Let. It. Go, Blog Hop for Week 5 - What-EVER

So we are now in Week 5 of the online Bible study - Let. It. Go. by Karen Ehman.  This week we looked at Soul Control and What-ever.  Soul Control means we give God sole control over our lives.  It certainly is not easy, but the rewards are tremendous.  Also, we talked about "What-ever".  

There are times when it is so easy to want what someone else has, does or looks like.  It is easy to get into a pattern of being discontent by looking others.  In these days of social media, television, and other advertising, we are bombarded with opportunities to compare our lives to others.  Often, I find myself wishing my life, my children or even my husband was like someone else.  But then God sends me a reality check.  God put me here for a reason and made me exactly as I am.  It is not for me to understand.  But I am to bloom where I am currently planted.  

This time last year, I was living in a different place under much different circumstances.  Fast forward a year, God moved our family a couple of hours from where we are living.  But I know now that God had a divine purpose for this move.  Just like He had a divine plan when He allowed our son 6 years ago to be put in a classroom with a teacher that made it impossible for us to leave our son in that situation.  This was the way He opened the door to us homeschooling.  The first year we just taught our oldest at home while our youngest got some teaching at home after preschool and her one day off a week.  That year we lived in military housing and our youngest three attended the local school on the installation.  But by the end of that year, we were moving off the installation and had decided to bring all the children home.  The road has often not been exactly what I wanted, but I have seen our family grow in ways I could not have imagined.  

Four years ago this past November, we moved from what had been home for over 16 years to me and all of my childrens' lives since birth.  We went from having an active homeschool group and a church that truly was family (all the members were related to my husband somehow - most were aunts, uncles and cousins, along with his parents and grandfather) to a new state with no real support system for homeschooling.  Yet our family blossomed and grew together.  Also, we eventually found a church that became our extended family.  It was at this new church that our oldest two accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior and were baptized by their father with their grandparents and one of their aunts in the congregation (my husband's parents and his aunt came all the way from North Carolina).  Because we were faithful to what God would have us do, God blessed our efforts.  

Now we have moved again and had to find another church and find other new activities. Almost the moment my husband took command of his detachment, his unit was activated to go help with the Hurricane Sandy relief effort.  It was a difficult time for me.  We had no church, no family and no support system.  Our unit had no family readiness group to speak of and communication with my husband was spotty at best.  During those days, it was easy to doubt God's plan at times.  It was easy to compare my circumstances with others.  But instead, it brought me much closer to God along with becoming closer to my husband and children.   It was during those days I realized how much I needed to rely on God and Let. It. Go.  These have been my "What-ever" times.  God is faithful to those who are faithful to Him.  I know God does not make mistakes, so I just need to give Him control and realize "To everything there is purpose under Heaven".