Spoke too soon...

I finished my last post by promising to write about why we were having a respite from troubles. A day or two later I got sick. Upper respiratory infection that led to acute bronchitis and then to allergy-induced asthma. So here I am 2+ months later finally writing. I still think our family is in a relatively calm period of life. The kids are all pretty healthy, which I used to take for granted but never again. Eric is truly enjoying ministering and preaching at our church Chevis Oaks Baptist, and I'm also enjoying being part of life there as well as home schooling the kids, teaching piano lessons, and generally loving life in our new home. We are so blessed to have the friends that God has given us. Our house is perfect for our family. Our church is an alive, loving place with people who really love the Lord and want to grow spiritually. So what if I was sick for a month and a half? As my husband/pastor so eloquently reminded us Sunday night, we all deserved the Lake of Fire, but God has saved us from that. So what else could be that bad?

I do think there are reasons for our current season of calm. (Oh, Lord, please let it last a little longer!) The first is that we needed this after two and a half years of transient living and uncertainty. The kids in particular needed a sense of stability and peace. The other reason that I'm seeing more and more is that Eric and I both need a place of calm and quiet to refresh ourselves since being in ministry takes a lot of energy. We have people in our church who are dealing with
tough issues in life, among them: marital difficulties, illness (their own or a relative's,) job insecurity, children in crisis, unanswered spiritual questions. In order to be able to help them/encourage them/talk to them/cry with them/pray with them we need a fairly calm life of our own. To take on others' burdens is a privilege, mind you. I find it actually blesses me and strengthens me to be there for others. But if Eric and I were dealing with crises in our own lives, we wouldn't be able to help others.

Since we don't know the mind of God I won't dare to guess what our next real trial will be. Please don't misunderstand, our lives aren't perfect (whose life is?) We have to budget our money, discipline our kids, pay taxes, clean the house, do the laundry, pay the bills, etc. But these are merely the normal tasks of life. During this time we need to be sure to stay in God's Word and not slack spiritually. Isn't it funny how we tend to cling most tightly to the Lord in times of trouble? Should I be praying FOR a trial? Or should I be thanking God we're not in one right now? Or both?