Joy in Unlikely Places

I hate receipts. Being vocational ministers, we keep every receipt because anything ministry related can be a deduction. So, I categorize and keep all these annoying pieces of tree waste, just to keep the IRS at bay. BLECH!

But this year, as I organized and entered them into mind-numbing spreadsheets, God began to minister to my spirit.

"Wow, this time last year, we were on the road to Boise, screaming Draes in the back seat (he had only been 2-months-old when we made our first Boise trip), to look at housing and connect more with the area and people." I remember looking at the very house we're now living in, for the first time. Dax ran in stocking feet from room to room saying, "Mommy, look at this hooj one!" with his usual enthusiasm. How could we have known, then, how much love and joy we would share in this space? That this would be HOME?

Just a month later Dusty and I would venture up again, to finalize things. It would be that week I would know, beyond doubt, that we were pregnant again, against our meticulous plans. :) I would fear and fret and be sad - little knowing how much joy little Dezdin would bring to our home and how much God would teach me through him.

I can't believe it's not even been a year since we arrived here. God has done SO many amazing things, in our lives, in the lives of those with whom we're connected. I'm flooded with joy and gratitude, amazement and hope. There's an anticipation in my Spirit. If God has blown things up like this... what does he have planned for the next 11 months?

Maybe tax receipts won't be such a drudgery next year :)