The First Stirring

I'm curled up on the couch, enjoying the aroma of apple pie baking just a room away. I'd love for you to think I'm that good of a wife...that after an 8 hour work day and a 2 hour commute, I just popped into the kitchen and whipped up a pie, but alas, you  might remember the full day event debacle that was the creation of the coconut cream pie while I was on gallternity leave, so I know I'm not fooling you.

The truth is, I found a homemade {we bought it, someone else made it} crumb top apple pie in our freezer that I thought we'd already eaten. What a lovely surprise! We let that sit for about a day before popping it in the oven.

We're nothing if not patient.

But who knows? Perhaps I will become a pie baker after all...in the new season I'm about to embrace.

I'm working on a writing project; I started it a few months ago and pull it out every time I have some spare time. While Ryan worked this past weekend, I spent some time in front of the screen, adding words to the story. It's the story of us. The story of our first year of marriage with all its joy and fun, its difficulties and faith testers, its seriousness and hilarity. And as I wrote, with journal beside me, open to the bare places of my heart, I found words I don't remember writing:

I love my job at the station. I feel used greatly in the lives of women, and I love it so much. I also feel a deep desire to write again. To minister while focusing on my marriage. I have no idea how You'll reconcile that for me. None at all.

Know when I wrote that?

June 4, 2013. 

WHAT?

Like I said, I don't remember writing it at all. But that was when it began. The seed of a stirring in my soul. When God began to move and to resurrect writing dreams and passions that had settled until they were nearly dormant. When He allowed those dreams to collide with my new world as a wife.

And now, sitting on the edge of that change in my life...in our lives...I see more of how He reconciled that for me. How He gave me two more years in a job that I dearly loved. Two more years to grow in confidence and skill. Two more years to meet people and hear stories and learn lessons from guests. Two more years to discover more of who I was made to be.

And in that two years, He aligned our life...our married life...to be ready for this change. Remember the house that would not sell? He sold it and made it possible for us to be freed from that burden so we could be ready for this new season.

As it all unfolded, all took shape right under my nose, I didn't even recognize it for what it was. Not in the beginning, anyway. As time passed, I began to wonder if God was somehow orchestrating everything for a change.

But the beauty in all of this is the reality that God does work, even when we can't see it. He's always writing away, and unlike my writing project, which I understand only as I look back over my past, His projects are seen {by Him} in full future mode. He knows, and He moves as needed, long before we recognize each move.

I'm clinging to this as I press forward through these last few weeks at the station and into the future God has already planned and written. I cling to the truth that He's already gone before, already made provisions, and already waits for me when that moment arrives.