 in bed) was really tough. It seems she had reacted badly to her MMR vaccination the week before ... so for the rest of that day we just had to sit-out her discomfort and draw on strength that was definitely not our own.

Already in tears because of this and exhaustion, we then received an email offering us a placement after Ohio for our family with MAF. While it should have been joyous news, as we're really excited to see what God has next for us, it was to one of the few places we have always thought we wouldn't be comfortable going to ... the final straw on the toughest day of the week, knowing that we still had 3 full-on days ahead of us.

Add to all that, our usual perfect sleeping daughter woke up a few times and came in with us once (even less sleep!!) and tooth ache agony for me having cracked a tooth and lost a filling recently but not having had the chance to get it sorted out yet. You can see it was quite the week and these were just the big things that affected us along with the ordinary day-to-day stuff and a few other things!!!

Already this Monday, so many of the major issues have been resolved or made more manageable for which I'm sure I'll write about in the weeks to come. But even in the midst of it, we knew in our hearts that the reason it was all being thrown at us was because we were right in the centre of God's will for our lives. While that didn't make it any easier to experience, it was comforting to know  ... and to know that God was walking step-by-step through it with us.

Over the weekend, in spite of how we were feeling, we were really privileged to be able to share with our 'home church' here, all about our calling into mission, what we've done before, are doing now and are going to be doing, as well as challenging them about being willing to go into mission themselves. It seemed to be well received and we have gained new supporters as a result which was an unexpected surprise. We suspect that the conference and our chance to speak openly about God and all he has been doing in our lives was the root cause of everything else, however seemingly unrelated, that happened in the lead up to it.

Sunday night came and we both breathed a sigh of relief ... and as we expected life has totally calmed down. Following God's lead isn't always comfortable but it's certainly exciting. I'm grateful that I have the perfect partner in my husband, that we could stand firm and work together as equals to get through it with God at the centre. 

OK ... my little preach is over! ;o)