Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him. (Isaiah 64:4)

Remember these words. Trust His plan and the path He has chosen for your life.  When things don’t make sense, keep trusting Him.

I feel like I could have saved myself a lot of grief and stress if I had trusted Him more completely.  Don’t get me wrong.  I never stopped trusting Him with the big things, but I wish I would have rested in Him more and trusted Him more even with the tiniest of details. Because my body has always reacted negatively to stress, I know I could have felt a lot better if I had trusted Him more completely.  My family and close friends know that I have struggled a lot with health over the past 5-6 years or so.  The stress of life has caused a lot of aches and pains for me on a daily basis.   My body aches, headaches, stomach issues, and overall body aches would have been minimized if I had trusted Him better with the plan He was working out for our family.

How do I know this?  I have felt like a new person since moving to our farm.  No more body aches.  I have not had one morning where I have stepped out of bed and realized I was going to have what I call a “bad body” day.   Thank you, God, for the relief from that because it is difficult to be a wife, mom, and teacher on those “bad body” days.

Over the past month, I have woken up every morning on Green Acres in total disbelief.  Disbelief that we actually own something this beautiful.  Disbelief that we actually live here.  Disbelief that we are not on a vacation and having to head home when it is over.  Disbelief that I get to stay here for the rest of my life if that is a part of God’s plan for us. The Outdoorsman and I tell one another every single day that we feel like we are on a vacation that never ends.  The sunrises are beautiful.  The sunsets are spectacular.  The air and water are clean and crisp.  The animals are everywhere.  We have watched breeds of ducks and birds we never knew existed right outside our bedroom window every morning.

Back to Isaiah 64:4.  God was acting on our behalf even when things seemed crazy and hard to explain.  God was acting on our behalf even when things were difficult.  The years of divorce, sickness, death, grieving, traveling, and pushing through are all coming into focus now.  They have made our little family of five who we are today.  All five of us have experienced sadness, grief, and trials of faith during our journey, but we have all trusted God with His plan for our future.  I have constantly reminded my children of Isaiah 29:11-13 during their young lives. They know that God will use His plan in their lives for His glory. They have already seen how He has used their experiences to invest into the lives of others.

God does have a unique plan for each of us.  He takes us on journeys that prepare our hearts for the specific role He has lined out for us in this life.  He chose me as a teacher and then allowed me to see the effects of divorce, illness, and death on children and how it can derail them if they don’t have the right support system, family, and faith in their lives.  These catastrophic events fought for my children’s attention for most of their years in school, but God showed me how to rely on Him, prayer, family, and friends to help lessen the effects of these traumatic life events.  I praise Him every day for the way He brought Brave Heart and Miss Sunshine through the fire of these trials.  As far as The Outdoorsman and The Trooper are concerned, I see how God designed them both for the amount of traveling and flexibility they have had to endure over the past eleven years.  It is honestly remarkable how God has made the years of travel for them a blessing instead of a hindrance in their relationship.  They have had such fun times traveling together on the weekends during the eleven years we lived so far from The Trooper.

My best friend from childhood wrote me the sweetest note when we moved to Green Acres.  It had such wisdom and love.  She told me that, even though it has been hard to watch me go through the different trials of my life and even though my life has had unexpected twists and turns, she could see how God had brought me to a place I had always dreamed about.  She reminded me of the fact that I had always dreamed and talked about living on a farm and that, almost certainly, that would not have happened if I had not met and married the Outdoorsman.  I teared up when I read that because I was reminded that God has had His hand on this journey all along.  Of course, I have always felt Him near me and have sought after His will for my life, but the fact that He knew what was in my heart as a child and gave me the desires of my heart, is completely overwhelming to me.

I have actually cried from overwhelming happiness several times when I have driven up to our farm.  The peace I feel when I am here is beyond words. I feel like this is where I am supposed to be for the rest of my life.  God knew it all along. He brought me here through ways that seemed foreign and uncomfortable at times.  He showed me how to trust Him along the way. He was trying to get me to the place where He knew I belonged.

He knew I belonged right here on Green Acres.  I am finally home.