Hard Place

I'm trying to keep this little update simple.  I could fill this page with so many things right now, seeing that it's been over two months since my last post.  

Here's the nutshell:  We moved, we did it, we're here!  I had hoped I could pop in every so often with at least a short post or a picture during our transition, but I didn't and that's okay.  I really needed to focus on the move.  It was a mountain of a task that seemed impossible, but it didn't take long for it to become very clear to not only us that this was what we were supposed to be doing.  SERIOUSLY.  The amount of miracles and provision and just the sheer fact that we pulled it off.  I can't even explain how amazing it was to watch God's favor on us and see Him come through in everything even above what we could have expected.

Now we are faced with a choice.  We are between a hard place and a rock.  A REALLY hard place.  I will admit that I have not been sleeping well because of stress and stress dreams, and I have been letting fear almost completely over take me.  But, like my best friend told me last night (the same best friend who is letting us stay at her house while we have no place to live and no job....the friend who needs a whole blog with daily posts until eternity just to tell the world how amazing she and her husband are. no joke.)

Anyway...like she told me last night, about a testimony she heard of someone on the mission field faced with impossible and terrifying situations.  This person had to make a choice, was she going to fear or was she going to trust Him?  That's where we're at.  We can't go back, but we can go forward even though we don't have any control over how we go forward.  We know why we're here even if most people don't understand.  And we're learning to surrender control, and choose to trust God instead of letting fear dominate us.  Today I failed, and my husband fought so hard to stand firm even though I was angry and falling apart.

So, this is where we are at.  We do covet all of your prayers as we need something to come through asap!  We need our own place to live and we need income.  And we need to be able to pursue the reasons why we are here.  It's only the beginning, and we want to choose to trust Him instead of be afraid.

-Tiffany

Going Home

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This is the third or fourth attempt at writing this post.  I'm not exactly sure what my deal is.  I guess I'm just having trouble with how to start it.  That's actually a typical problem of mine anyway, so maybe it's not really that big of deal, but what I'm about to share is a big deal.  But enough blabbing....

I'm going home....well, we're going home.

What is home?

Home is California.  Redding to be exact.

Both Jeff and I were born in California.  Me in Redding and Jeff in Orange County.  So, even though we have made a home here in Texas for the last six and a half years (our entire married life) California has still always been home to us.  We knew in our hearts that we would go back eventually, we just didn't know when.  Now the time has come.

We may be going home, and we find so much joy in that, but we are also leaving a place that will always be a part of us and who we are.  I can't tell you how thankful I am for things like Facebook (and this blog, etc.) so I can stay in touch with all of the friends here that I love so much.  Naturally, this is all very bittersweet. 

I think I would have to write a book to accurately explain why we are going where we're going.  But, if I were to give you the synopsis, the main point of the whole story, it's this:  We're going where God is taking us.

We'll be leaving Texas the end of March and arriving in Redding, CA the first week of April, just in time for my brother's wedding!!

There is much to do between now and then so that explains why I have been, and will, be posting less frequently.  Also, in December I closed my Etsy shop with the intentions of leaving it closed through January, at least.  It will remain closed through spring.  I can't make any promises for when it will re-open, but it definitely won't be before May.  We'll just see how things go.

We appreciate and covet all your prayers during this time of transition!

-Tiffany

P.S.  The picture at the top of this post is the gorgeous backdrop we will get to enjoy while living in Redding.  If you have never been there before, trust me when I say it is absolutely breathtaking!  Every time I've gone back to visit it's always made my heart skip a beat when I first take in that view.

Finding Peace

"Peace is not the absence of chaos or conflict, 

but rather finding yourself in the midst of that chaos and remaining calm in your heart."

 -John Mroz

I've discovered that the most challenging chaos that I have found myself in has not been in pain and sorrow or great obstacles or the hardships of life.  The most difficult place for me to find peace is in confusion. 

When the circumstances around me are against me, when I face trials and tribulations, I know to lean on my Rock, the Prince of Peace, my Foundation.  Though it takes a step of faith, though I have to lay myself down and trust in Him, I do it because He is faithful and I have found Him to be completely trustworthy.

But when I am not sure what to believe, when I see truth so vastly interpreted, I have trouble finding the calm in my heart.  Boy do I have to press into Him more than ever during those times.  I have to trust that He has the answers and that it's okay to not know all of them.  It's then that I realize how much more I have yet to learn about His Spirit, and how much deeper I still have to go in my relationship with Him, with the Holy Spirit.  

And that's when I pray, Lord teach me how to be Your bride.  Teach me how to love and honor and adore You the way that You adore me.  That we may dwell in intimacy together and that I will know what Your Spirit is saying and doing because we are of one spirit.

"...Fear not, O Zion; let not your hand grow weak.  The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet you by His love; He will exult over you with loud singing."

Zephaniah 3:16-17

When I struggle to remain calm in my heart and I don't seem to have the strength for faith and trust...

He will quiet me by His love.

-Tiffany

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