Well, today is the day. September 2, 2008 is finally here. Unless you had been around our house for the last eight months you wouldn’t realize how much planning and preparation has gone into this day.More than just a few decisions had to be made. Would a career with the local community college take Savannah where God was leading her? It had been a dream for years but that dream was now fading while a new dream was budding. No not my dream but one that I had helped to keep alive. As her mother, I wanted to see her have it all. No matter how difficult, I wanted to see her succeed. College proved to be difficult all the way to the end. Sometimes it felt like the odds were against her but never did I think she would turn back. I knew that she was watching my every move and that she needed to see courage and determination in my eyes. Looking back to just this time last year it seems like our lives changed overnight. Now those dreams only seemed like motivation to keep moving, not sure where we were going but just moving. Now I see that we were moving closer to God and a walk with Him. Sometimes it felt like a wilderness, we didn’t see much progress but still we were driven to continue. Thoughts of turning back entered our minds but we had come too far to start over. That still, small voice kept saying “Just follow me.”
Giving up a home. For some two years, Savannah had lived on her own. The quaint little house in which she had turned into a home was a source of great pride and joy for her. It too had been motivation to keep on keeping on. Now the time had come to make some serious financial decisions. With the decision made to forfeit the recruiter position at the college it also meant that she would have to stay at her present job until God provided something else. With a three week trip coming up in September she would have a hard time convincing a new employer to hire her and give her three weeks off so soon. This was probably the toughest decision she had to make. Should she keep her home and be tied to her well paying but highly stressful sales job or should she start freeing herself of some financial obligations therefore freeing herself up for a lesser paying job that might still allow her the time off in September. The decision was made to move back home with Noel and me. We were happy to have her but we both knew that she had sacrificed much and that it would require sacrifices from us also. Again, that still small voice reassured us to continue on.
Within a week of the decision being made to move back home she had a new job! Not just any job but one serving Him through missions and she would be able to go to Zambia. Total surrender to His will! I can’t describe all that happened but I witnessed my daughter surrender her will to His and then I watched in sheer joy as the Father poured out His blessings on my family. There is so much more that has happened but like I said, if you were not around our house you would not know. Our God is so good!
Today at 4:40 p.m. (Central time) Savannah leaves Washington D.C. for Zambia. I didn’t mention that she evacuated to Washington last Friday to avoid Hurricane Gustav that would have prevented her from leaving out of New Orleans this morning. She has spent the last few days with friends of friends in Maryland. That’s another story (Maybe she’ll share that on her blog.) of God’s steering and how He uses every detour to accomplish His will for our lives. If you know me then you know that I would do anything for my Vannah and she and I are as close as a mother and daughter can be. But you may not know that there is One who loves her even more than I do and He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us. I place my daughter in the Father’s hands. I know that she hears His still, small voice and she will follow Him. Important decisions will be made during the next few weeks and I can testify that no matter what decision is made it will lead to a greater walk with the Father for all of us. My joy is full.
Through it all I have learned to work and to plan but in all things to be flexible. I do not have as tight of fist on the reins as I once did. God may allow us to hold the reins but He is steering and it is a much easier trip when we do not resist His direction. When I was younger it was impossible for me to understand the twists and turns in the road but now I can look back over my shoulder at the path I’ve been on and know that only God could have navigated me to this place. It is a good place!
Note: Who would have thought that Hurricane Gustav was part of God’s plan for Savannah’s trip to Zambia? Today was supposed to be the day that Noel and I took her to New Orleans to catch a plane to Washington D.C. and then on to Zambia. Instead, I sit at my computer reminiscing over what God has been doing in our lives and waiting for the remnant of Gustav to leave our little town of Wiggins, Mississippi. Not my plan but obviously God was doing something much bigger. What an awesome God we serve.
