East TN springs of color & Truth

I'm now realizing that East TN is overwhelmingly gorgeous with its many flowers, green things, & singing things that bud, grow, live (& thrive!) around here. Perhaps it was living in Hohhot, China (near the Gobi Desert) for 3 years & then Oklahoma for 4 years that finally opened my eyes & ears to the winter-to-spring transformation of colors, chirps, and songs. 

Similarly, maybe basement-life (we like to call it cave-dwelling, haha) for a year+ will snap us into realizing what a huge gift it is to have a house! (As in, "Wow! We have a HOUSE!" as well as "Wow! We have ONE house!") Besides, in terms of caves, it's pretty much the most luxurious cave, EVER...better than 99% of the rest of the world's accommodations.

More than anything right now, it's the surplus of indefinite circumstances that really drains on us.  I'm pretty sure that if you originally told us it would be a year in the basement, we'd be feeling less drained than we are now. Ahh, the parallel to trusting the Lord and also having faith in Him alone! The latest indefinite circumstance that seems to drag on is that our electrician is over a week late - he always has an amazing excuse for not being able to come. Hmm. This sort of thing is starting to feel like the norm and not surprising. I guess in an exaggerated way, it makes us realize that the only one who is 100% reliable, trustworthy, dependable...is Jesus.

There's joy in the journey - especially when there are significant perspective shifts & reality checks, which healthily chip down things until you get closer to the things that really matter.
It was good to be reminded by our Bible Study leaders, Steve & Mary Bailey, that although the Lord doesn't give us more temptations than we can handle, He allows more challenges than we can handle so that we are forced to depend on Him! What a delicious Truth nugget :) And since that's where we are, we can cling to the Lord and be refined in the fire! All good things.

Cheers!
bethany