When plans don't pan

Well folks, I'm back.

For a moment, at least.

Life has been such a whirlwind lately, the last thing on my mind has been blogging.

Let's just say, tis the season of change!

I feel like such a walking contradiction when it comes to this subject. 

On the one hand, I've been craving for some kind of change to take place in our lives. We've needed some kind of change to jolt us out of this cloud of monotony. 

However, when you get jolted, you don't always react the way that you had hoped or planned. That's usually because things don't work out the way that you had planned. And we all are far too familiar with the feeling of not having things pan out the way they do in your head.

I know I'm being vague, but I will clear things up and soon as plans are finalized.

Until then, let's just talk.

I'm in the middle of reading the best book right now.

"Greater" by Steven Furtick. 

Absolutely perfect for this season of life Matt and I are in now. It's one of those books that is so good, not because it makes you feel good, but because it tells you the things that you don't want to hear, but need to. Another sort of jolting experience. The unpleasantly pleasant kind. Each one of us are called to be something greater than average in our lives. That doesn't mean it looks the same to every person, but it does mean it exists. And often the call to do something greater means leaving the comfortable behind.  It sometimes means sacrificing the things you hold so dear to your heart, only to be lead into a plan that even in your wildest dreams, you never imagined. Sounds exciting, right? Yes, in a way. But the hardest part of the journey is in the sacrifice. And I don't mean sacrifice in the old Biblical translation of killing something. I mean it in the sense of giving up something that you hold very close.

The book follows the story of Elijah and Elisha from the Bible, starting in 1 Kings 19:19.

I won't go in to too many details, but I will summarize it.

Elisha was a simple man. In fact, we enter his life in the middle of a field while he's plowing behind a dozen oxen rears. His life, too, is monotonous, but comfortable and predictable. In the middle of his plowing, a man, Elijah, begins trudging toward him and out of nowhere, throws a cloak over his shoulders, a symbol of passing on an anointing. Elijah then keeps on trudging. You can imagine the bewilderment on Elisha's face. But at that moment, he had choice to make. He could either run after the man who had bestowed upon him the opportunity for something greater, or he could choose to stay behind the oxen rears.  The safe. The monotonous. If you're at all familiar with the story, you already know that Elisha went on to follow Elijah and was given a double anointing than that of Elijah. He went on to do much greater things than the man who gave him the cloak.  So what's the point of this story? Well when Elisha chose to do the greater, he not only left his old life behind, but he burned up anything that would give him a reason to turn back. {And no, he didn't burn any friends, relatives or humans, for that matter. Gosh, people, come on! What kind of story do you think this is anyway?! ;) }  Elisha didn't receive the double portion of "greater" until he gave up everything that might hold him back or cause him to turn back.

So that's where we are. In the middle of making decisions. One that's already breaking my heart. My fashion statement the last week has been Quasimodo eyes. Not by choice, of course.  Just a nasty side effect of water coming out of your eyes. 

Thanks for listening, friend. Sometimes your ears help make everything more clear.