The lessons we learn...

So if you read our last newsletter or saw our post on our Facebook group you know that we took a trip to Coshocton, Ohio to look for a place to rent while we are there for the next year. We had looked for weeks and weeks online, called realtors and emailed homeowners, and still were coming up empty handed with leads. So we went with the idea that we would drive around town, looking for signs and visiting landlords in hopes to find something. The first and second days we drove 50 miles around this small little town and nothing, then we got a lead, someone from the ministry knew someone. We called, saw the house, slept on it and prayed about it, and told him we’d take it. (We plan on moving around mid-April.) It’s a cute little house, but as we were contemplating if we should get it, I was torn bc it didn’t have some of the features I had been wanting, ie. big yard for the kids, pet friendly so we could get a dog, good bike riding and rollerblading area. Now that I’m thinking back, it seems trivial, but at the time those are things I really wanted, and we’ve been trained to think in this culture that God will give us the desires of our heart, right? So as I was weighing it all out, in an instant the Holy Spirit invaded my thoughts with this reply, “You need to put aside these idols.” What?! Then it became so clear, this little earthly heart of mine has erected ideas and dreams that can easily derail me from the purpose and will of God. Whether it be about where we live or ideas about missions and what I want from life, I never want my focus to be so tainted by earthly affections that I lose touch with God’s heart for eternal matters. He promises us that He will guide our path (Psa 119:105), and that our steps will be ordered (Psa 37:23), but what if His next step for us doesn’t line up with what we really want? We have to realize that God doesn’t always desire for us everything that we desire for ourselves, and if we’re fighting Him about letting go of what we wanted, then it’s an idol. 
Are we ready to relinquish our ‘rights’ to go after everything our hearts desire unto to the lordship of Jesus and have Him make our steps sure? I know I want to walk in confidence that we are making the right moves and that starts by tearing down exalted places in my heart a committing every part of me to the loving hands of God. 

- Candace