Passionately Waiting

I have a bit of news to share with you. God is growing in me a passion for family.
A passion for husbands and wives and parents and children. A passion for the relationships involved and how said relationships should work in light of His Word.

A passion to help people have better marriages. A passion to help people be better parents. A passion for sharing the things He will teach me in our church and in our community. I believe that if we spend time helping people grow in being a mate and in being a parent, the next generation will be better than we are and some of the struggles that we have now will be alleviated. We need to know and live what the bible says about being a husband/wife and being a parent.

The passion is there and is growing. And I fully believe that my desire to go back to school and get my Master's in Marriage and Family Counseling was the beginning of this guiding from the Lord.

But, what that will look like exactly -- I am not sure. I am going to have to wait on HIM to show me. That is so hard. I know that waiting on Him and His timing are very important. So that is what I will do.

In the mean time, I will be looking into going back to school. That, in itself, is very scary. I have to take the GRE (algebra and analogies all over again?!!? -- It has been 10 years since I've had to do anything like that). And how will we pay for it? And when will I find time to even go to classes much less study with 4 children? One door that seems open at this point is that there is a university in the next town. A place to attend these classes? Maybe so.........

Another thing that I will be doing is come January, I will be leading a study at our church on Ginger Plowman's book, "Don't Make Me Count To Three". I don't feel qualified in the very least to lead a study on parenting -- I tend to lean toward the authoritarian style of parenting. I know this isn't God's plan for parenting. It will be the Holy Spirit leading through me because clearly I'm not qualified. Remember this?

So, I will do these things and wait patiently on the Lord for further instructions. The trouble is I can already hear the devil trying to convince me that I heard wrong. I can hear him saying "Are you sure that God wants you to do these things? Or is it just your idea?" and "God won't use you. You can't speak in complete sentences." And various and sundry other statements of that sort.

Can I ask a favor of ya'll? Will you pray for me?

Here are some specific requests:

*That I will not give in to Satan's taunting.

*That I will wait patiently - with a good attitude.

*That I will hear from the Lord clearly about where to go from here.

I'm here. Passionately waiting.

Thanks, Ya'll!