Decisions and Hope

Last night my husband and I put the kids to bed and sat down to read some Scripture. We haven't really made the time these last couple of weeks. We have been spending some wonderful time with family. It was great having them over for Christmas and New Years. It seems that every year my mom and and I make a plan to do something with our walk with Christ together. This year we are memorizing certain Psalms in order of prayer, recognition of God, and praise. Our first one to memorize is Psalm 1. This is what I was reading last night. This is the first verse, "How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers!" There is a reference here to Proverbs 4:14, so I flipped over there to read it. This talks about how important it is to listen to instructions and keeping your feet from evil. I prayed this for my kids. My mom prays for her grand kids so I think I may suggest this to her to pray over my kids and nieces and nephew.

After I had finished praying I realized something about our own situation. We do not stand in the counsel of the wicked, stand in the path of sinners, or sit in the seat of scoffers. Yes we sin, we also have Christ's sacrifice that we have accepted so that we have forgiveness. We are blessed. Right now we have many decisions to make and set backs to consider. This makes it hard to remember we are blessed regardless. Currently, my husbands classes for his Masters did not work out this semester. We need to decided if he is going to declare another degree program or change the one he has been working on. This impacts us financially. He did get a job online, blessed. Another decision is that a church in Minnesota has reached out to my husband and wants to get to know him for a job. After all we have been through in our last ministry position we have many things to consider about getting back into paid ministry. The nice thing about this one is that it appears he would be doing what he loves and would not be the senior minister. Here the elders are the shepherds and share the load of leading the church. If this is really how it is set up I think it would work out. We are going to have a call conference in the future to learn more about them and they about us. Even with all of this chaos going on, we are blessed. Regardless of what we decided we will be blessed.

This is what I think of when I think of blessed. I think of Job who was blessed physically after his trails. I think of Paul who had everything taken but still praised the Lord, He was blessed spiritually. I think of myself and my list of things I have seen God do in my life. I have things listed in the physical and spiritual sense.
I was given the power to forgive (previous posts)
My mission trips as a teen: money raised, safety, lessons learned
Perfectly timed gift of $10 from a professor's wife in college
My husbands mission to Uganda: pens (story in itself), articles he now writes, safety, and money raised
Boxes of food that would appear in our kitchen during ministry
Always had a place to live
Safety during a youth group trip to Colorado
Jobs have been provided just when we needed them
Redeemed relationships with my parents (story for another time)
Mother in law did not die due to recent medical issues, in fact she is back to work and doing better
My daughter was provided a new coat
Found doctors that has helped my husband with his medical issues
I have grown a great deal spiritually because of a dear friend of mine
Our daughter fell off a bike close to home, busted her chin. Husband carried her home. A friend drove by just then and helped me take the bikes home.
Have had great gardens
I have started a business with Trades of Hope
Our daughter mimicks me with Bible reading, copying of Scripture, and memorizing
Our son has the most adorable honest prayers, and he wants to pray
My husband found Scripture in Hebrews that provided hope to him and us during this time of transition
I am learning about depression, to better help and understand my husband
My husband has found it theraputic to write about what he has learned
He has also found it theraputic to do mathematics
He has an article that will be published
He passed the first half of his teaching certificate
Groceries always seem to be on sale just when we need to save a penny or two
I did not get fired when I did something pretty dumb at work
Our daughter sent a picture to her Kindergarten teacher, she got a letter back
Current teacher for our daughter is helping her with math
My husband and I communicate and listen to each other
We still see our adopted son and son to be wife, even though we moved
Our van still works with no major needs
Discovered in time that my current degree is not what I wanted
My husband cooks and clean while I work (he is a great cook, too)
Discount for our son's daycare
Our kids do listen to us (even if it doesn't seem like it)
Moments of joy with my kids and husband

The list is endless, but this is what I have written down from a while ago. Some of these came by other people. You can be the other person. Leave a bigger than normal tip, hold the door open, help someone find product in Wal-mart (we all know how are this can be), watch someone kid for free, volunteer at a center. There are so many ways to impact others. I have been impacting others close to me and now I get to impact others around the world by working with Trades of Hope. You can too. You can host an online party, join us in selling, or shop! All these ways help women and their families stand on their own.

www.mytradesofhope.com/amyjosims

Have a great and blessed day. Until next time!