Under Attack

       I think we are under attack by the Devil right now. I know to many of you this will sound like an extremely weird statement but I do believe that the Devil is real and does try to destroy Christians. I didn't always believe this but since going back to the church and becoming a faithful student of the Bible again, I do believe it now. I see the reality of it in peoples lives and feel it in our own right now. This doesn't mean that I think that every bad thing that happens is because of Satan. People make bad choices and sometimes bad things just happen but I do feel like this time, for us, the Devil is trying hard to spoil all that we are trying to do for God and our family. We have never in our lives had a string of "bad luck" like the one we've had since purchasing our home. The home that we were moving to so we could give our kids a simpler more Christian upbringing, away from some of the distractions of the outside world. The home we still can't live in because of the robbery, the home that for some unexplainable reason our insurance company can't even get repair men to fix correctly or in a timely manner. The home that we can barely get to to fix because we have had an unending stream of illness in our family. Not just colds and stuff but things like pneumonia and bronchitis, ear infections that need 2 courses of antibiotics to cure and stomach flu. Twice. Who gets stomach flu twice in a month? People who are being attacked by Satan, that's who! We made a commitment to spend Holy Week in peace and prayer and what happened? We ended up flat on our backs in misery or hanging our heads over a bucket. No church, no bible study, no nothing. We did do some family devotions here and there but is definitely wasn't the Holy Week we'd been hoping for.

    Our trials are so small compared to what Job went through and I know that everything that we're going through fits God purpose for us. I'm working hard on faith and patience right now. I'm trying really hard to put my trust in the Lord and not in physical things. And I'm trying to see the bigger picture and look to the end result. It's just so hard when it seems so far off. But that's what faith and salvation are all about. Belief in things unseen and trust in our future in Heaven.

Time Out!

We'll be taking a time out from the house this week to focus on Jesus and all he has done for us! We all needed a break from the stress and we want to make sure that we spend Holy Week in quiet and contemplation, in communion with the Lord who has given us everything. With all the break-in drama and disappointment, it's been hard to remember that we are on the right path and that Satan would not be trying so hard to derail us if we were not! So we commit to spending our time at church and with our family in peace and study. I've told all the repair people that we will not be available (except this afternoon briefly, for an inspection) this week and will be resuming all repairs the following Monday. I have not received a single bad response after I explain the reason why and I hope our ideas encourage others to take some time to think about the Savior. So anyway, Happy Easter, God's blessings to you all, and if you don't believe in Him, why not ask Him into your heart today? It's given freely and He loves you!

God is good...

We found a good Christian plumber last week who came to the house, found a sensible solution to our water problem and will be able to fix it for almost $1000 less than we first thought! We got a good amount of work done to the house over the weekend and the weather has finally decided to be like spring! We have a small problem with neighbor kids trespassing while we are not there but I think that should stop when we move in. Today I'm getting laundry caught up, grocery shopping, looking at bedding and decorator things for the kids bedrooms and trying to organize the rest of my week. I have a very busy week ahead and I have no idea how it will all come together, I hope the Lord has a little bit of extra grace I can have!

Can't..

I've been having a few days of "can't" and it's wearing me down. We can't move in until we have a stove.We can't do the gas line for the stove or the electrical inspection until the water is out of the crawl space. The previous owner and our inspector have said that there has never been any water there before. We don't really know if the water is due to more undiscovered damage because the plumber from our insurance company didn't go under and inspect everything when he was repairing the cut pipes or because of groundwater. We really don't know what's going on and I don't feel like it's being checked out fully and I feel like I'm being taken advantage of. If it's groundwater I have no problem paying to fix it but I don't want to shell out $2,500 to fix something  that wouldn't have needed fixing  if it hadn't been damaged in the break in. It's so hard because we only had the house for a day and a half when all this happened and we don't know the house and don't have any answers. I've been trying to be upbeat and put a positive spin on the break in because if I don't, I'm going to be really mad and stuff and I just don't want to go there. But I just can't be OK with it right now. I want to cry. I want to walk away from the whole thing. I just wish this never happened. But it did and I don't know what to do to pick up the pieces anymore.