Series: Drawing Near (part 1)

The past 9 months have been emotionally, physically, financially, and spiritually draining for all five of us. A few of the things we have experienced include:

• a calling on my husband's life to seek a seminary degree
  
• a job change resulting in 1/3 of his previous income
  
• my return to a full-time job in education after staying home for seven years
  
• putting Flower and Bird in part-time childcare arrangement
  
• a scary medical diagnosis for Flower that will be with us forever
• beginning the journey towards foreclosure of the house we have owned for 6 years
• changing churches due to our desire to find something more grounded and less modern
• the ripping away from me of a ministry that I had given myself to for two years
• growing distance in our friendships due to our new busy schedule
• generally a chaotic home that isn't calm or peaceful as it should be

Through all of this mess we have been seeking God's will - or so we thought. I was struck by a verse in Zephaniah 3 this morning that says "She does not trust in the Lord, she does not draw near to her God." The she in this case is the city of Jerusalem, but the words just hit a chord in me. I have been realizing that though we have been claiming to be seeking God's will and direction, we have drifted further and further away from Him in the chaos.

I know now that the only way we as a family can begin to dig out of this pit is to draw near to the Lord, turn our attention back within our four walls, and heal our family with His grace, mercy, and power.

I will continue this series until I tell our entire story with the hope that it can be a blessing to anyone dealing with unmet expectations, dashed hope, or life's unknowns.