Change is Good

Change...

Change is a word that usually scares people, but change isn't always bad. Yes change can be difficult and create burdens and stress but change isn't bad. For example, I am up at midnight (due to a tornado watch) in our bedroom which has recently become Jacob's office. Some of you may know this and some of you may not. Since we have lived here, Jacob has had the extra bedroom to himself for his office/study. This way we could separate our sleep/relax time with his work time and allow for a more conducive study area. Now you may be wondering why we moved his office into our bedroom or you may not care but this was a big change for us. Let me start at the beginning...

About a month ago my sister decided she wanted to move here to go to grooming school. She had tried college and realized it wasn't for her and finally found something she LOVED!! She had decided to make a big change in her life. Well, since she would be moving to the same city as us, we took the time to help her look for an apartment that she could stay in for 4 months (the period of her grooming classes). So we went on the search for a short term lease that would be in her budget. After a few days we realized that she wasn't going to find anything within her budget. This in turn brought the dreaded question to Jacob and I; could she stay with us. AHHH!!! This was the question we had been dreading forever. We didn't want my sister to live with us and ruin our relationship with her, nor did we want to become like her parents. This would take some time to discuss and pray on. So we took about 3 days. After these 3 days we decided that she could live with us. She was so thankful and offered to let Jacob have his office and sleep elsewhere in the house. We were thrilled! Jacob could still have his office and we could still have our privacy (that as a newlywed couple we still wanted). All this change was turning out to be a great thing. This change would be good, we couldn't be happier, so we thought...

The week before Kaleigh was suppose to move in, I had a tough time falling asleep (much like tonight). I was unable to shut my brain off and kept having these thoughts that maybe we weren't doing the right thing. Maybe it wasn't right to make her be a nomad in the house. Maybe we should reconsider about giving her the bedroom. These thoughts and emotions went on until about midnight. I finally got out the computer and typed them all out. Thankfully after typing them I was able to fall asleep. The next day happened to be Sunday and we were thrilled to go to Providence and listen to the Word of the Lord through our pastor.

Now I can't tell you what passage of scripture the sermon was on or what it was titled, but I do remember that it was a message of sacrifice and living for Christ. Are we as Christians doing all we can to shows God's love? Are we sacrificing? Wow! This really got me thinking. Are Jacob and I doing what we can for others even if it requires a little discomfort for us? The answer was that we weren't. We spent some time together in prayer and discussion and realized that God was telling us something. He was telling us to sacrifice for 4 months and allow Kaleigh to have the office bedroom.

We realized that sacrifice was needed. Through our sacrifice we could show Kaleigh how much God loves her and how much we care for her. We are so thrilled that we were able to surprise her and give her this room. She now has her own space and can truly feel like she's part of our home. Will this change be hard on us? Yes, there will be difficult times. There will be times when we are fighting with Kaleigh (like all siblings do), and there will be times when we wish she wasn't in the room next to us. But God never says there won't be difficulties in doing the right thing, He just says that those in Him will persevere.

So far this week, Kaleigh has moved in and things have been wonderful. Jacob and I are so thankful that she is here and living in our extra bedroom. We pray that God will use us and the time she is here will to bring her, and us closer to Him. Remember that change isn't always bad, sometimes change is good.

Stay at Home Wife

A stay at home wife, the job that I couldn't wait to have. The ability to sit at home, do laundry, clean the house and cook were things I couldn't wait to do as a stay at home wife. I had the assumption that I would sit at home do some laundry, clean, and in between that be able to work on crotchet and learn to sew... boy was I wrong! I haven't been able to do any of that! I had about 4 days being a stay at home wife before we left to go on vacation. I planned on doing a "spring" cleaning on the entire house so it was spotless before we left, as well as starting to crotchet and maybe even get rid of some clothes. Oh the ambition I had. Well, in reality I spent 2 of those days babysitting, and the other 2 days consisted of: laundry, grooming Wallace, grocery shopping, preparing 2 frozen meals for a family (of 8) who just had a baby, a church picnic (we provided another meal for the family of 8-turkey sandwiches), packing for vacation and paying some bills. Now that doesn't seem like a lot but it sure was a lot more then I thought I'd be doing; and that was only the first 4 days!

After the first few days we went on a great vacation with my family to South Carolina. This was Jacob's first time at the ocean and he had a great time jumping waves and boggy boarding. The house we stayed at had a private pool so most of our time was spent there swimming and relaxing. Wallace took his first swim in the pool, and by the end of week was coming in (on a raft) by himself. We had a great vacation spending time with each other and our family. This was the first time that we have spent 10 days together, without work, since we have been married and we are very thankful we had this vacation. It was a time of rest and togetherness that was greatly needed.

Speaking of vacation we spent a lot of time reading books; some of which were internship related and the Redwall series. Jacob loved these books as a child and thought I would enjoy reading them as well. I have read one and must say it is very good and enjoyable. Jacob has read many more and LOVES them!


This week has been spent getting back into the routine and enjoying time with our family here. We have also been preparing for new ministry ideas and arranging our house to be more conducive to studying. One of these new ministry ideas has been creating a new format for our newsletter.

Please pray for us as we revise our monthly newsletter into more of a prayer support/ministry letter, and strength as we continue on the journey of Seminary and ministry here.

Jesus Was-Jesus Is

Here is a bit of an excerpt from one of Jacob's recent sermons on John 1:29-34

Herein lies our great hope and the great reality that is. While Jesus earthly life and ministry occurred in a certain space and time, his ascended reign does not restrict itself to space or time. It is not enough to simply say Jesus Was God, Jesus Was man. If Jesus only existed or only reigned in the past, then what hope do we have here today? We would have none! If the perfect Godman was only in the past then we have no hope!
How happy, joyful, and content we can be to rest in the knowledge that God the father did not leave us to the depths of our own despair! God in his abundant mercy did not leave us drowning in our own pool of sin. He provided for his people by sending his Son to live, die, rise again, and reign forever! It is not enough to simply say with the past tense:
Jesus Lived
Jesus Died
Jesus Arose
Jesus Reigned
We can Rightly say Jesus lived, Jesus died, and Jesus arose. Past tense is the appropriate tense to describe all those events. But if we end with the past tense we reject God's own testimony that Jesus is his Son and as such he Lives forever. It is not enough to say Jesus Was, any unbeliever may accept that Jesus was. It is quite another thing to say that Jesus IS. Jesus IS the Son of God, he IS the promised one of Israel who was revealed to John the baptist so that Jesus might be revealed to his people. Jesus lives, and reigns, and IS forever.
The Apostle Paul says in Romans 11:36
For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen.
The apostle is not speaking exclusively about the past, nor is he exclusively speaking about the present, nor is he exclusively speaking about the future. The Apostle in these words is echoing what John the baptist said concerning Jesus of Nazareth “I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God”. This is
it! This Jesus is he who for so many generations the Jewish people were waiting for! This is he who is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!