Sunday, August 16, 2015

No Fear in Life...

Wow! It has been some summer! Here are a few highlights... Our first official summer season of having Shining Light Inn B&B open! We have met so many incredible people from Switzerland, Rhode Island, Missouri, Maryland, New Jersey, Kansas, Nebraska, Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana, Ontario, & Michigan, so far ... busy, busy, busy... enjoying it so much... who would've thought I could find joy in cleaning toilets & doing laundry! I turned 50 in July with my hubby giving me a wonderful surprise party. Luke & I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary August 11th... we are trying to make it a 30 day celebration which will culminate with a few days on Mackinac Island in September. I have now been married for half my life!
Now in the midst of all these good things, there always has to be a challenge of some sort... I don’t even know where to start with what is going through my mind & heart right now… Luke was let go from his job on Friday! If there is any good part of being dismissed from a job, it has to be that it was nothing that Luke did… it was a corporate decision from higher up, just tightening their belts. In ways it still seems like a nightmare when I think about it, but at the same time… there is this crazy peace that is flooding over my soul! I know I cannot let my mind (imagination) override my heart! I also know that this incredible crazy ride we call our life for the last 10 years is all in God’s plan!
I love the book of Isaiah! I have found lots of good things in this Book… the more I have dug into it… the greater peace & strength I’ve found. Isaiah 41: 10 came to my mind as I wrote this, so I got my Bible, yes my “real” Bible & not just online… I have made so many notes throughout these pages. It reads, “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”  Those words wash over me with such peace! The note I have written next to this verse is, “He promises!” I can remember I wrote that note next to that verse when we were in the process of moving to Ludington. I believe this verse came to my mind today as a reminder of what I have experienced of God’s faithfulness. God has brought us through so much in our 25 year marriage & His Word reminds me that He will not stop doing what He says He will do.
I’m not sure where this whole job change is leading for Luke, for us. Just when we are getting the B&B off the ground this happens… some would see it as a rug pulled out from under us. It was a shock… it is a shock! And I know Luke is not the first person in the world to lose a job… I am not trying to dramatize it! But here is what I do know… we are living a dream with running Shining Light Inn B&B, something God has placed in our hearts! God made this happen when we couldn’t even imagine how it would or could be possible… and we know He has His hand all over the door that will be opened… at just the right time for Luke’s new job!

So many things in our life that for us have no explanation except God! From the outside looking in, it might look different to you, but from the inside looking out… we know it is ALL Him! Isaiah 41:18-20 says ~ “I will make rivers flow on bare hilltops. I will make springs flow through valleys. I will turn deserts into lakes. I will turn dry land into springs. I will plant cedar, acacia, myrtle, and wild olive trees in the desert. I will place cedar, fir, and cypress trees together in the wilderness. People will see and know. Together they will consider and understand that the Lord’s power has done this, that the Holy One of Israel has created it.”  I pray that whatever the next step is, whatever is to come, people will see it & know… it can only be God!

Prayers are appreciated! Thank-you!



No comments: