Topsy turvy sea*

my tree house box gets to come with me when we move!!



toystoystoystoys = lots of boxes!





Boxes + toys =





= fun!!



We moved in the weekend and its seems like with kids everything gets a bit trickier!! where did all those toys come from anyways? its like they have infested the place and you don't really notice them until you try pack them away and then its like they come alive at night like in the "nutcracker" and you find them again in a new nook....and seriously when we moved the couch... wow so that's where all the books went, who knew so much could be slid under a inch gap!!! where there's a toddler there's a way!

...sooo about that moving... I hadn't really thought about it until I was in the next house and all of a sudden I had this feeling of being totally in the deep end and out to sea far from shore...

 I didn't realise how having a secure place to live was like having a security blanket until we'd left the four walls of the last place. How quickly we can trust in things over God...we have the use of a house for the next 5weeks but after that we have no plans...I also realised that somtimes we dont deal with change very well...

During the last few weeks Gods been giving me lots of pictures - its the biggest way I hear him speak {pictures are my language, I love that he speaks to each of us uniquely and personally...}

...the picture I got after that initial sinking feeling was a picture of a boat in a bath.

And it really sums up alot at the moment as it kind of feels like we are bobbing round in water with no place to land, and no prospect of a shore to call our own...

but quite honestly I'm so used to this way of step by step living that it just seems normal now... but also only because Gods really been faithful in giving me little pictures along the way to encourage me that we are going in the right direction..and just cause theres not shore it doesnt mean theres no HOPE..

In the past when James was working full time things were super stable {bordering on boring} and it was like God was in front of us and we could clearly see our life before us, but then when we felt him wanting us to move to ChCh and do a "youth with a mission" school our lives totally changed and we have been really learning to trust in him - for everything... in the past to be honest I didn't really to do this, nor was inclined to lean on him for not just direction in life but even day to day stuff...and now its like rather than holding our hand and showing us life he's got his hands on our shoulders and it's us just stepping as he shows us our next move... and I think now that we are here, it definitely makes you feel very 'present' in life.. and i have to say I kinda like this new way...

I think sometimes God lets us feel out of our depth so that we turn our eyes back to him, but I believe that he will never let us Be out of our depth and that he always has us right in the palm of his hands...

{the lesson from the waters of Marah and Elim}

I was thinking about the this whole journey thing and thought of the Israelites and how they wandered in the desert for 40 years, for a journey that physically should have only taken 11 days!.. and it struck me that  how their journey began set the tone I believe for the rest of what would come "...for three days they travelled in the desert without finding water..." {exodus 15:22} but when they did find it, it wasn't what they were asking for and it was bitter (Marah), but rather than going to God about it, they grumbled and complained amongst themselves and found someone to blame - and in the end God did turn the water sweet, and he made good of their situation..."then he brought them to Elim which had 12 springs, it was a good place."... and it was even better than anything they'd been asking for... but their complaining in the misdt of tough circumstances I believe was part of them taking 40 years to get to the promised land rather than 11 days {geppers I dont want to take 40 years!!}  

I think its a real challenge when life throws you a curve ball, to keep your heart right and not get really negative...And so I think the biggest life lesson I'm learning at the moment is that while you may not be able to see "the promise land" and things arnt what you would have them be, its all about taking it all back to God and still dreaming about the future but all the while not letting the current circumstances make you bitter and stagnant but rather to make the most of the present circumstances...

So this whole thing about a boat floating round a bath with no land in sight is really about believing that God does have our best interests at heart but really wants us to trust in him while we float about and make the most of our situations {party at sea anyone?} and to keep DREAMING about the promise land! To not let the water go stagnant but keep stirring up the dreams he's placed within us cause when the time is right land will come into sight/ and he will smash the walls down of the bath and let that little boat free and then its gonna be another great adventure... but in the mean time I'm learning to just be happy when lifes all out of wack on this Topsy turvy sea!

xoxo