Reflecting on 2008

While reading in Exodus 16 this morning, I came across the story of how God provided manna/quail for the Israelites. I have heard the story countless times, but today I was really struck w/ how the Israelites didn't trust the Lord when he said that he would continue to provide food for them. They would try and take more manna than they were told, attempting to provide for themselves. When they did this though the food spoiled.

As I was reading this I couldn't help but reflect over the past year. 2008 was a year with a lot of big steps for Matt and I. Steps where we had to just trust God in what he was telling us. Sometimes it was hard not to get "antsy", to try and figure out things for ourselves, try and come up w/ our own solutions to situations that we now know were way bigger than us. This whole time God has had a plan, he knew every twist and turn that planting this church was going to take us. He knew and he continued to lead us one step at a time.

***For those of you who don't know, my husband and I are in the middle of planting a church. We felt that God was calling us to church planting around 2 years ago. It was scary, (and still is at times!) as church planting was definitely diving into the unknown.

We have been meeting regularly on Sundays for about 4 months now in a youth group facility. The owners are letting us meet there for free. (Such a blessing!) We already have several families who are attending regularly and now consider us their church home. We are going to be starting "Community Groups" towards the end of January, as well as offering some membership classes and this summer we have a mission team from Arkansas coming to help us host a sports camp!

All of this to say, we never would have been able to get past our narrow views of life if we hadn't decided to follow through with what the Lord was calling us to. I can't wait to see what's ahead in 2009!