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.