Over the past few weeks I've been reflecting on God's faithfulness to us. I've been in a spiritual drought lately and reminding myself of the big ways God has come through in the past is extremely helpful for me in re-engaging with our perfect Father. As we embarked on this journey several months ago there were four huge prayer requests that we pleaded before God. We believe in specific, big prayer requests. In my reflections I have been blown away, encouraged, and fortified in remembering all the ways God has answered our prayer requests. God is not a genie, he does not grant us wishes. God does not rely on our works, saying x number of prayers for a particular thing does not make it happen. But, God does love his children and listens to our pleas. God loves to give his children good gifts. We believe that in times when we can see God's goodness and faithfulness we must relish it because life has storms and sometimes it can be hard to stay encouraged through those storms if we are not clinging to our God and remembering that he is always faithful.
At church last week we sung a sweet song that was really encouraging to me. The song, Family of God, has the following chorus,
Family of God, remind me again
The God that He is
The life that He lived
The child that I am
And so, in that spirit, I am going to share about God's faithfulness to us lately. I pray that these words and evidences of God's good works do not hurt you or alienate you but rather remind you of "the God that He is." If you are in a storm right now, we are praying for you. He is still faithful. Remember that. Cling to that. When life hurts really badly, God is still there, He is still sovereign, He is still faithful, He is still good and loving.
Our Big Four Prayers
1. That God would grant me favor with AdComs in getting into b-school and that He would guide us to the right program.
Not only did God lead us to Booth but He allowed for me to get into each school I applied to for b-school. The transition into Booth has been smooth and every time I walk into the Gleacher Center I look around with pride and joy that this is where God has me right now.
2. That our home in Dallas would sell at or above asking price.
Within twenty-four hours we had six offers at or above asking price. We sold to an all cash buyer, above asking, whom allowed us to stay in our home for free until we moved to Chicago. The profit from the sale of our house will allow us to make it through school without taking out any loans.
3. For us to find a place to live in Chicago that would help soften the landing of being strangers in a new city.
Our home has become a sweet place of refuge for us. We love our home, we love the building that we are in, and are thankful that we have had the opportunity to already host some new friends in our home.
4. For Mike to find a good job that would utilize his gifts and allow him to grow (i.e., not just a job but a step in his career where he can thrive).
I'm so excited to finally share that in a few weeks Mike will start a new role at Braintree. Braintree is owned by PayPal and because of the PayPal eBay split there's been a bit of a waiting time between getting the offer and actually beginning the role but trust me that it's worth the wait! This is a dream job type role - Mike will be a PayPal data analyst, straddling both sides of the company and working for a really great boss while doing so. We are thrilled and thankful.
In addition to all of this, God has definitely reminded us that He prepared a place for us here in Chicago long before we showed up. We have found a great church family (The Painted Door [TPD]- if you're in the Chicago area we would really love for you to come with us sometime) and are starting to piece together a new community up here. (We really miss you Thursday night small group - thanks for continuing to pray for us and include us through this time.) We have started to make several friends here and have enjoyed doing things and sharing meals with these new friends (from Booth, from Slalom, and from TPD). God has helped Mike and I weather this time together. There have been fights and tension, but this time has been marked by so much growth and joy. We feel like we are on a second honeymoon.
A huge thanks to those of you who have walked with us through this season. There have been times when it wasn't easy, and as a result we weren't always easy to be with, but we are thankful for the opportunity to work through this time in the way we need to. Moving cities and starting school at (approximately) the same time is tough but "there, but for the grace of God, go I."
Keep the prayers coming. A few specific things,
- That I may re-engage with God and have deeper time with Him on a regular basis.
- For Mike and I to strike a balance between work, school, personal time, etc. We've made such strides here but we still have room for growth.
- That I may finish strong at school. Hard as it is to believe, we are already more than half-way through the quarter and finals are just around the corner (actually, my final is on my birthday...so there's that...)
Keep us updated on how we can be praying for you all!
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