God is so good.
I'm glowing...
I'm currently 32 weeks pregnant, and if I'm not glowing on the outside, I certainly feel like I have much to glow about on the inside. The baby is happy and healthy - moving around regularly, and head down - ready to go. Growing well too! Ultrasound measurements, estimate that this bubba will be bigger than Judah and Nathan. I'm physically feeling well and looking forward to meeting this little one. With so little time to go, Clayton and I had better put our heads together and come up with a name or two! Life feels like it has been so busy that we have not had much time to stop and face the reality that our lives are about to change radically.
Aside from feeling good about our third child's imminent arrival, I feel absolutely contented and marvellously delighted in God's love for me and my family. This past year has been the most wonderful season for us as we have been blessed beyond belief.
Blessed in our finances:
I'm learning, that God really is looking out for us and that He really does want to bless us. How is it that we were prepared to take a huge step backwards financially in moving out here for Clayton to study, and yet, a year later, we have hardly gone backwards if at all? We haven't even been living poorly either. I mean, we've enjoyed a pretty blessed existence, and have enjoyed luxuries that most people will never experience. All I can conclude is that God is a generous God and that He continues to be our provider. And what does all that mean in the context that we live in, when there are poor homeless people living on the streets that surround us? Without a doubt, God has blessed us to be a blessing, and while we have not the means to welcome each and every homeless stranger into our home to be warm and well fed, we have had the ability to do the little things to strengthen their spirits and give hope. We're glad that we have had this time to expose our children to the reality that not everyone has a warm bed to sleep in at night. We're even more delighted in the response that this reality has drawn from them. Both Judah and Nathan treat each beggar with respect. Rather than looking the other way and ignoring the man on the corner who jingles his coin collecting cup up and down, they interact with him and engage him in conversation. They bring a smile to his face and plead with their dad to have a turn to give him some money. One of the things that we have observed, is that many homeless people have a greater awareness of God and their need for Him to help them make it through each day. Perhaps this is why Jesus said "Blessed are the poor". I can pretty much say for certain that you and I will never live in such severe poverty, but regardless of how rich or poor we may be, we need to forever acknowledge our dependence on God as our Jehovah Jireh - our provider. As we face this next chapter of our lives in Chicago, we don't yet know how it will all work financially, but in the words of brother K. Conner, "If it's God's Will, it's God's bill." We're feeling a great sense of peace that He will continue to meet every need, and that he will continue to guide us with the resources and skills that He has already given us.
Blessed by community:
We've been blessed by our Fuller family. Living in this community has be the most positive experience as we have learnt more about what it means to live in community - to love and serve one another. Here we have found life long friendships and I have learnt that keeping up appearances is an enemy to authentic community and hospitality. I'd rather have an open door to a messy apartment where okay, so the dishes are piled up and the floor needs vacuuming, but conversation flows and lives connect, than have my 'closed for business' sign up because I feel the need to hide the fact that I'm not perfect at keeping my home in order. I don't mind if people see the real me, and frankly, I'd prefer it if they did. As I'm learning in the book that Clayton and I are reading together, (Abba's Child by Brennan Manning); keeping up appearances is a worthless and destructive exercise. I'll be honest and admit that I'm still human and want people to think that I have it all together, but I'm slowly discovering that there is more freedom in just being myself and being okay with that. I've been blessed to be a part of a community that considers the needs of others - where meals are prepared for families going through a tough time and material possessions are shared; where families care for not only their own children but also their neighbours, so that husband and wife can enjoy a precious night out. You know that Christ is at work, when a family who have just had their third baby, have meals 'taken care of' every night for the next month!
Blessed that God has been working both in and through us:
I'm going to be vulnerable with what I'm about to share, but I feel like the way God has been leading us has been instrumental in tearing down the 'impostor within' that Manning refers to in his book Abba's Child. By this he means the false self that we would like to project and be know by. Okay, so that explanation probably does not suffice, and you'll just have to read the book for yourself, but one of the areas that he talks about is how we start to allow ourselves to draw our identity from our achievements, and interpersonal relationships. Coming out here, we were at last no bodies. We had no reputation to precede us and no position or title that demanded honor or respect. We were here - plain old Clayton and Angela Coombs. It's been a refreshing and encouraging time. So it turns out that people seem to like us for who we are - that's nice. But not the point. We have not had to live our lives preoccupied with acceptance or approval, but have enjoyed living out of who God has made us to be. It has been delightful to see Clayton loving what he is doing and digging deep - not because he has to, but because he genuinely wants to. And I have loved being immersed in community and raising our boys - not a flashy or thrilling life, but one where I feel like I have been able to find myself. So that's right, I was going to share vulnerably with you, well I suppose that having Clayton serving in a full-time ministry position brought with it a certain degree of prominence. We walked away from that because we knew that we needed to be obedient to where God was drawing us to next, but for the longest time, I believed that we were supposed to return to full-time ministry and that that would be the next step. But it's amazing how we can have a sense of what the future holds, but be totally clueless about how it will all unfold and when. God has an amazingly natural yet unmistakable way of leading our lives and He has not led us in the way that I would have expected. Had you talked to me a year ago, I would never have dreamed that we would spend the next four or so years living in Chicago while Clayton worked on a PhD. A more likely scenario would have had us return to Melbourne to settle down and get back into serving once again in the local church. How does doing a PhD fit in with a 'life long call to ministry'? Well we had to settle the issue. Yes we ultimately feel called to serve the local church, but in what capacity? Only God knows. So this is where I get vulnerable; I think that it was my flesh that secretly sought after the prominence that came with ministry leadership, and that I felt that we needed to put ourselves forward and 'make it happen'. But we have resigned to the fact that if we were to give ourselves the permission to push or force open doors that God was not really opening, then we would only be submitting ourselves to a place of toil, putting our noses to the grindstone so to speak. So we are just going to follow God, and trust that He will open the right doors to us in His good time. He has mercifully granted us the opportunity to once again live life without prominence. I suspect that our children's lives will be all the better for this decision, as from what I have observed, seldom do children benefit from a parent's prominence, but rather they thrive on the significance that parents place on their lives by sharing the best years of their lives together.
Blessed with family:
Today we celebrated Judah's 4th birthday. For most, a 4th birthday is just like the third, and not as big a deal as the fifth. But for us, Judah being a leap year baby, was finally celebrating his birthday on February 29! It has been a wonderful week for us, as we have been reminded yet again of the love that our family back home in Melbourne has for us. The delivery man could testify that we have been thought of this week, with the number of packages that have arrived to wish Judah a happy birthday. Then there have been the phone calls, cards and emails as well. With family like that, our children will never have reason to doubt that they are loved. And speaking of family, wow I feel blessed in my marriage to Clayton and blessed at the privilege that it is to have brought children into the world with him and be able to play such an integral part in raising them together. I am convinced that my life is good.
Well it is extremely late, and I fear that this blog entry is long enough that no one will have read it. But since it has served the purpose of helping me reflect on God's lavish blessings and love, I suppose that it doesn't really matter if no body reads it.
That will do for now!
Blessed in our finances:
I'm learning, that God really is looking out for us and that He really does want to bless us. How is it that we were prepared to take a huge step backwards financially in moving out here for Clayton to study, and yet, a year later, we have hardly gone backwards if at all? We haven't even been living poorly either. I mean, we've enjoyed a pretty blessed existence, and have enjoyed luxuries that most people will never experience. All I can conclude is that God is a generous God and that He continues to be our provider. And what does all that mean in the context that we live in, when there are poor homeless people living on the streets that surround us? Without a doubt, God has blessed us to be a blessing, and while we have not the means to welcome each and every homeless stranger into our home to be warm and well fed, we have had the ability to do the little things to strengthen their spirits and give hope. We're glad that we have had this time to expose our children to the reality that not everyone has a warm bed to sleep in at night. We're even more delighted in the response that this reality has drawn from them. Both Judah and Nathan treat each beggar with respect. Rather than looking the other way and ignoring the man on the corner who jingles his coin collecting cup up and down, they interact with him and engage him in conversation. They bring a smile to his face and plead with their dad to have a turn to give him some money. One of the things that we have observed, is that many homeless people have a greater awareness of God and their need for Him to help them make it through each day. Perhaps this is why Jesus said "Blessed are the poor". I can pretty much say for certain that you and I will never live in such severe poverty, but regardless of how rich or poor we may be, we need to forever acknowledge our dependence on God as our Jehovah Jireh - our provider. As we face this next chapter of our lives in Chicago, we don't yet know how it will all work financially, but in the words of brother K. Conner, "If it's God's Will, it's God's bill." We're feeling a great sense of peace that He will continue to meet every need, and that he will continue to guide us with the resources and skills that He has already given us.
Blessed by community:
We've been blessed by our Fuller family. Living in this community has be the most positive experience as we have learnt more about what it means to live in community - to love and serve one another. Here we have found life long friendships and I have learnt that keeping up appearances is an enemy to authentic community and hospitality. I'd rather have an open door to a messy apartment where okay, so the dishes are piled up and the floor needs vacuuming, but conversation flows and lives connect, than have my 'closed for business' sign up because I feel the need to hide the fact that I'm not perfect at keeping my home in order. I don't mind if people see the real me, and frankly, I'd prefer it if they did. As I'm learning in the book that Clayton and I are reading together, (Abba's Child by Brennan Manning); keeping up appearances is a worthless and destructive exercise. I'll be honest and admit that I'm still human and want people to think that I have it all together, but I'm slowly discovering that there is more freedom in just being myself and being okay with that. I've been blessed to be a part of a community that considers the needs of others - where meals are prepared for families going through a tough time and material possessions are shared; where families care for not only their own children but also their neighbours, so that husband and wife can enjoy a precious night out. You know that Christ is at work, when a family who have just had their third baby, have meals 'taken care of' every night for the next month!
Blessed that God has been working both in and through us:
I'm going to be vulnerable with what I'm about to share, but I feel like the way God has been leading us has been instrumental in tearing down the 'impostor within' that Manning refers to in his book Abba's Child. By this he means the false self that we would like to project and be know by. Okay, so that explanation probably does not suffice, and you'll just have to read the book for yourself, but one of the areas that he talks about is how we start to allow ourselves to draw our identity from our achievements, and interpersonal relationships. Coming out here, we were at last no bodies. We had no reputation to precede us and no position or title that demanded honor or respect. We were here - plain old Clayton and Angela Coombs. It's been a refreshing and encouraging time. So it turns out that people seem to like us for who we are - that's nice. But not the point. We have not had to live our lives preoccupied with acceptance or approval, but have enjoyed living out of who God has made us to be. It has been delightful to see Clayton loving what he is doing and digging deep - not because he has to, but because he genuinely wants to. And I have loved being immersed in community and raising our boys - not a flashy or thrilling life, but one where I feel like I have been able to find myself. So that's right, I was going to share vulnerably with you, well I suppose that having Clayton serving in a full-time ministry position brought with it a certain degree of prominence. We walked away from that because we knew that we needed to be obedient to where God was drawing us to next, but for the longest time, I believed that we were supposed to return to full-time ministry and that that would be the next step. But it's amazing how we can have a sense of what the future holds, but be totally clueless about how it will all unfold and when. God has an amazingly natural yet unmistakable way of leading our lives and He has not led us in the way that I would have expected. Had you talked to me a year ago, I would never have dreamed that we would spend the next four or so years living in Chicago while Clayton worked on a PhD. A more likely scenario would have had us return to Melbourne to settle down and get back into serving once again in the local church. How does doing a PhD fit in with a 'life long call to ministry'? Well we had to settle the issue. Yes we ultimately feel called to serve the local church, but in what capacity? Only God knows. So this is where I get vulnerable; I think that it was my flesh that secretly sought after the prominence that came with ministry leadership, and that I felt that we needed to put ourselves forward and 'make it happen'. But we have resigned to the fact that if we were to give ourselves the permission to push or force open doors that God was not really opening, then we would only be submitting ourselves to a place of toil, putting our noses to the grindstone so to speak. So we are just going to follow God, and trust that He will open the right doors to us in His good time. He has mercifully granted us the opportunity to once again live life without prominence. I suspect that our children's lives will be all the better for this decision, as from what I have observed, seldom do children benefit from a parent's prominence, but rather they thrive on the significance that parents place on their lives by sharing the best years of their lives together.
Blessed with family:
Today we celebrated Judah's 4th birthday. For most, a 4th birthday is just like the third, and not as big a deal as the fifth. But for us, Judah being a leap year baby, was finally celebrating his birthday on February 29! It has been a wonderful week for us, as we have been reminded yet again of the love that our family back home in Melbourne has for us. The delivery man could testify that we have been thought of this week, with the number of packages that have arrived to wish Judah a happy birthday. Then there have been the phone calls, cards and emails as well. With family like that, our children will never have reason to doubt that they are loved. And speaking of family, wow I feel blessed in my marriage to Clayton and blessed at the privilege that it is to have brought children into the world with him and be able to play such an integral part in raising them together. I am convinced that my life is good.
Well it is extremely late, and I fear that this blog entry is long enough that no one will have read it. But since it has served the purpose of helping me reflect on God's lavish blessings and love, I suppose that it doesn't really matter if no body reads it.
That will do for now!
1 comment:
I read it.
You had me glued on every word.
Bless and Love.
Deb. xo
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