Works of God Monday

Today has been a good day of reflection for me. It was a year ago today that we had our final service at Calvary Baptist Church in Midland, MI. God allowed us to serve four years at Calvary and then made it very clear to us that He wanted us to move to CA. I am thankful for those years in MI. Personally, MI holds a special place in my heart, since that is where I was born and raised. We lived two hours North of where I grew up, and I still have extended family members in the Detroit area that I was able to see at times. We enjoyed Thanksgivings and other fun times with aunts, uncles, and cousins. It was so nice for my parents and sister's family to come up to MI from SC. We were a day's drive away then, and of all places for us to have moved to, my family was glad it was MI. They could come see us AND visit with their siblings and friends that they have there. Well, that has all changed and we struggle with that emotionally at times, but Kris and I would not want to be anywhere that God doesn't want us. I know my sister and my parents feel the same way. God makes no mistakes. His ways are perfect. We know life is about Him and His glory, and we want to live out that truth! We are humbled to be part of His work here in SoCal.

It is really neat to look back at what God did in our hearts while serving at Calvary. He taught us many things about Himself in new ways, things about ourselves, and much about ministry in new ways as well. We thank Him for the variety of experiences He gave us both in SC for 8 yrs. at Grace Bible Church and for the 4 yrs. in MI. The ministries and responsibilities/positions at those churches were quite different, and we pray that God will use those experiences to help us here in CA.

The friendships we made in Midland are very special to us. I have missed those people a lot! Today especially brought out emotional times for me, as I thought about how God brought different people into our lives and allowed us to minister to them and alongside them. In so many ways, they ministered to us too. I'm thankful for the way that those relationships continue today.

I think that I will try to post more often in the next two weeks and share somewhat of "a year in review" broken up into several posts. You wouldn't want me to do it in one. Ha ha I will add some pictures of the last year in there as well. As my friend, Jenny, said today, "A picture is worth a thousand words!" and that should cover some of it. :-) I guess the posts I've done in the last year really tell a lot of the story too. There is much to praise the Lord for! A passage of Scripture that our family has memorized this year is this:

Psalm 34:1-3

1 I will bless the LORD at all times;
his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
2 My soul makes its boast in the LORD;
let the humble hear and be glad.
3 Oh,magnify the LORD with me,
and let us exalt his name together!

God has truly done great things! Thank you for your prayers for us over this year. I can't tell you how much they are still appreciated.