Pressing On

"I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." Phillipians 3:14

Happy New Year! Hard to believe another year has come and gone! As I read all the Facebook posts, so many people are hoping for a "better year" in 2011. I think it is so easy for us to look back over the year and think about all the difficult things we dealt with, but I guarantee that if we take each one of those difficult circumstances, we can surely find many blessings embedded in each one!

Our year consisted of a home with black mold; moving; my hand surgery; Jordan's gastric bypass and the usual culprits of car troubles, appliance outages and the all consuming FINANCES! But out of each one, there have been positive changes made and lessons learned.

One of our most positive is the success of Jordan's surgery!! At this date, he has lost 127 lbs and has dropped his BMI 15 points!! His surgeon believes that this is a record for his patients that are four months out!! Most importantly, he feels better and is able to do so much more! Which translates for me: he is in a better mood and does more for me around the house! It was a long, long process, but so worth the time that it took because he was ready for the changes that came with it!

I love the way the Lord uses what we think are "delays" as one of the most important times in our lives. After a long recovery from hand surgery, I began to put my sewing business together with an etsy store and doing more custom aprons. I was so excited about what the Lord was speaking to me about where it was going! For several years now, my love of quilting has grown and my desire is to use that in ways if sharing the love of the Father. I was presented with the God-given opportunity the first of December to purchase a previously owned quilting/sewing machine that I had only dreamed of owning! After much prayer, I took the leap and signed the agreement believing that God would use it for His purpose in moving forward in this dream. Two days after bringing it home, I received a call from my Dr. who had done a routine colonoscopy the prior week telling me that they had found cancer in my colon. The next week consisted of tests to see if it had spread (PRAISE God, it has not!), appointments with surgeons and many, many questions. My initial reaction was peace. Okay, this is what I have to deal with, another bump in this crazy road of life I've been on. But other thoughts crept in as I began to deal with the issue of surgery (January 3 at 10am) and the removing of that section of colon and the surrounding lymph nodes. The "what if's" would begin to swirl. But through the years of the many trials I have been dealt, I have learned that when these "what if's" start, we must replace them with the precious promises of God. The Lord has given me so, so many promises and many, for what I believe is the restoration of what "the locusts have eaten."

“I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten— the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm — my great army that I sent among you." Joel 2:25

I will not tell you that I haven't had my moments of fear. That would be a lie (and I don't lie ;)). But I do have such a peace about the outcome of this surgery. I'm not looking forward to it, it's going to hurt! But I'm going to trust that the Lord WILL work all things together for His good and that there will be blessings abounding even as I am pushing that pain-killing medicine button!! Not that I'll lose as much weight as Jordan, but losing a few pounds could definitely be one of the blessings!

Mostly during that time, I am going to spend time with the Lord and dream about where He will lead me with this business and how I can further His kingdom through it. And then, when the pain is gone (sooner, rather than later I hope!) and I am healed, I am going to PRESS ON into the future that He has for me!! And a really, really GREAT New Year!!