Blog Hop - Life Interrupted

So once again, I am participating in an online Bible Study through Proverbs 31 ministries on the book "What Happens When Women Say Yes to God" by Lysa Terkeurst.  The title of this blog post says a lot about what has gone on during this study.  Life has interrupted my ability to participate as much and as often as I have wanted to.  But sometimes, life (especially life with my family) needs to come first. 

This time last year, we had just moved and were going back and forth between our new home and our old home.  We were traveling approximately 2 1/2 hours one way.  A lot of the trips I ended up driving as well as my husband.  We moved courtesy of the Army Reserves.  It is hard to believe that a short distance move (within the same state) was way more complicated than our move from eastern NC to Southwestern PA.  But I have known for years that God has a great sense of humor.

See I know he has a sense of humor because I have three sons plus a daughter.  And my daughter is one of the most active and fearless in the bunch.  So now that I have interrupted myself, let me get back to my real point.  So we moved and were attempting to get settled in here and figure out what we wanted to do with our home back in Greensburg.  You see we owned that home outright with no mortgage.  So we had a little flexibility in figuring out what we wanted to do.  We knew there were a few things we needed to do to the home before we listed it or rented it.  So we decided to take our time and pray about what was the right course of action.  

Well September came and went.  Then October came and went with Dennis leading his first drill with his new unit (he is a rear detachment commander).  We were trying to get our Family Readiness Group off the ground and get settled in to our new lives.  Did I mention we were also trying to decided what to do about finding a new church?

So the end of October approached along with a little storm named Hurricane Sandy (now coming from eastern North Carolina, we know a little about hurricanes.  Within the first 3 months of Jacob's life, he lived through 2 plus quite a few more in the following years).  So with Hurricane Sandy came a lot of damage.  Dennis' unit does water purification and therefore have to pump/purify the water.  So when the Reserve and Active Duty troops were activated, his unit was actually the first Reserve Units to put boots on the ground in New York City.  We found out on Friday that the unit was pulling out Saturday. 

We had no time to prepare, not as a family and not as a unit.  I guess I should also mention we had just left a unit with the greatest Family Readiness Group and Family Readiness Group leader around.  It was the first time in four years that I having to do something on my own.  Being in a new place and not having a true support system to speak of made life difficult.  I have chronic hypertension (chronic high blood pressure) that was actually diagnosed almost 20 years ago.  So stress and I don't get along real well.  I ended up with numbers in the 200s over numbers around 150 or so.   Of course not having reliable communication with my husband and not knowing what was going on made life more stressful.  We were facing the uncertainty of whether Dennis would be home for Thanksgiving or not.  Fortunately, I wound up having some great support from friends online (and one online friend who ended up being a friend in real life).

My oldest and youngest function very badly when Daddy is not at home or not in communication.  So that added to my stress.  Well all things work for the good of those who love God and Dennis made it home for Thanksgiving.  We managed to make it back to Greensburg, put the house on Craigslist and rented it out.  

Through the situation, God moved mountains.  Dennis got his 20 year letter which entitles him to retire (even though most of the time is reserve time), but we would need to have some other occupation to provide a salary until he reaches the retirement age and can actually draw his military retirement.  Along comes someone in his battalion (higher level above him) who brought up the Salvation Army and suggested we look into becoming officers.  So we said yes to God and went to the Salvation Army.  At Easter, my husband and I became soliders (members) and our younger two became Junior Soldiers.  Then in July I saw our second son become a Senior soldier - the same day that my husband preached his first sermon at the Corps.  My oldest son is preparing to teach a Sunday School class (this will be a brand new class that is just starting this school year).  All of our younger children are learning a brass instrument.  Plus everyone is getting involved in all kinds of other activities at the Corps.  Dennis and I had the fun and adventure of leading the music portion of our Vacation Bible School.  Plus the four children were able to attend Music camp together through the Salvation Army.  It was Rebecca's first time ever attending camp.

So our life was interrupted by God, but oh what marvelous thing God can bring to our lives when we get out of His Way.  In September our names will be presented to be candidates for becoming officers in the Salvation Army.  So we will have to see what God has in store for us.  I know without a doubt this year has brought us closer to God and closer as a family.  I look forward to seeing what occurs in the coming school year.

This weekend we are going to a family camp with the Salvation Army.  It will be the first time in several years that I have been camping (we are sleeping in a tent) and I am really looking forward to it.