Thursday, May 7, 2009

God's sense of humour

I think God must have a sense of humour, or maybe He is just very compassionate. I am learning not to assume that I can know what my future will hold. Each time I think I know what might be going to happen, God adds a new twist to my story, just to remind me that He is in control, not me.

After my last blog entry, I slowly adjusted to the possibility of a move to a new house and some adjustments to my life by reconciling myself to the fact that at least I would still be close to the friends I have made here and the church we are beginning to feel at home with. I reached the point where I was actually excited about the move, and looking forwards to what next year might hold, as well as the exciting thought of living in a REAL house again, with our own backyard and kids bedrooms that actually fit two (or even three) beds in them. "Yep, I can live with that. Bring it on!" I thought to myself.

Foolish, foolish move on my behalf. As I adjusted to this idea, God brought up a new possibility: study at a completely different Bible College, in a completely different city, in a different state. Probably almost the last city in Australia I would choose to move to but, it keeps coming up again and again. Now, as I adjust to the new possibilities and ideas, I am constantly wondering what change to my ideas tomorrow or next week will bring.

So many questions are raised. Do we go ahead and make inquiries into this move? Do we ignore it and hope life will go on with nothing changing? If this move does go ahead, it will require a great leap of faith on our behalf. There seem to be a few possible scenarios. Life may go on as it is, with nothing really changing, which would now leave me feeling somewhat disappointed. Life may involve a move to a new house, with much of the rest of life going on as usual. Both of these options do, however, leave certain questions regarding our future direction unanswered, or unsatisfactorily answered, with future options we are uncomfortable with.

The other scenarios involve an enormous move, with a HUGE step of faith on our behalf. We MAY end up with an employer who pays the study fees, pays a wage along the way and provides accommodation and good support in other areas, or we may find ourselves scraping the bottom of the barrel each week in an attempt to survive in a larger, more expensive city. This option however provides a more desirable long term result.

I know God can and will provide, He has so far, but I'm still nervous about that first step. May He lead us clearly, opening and closing doors as we begin to enquire about our options.