Speaking of Colorado...

As many of you know (or maybe have wondered) part of our trip to Colorado was exploring the area with the eyes of a tourist, and part of the trip was looking with the eyes of "Is this a place we could live?"

I'd love to give you friends all a little background so you can understand our situation. Ralph works for a company that contracts out to the government. He works for D.C., mostly, and has been able to telecommute or be a nomadic employee for the last...um, maybe two years.

This has been a HUGE blessing. When we moved to Bend, Ralph gave up all his exciting work over there on the East Coast and took a good (but not nearly as challenging and exciting) job here in Bend. **Let me say right here that this was a HUGE sacrifice on his part. Ralph really enjoys his work right now. He loved his work back East, and wanted to continue on there, but it was really, really far from our families and I wanted to be closer to my family- so he gave it all up and took the lesser job for ME. What a dream husband!** About a year later he was able to get back on with his old company in Virginia, working at a desk right here in our house. What a dream for him, and me. We seemingly have the best of both worlds.

While his job is going well and his employers are increasingly impressed with him, (it's a good thing Ralph doesn't read my blog) his position is getting more and more frustrating because of his inability to do certain things well away from the office, and move forward in his career. He has turned down promotions in the last six months, jobs that require his physical presence. It's nearly impossible to manage a team from across the country. Ralph wants more and more to be office-accesible. The other issue we have is that there isn't a single job available to him in Central Oregon. While we aren't going to borrow trouble from tomorrow, there is a certain wisdom in setting ourselves up to succeed...in this case, having job possibilities.

So, all that to say, we have been looking at our options a bit. If we needed to move, or chose to go so that Ralph could be in a better work environment...where would we go? Our options for his work: Seattle, San Diego, Colorado, Virginia.

So that brings us to our Colorado trip. Yes, we were there to check things out. I am a little familiar with Seattle, Ralph is a little familiar with San Diego, we lived in Virginia- but we knew nothing about Colorado. So off we went.

Some of you have wondered aloud what we learned, whether we've made any decisions.

No. No decisions. We did like Colorado Springs, but we aren't at this point ready to make any decisions. We don't know for sure what we need to do, where or whether God is leading us in this area...I don't really think God cares where we live, it's how we live.

So we wait. The waiting, that's the hard part. The wait... always waiting, waiting to grow up, waiting to get married, waiting to have babies, waiting to sleep through the night, waiting...the Great Wait to be with my Savior forever. Waiting for job answers, waiting for home answers. I know you have these waits too.

But I hear God prompting me to trust Him.
And I told Him I don't know what that looks like, trusting Him in what is going to happen. That it's all going to be alright.
God asked me then, to trust Him in the process. Trust Him in the wait.


So I'm called to rest in Him. Abide in Him. Wait in Him.


That's been hard.


Yesterday, I was praying through my afternoon, God reminded me of that sweet promise: Jeremiah 29:11...

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Typically, I look at this verse and find hope that God has good plans for me, not to harm me. The hope and the future.

Yesterday I saw the other part. "...the plans I have for you."
He has plans for me.
He knows my days.
He's known all my days since before I was born.

So this, my friends is why I don't have to worry about the future. I will write His word on my heart, on my doorposts, speak them aloud all day long because if I don't, I forget.

Please remind me. And I know my friends, that I don't wait alone. I will pray for you as you wait for whatever that is for you.