It's Been Awhile -- Wandering the Desert

So yesterday I got a text from my sister who wanted to post something on a blog but didn't know how to do that.  So I looked up my old blog and found that I had written some good stuff on it.  I texted my pastor my blog post about starting our church and how much joy it had brought me. Lately, I had been looking for joy and I just needed to remember back to that time when I was letting the Holy Spirit lead me!

So it's time for another update.

Last month, Mark and I along with Lisa and Paul H went on a cruise from Vancouver to Hawaii on the Celebrity Solstice. We quickly decided that we would never sail on Carnival again and probably not on Royal Caribbean.  The ship was beautiful and the service and food were awesome.

A few months back, Lisa and Paul, Kathryn and her husband, Pastor Nick, and I were sitting at a table at a party.  Lisa was trying to get her company launched. Kat's husband is looking for a job where Kathryn can fnd a church, Mark is looking for a job....and Lisa said that she feels we are all wandering in the desert. Exactly the way I'd been feeling. I went back to my prayer journal to see if I could find a recent prayer that God answered to assure me.  NOPE!  I had been praying for jobs for Lisa, Kat and her husband, and Mark since January.  NOTHING!  Except HE had spoken to me when I was making a spreadsheet for Kat's job ...  "You know, I've got this*".  Anyway...NO other answer to prayer.  Well about a week before the cruise Lisa was able to launch her company with Vistage.  I was happy for her and proud of her, but also a bit jealous of her. (Truth be told).  Then while we were on the ship, we didn't have wifi for 5 days.  When we got to Hawaii, Mark looked at his email and had one from 3 days prior from Pentair who he had interviewed with four months ago...."are you still interested and we need to know by tomorrow."  He quickly emailed back that he had been on a cruise without wifi, but that he was interested even though it is now 2 days after "tomorrow'. They emailed back and said thank you, we will make a decision next week.  Long story short....he got the job!  WOOHOO. It is for a less money than he wanted, but we have already adjusted our budget to less money and it has benefits including a company car. So I am now waiting for God to get Kat and her husband out of the desert, but I am more encouraged that "He's got this."

* A couple months ago when God clearly told me that "I've got this" I was working on a spreadsheet of various cities that Kat's husband was applying for jobs in....looking up ELCA churches and seeing if they had an interim, how old the pastor is, etc.  I told Nick about God talking to me while I was trying to get everything in my Excel spreadsheet.  He said "God probably looks at you and says Isn't she cute, thinking she can control everything with her spreadsheet." Made me smile.