About Me

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I love to read, scrapbook, sleep, canoe, and hang out. My absolute favorite thing to drink is sweet peach tea from Sonic, and I could eat Mexican food every day. I have five cats, one son, and two beautiful and adorable and intelligent granddaughters.

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Beginnings and Endings and Beginnings


So, here I am on a sweltering June Saturday in Arkansas.  Fortunately, Im inside in the air conditioning, and Im thinking of beginnings and endings.  Specifically the beginning and ending of Mims Scrapbook Spot that Jeannine and I own.  The opportunity to go into a business that was based around a hobby that we both love was just like a dream come true for us, and weve loved it.
Its kind of scary to own your own businessits kind of a gamble, and if wed known the economy was going to tank, I dont know if wed done it.  But you know, thats where faith comes in.  It was so clear to both of us that this was the direction that God wanted us to go.  How do you argue with God if youre a person of faith?  We didnt.
Were now faced with God wanting us to go a different direction for a variety of reasons.  Were both still teaching full-time.  Its been hard to have two full-time jobs for three yearsJ!  We have parents with health issues, in-laws with health issues, our own health issues..and on and on.  So many reasons to go out of business.
I cant say that the decision to close our store has been an easy one to make, but again, its so obvious to us both that this is what God wants us to do.  Again, being women of faith, how do we argue with God.  We didnt.  That doesnt mean that the decision hasnt come without tears and hours of agonizing as to whether we were really hearing from God or if we were just both physically exhausted. (We are!)  But we now have perfect peace and certainty that this is His will for our lives at this moment.
And isnt that all He promises us?  If we continually seek Him, He will lead us moment by moment and that we will know His will?  I am so often reminded of a conversation that I had once with a dear friend from my college days, Judi Matkin.  We were talking about the determination to know Gods will for our lives.  I said something to her to the effect that I wanted writing in the sky to always know for certain what God wanted me to do.  She looked at me and said, But, TerryGod promised to be a lamp unto our feetnot a search light.  Ive kept that comment close to my heart for almost forty years.  Ive remembered it and thought upon it many times when I was trying to decide what to do in various situations.  Ive prayed, Oh, Lord, just show me where to put my next footstep, and when I get there, just show me the next. 
And you know, it works!  God has been faithful to lead me every step of the waywhen I have chosen to stay on the path that He has illuminated for me.  Its only when I go off onto my own path that the way gets dark.  Hmmmimagine that.
Soas Jeannine and I embark on a new path that He has set for us, pray that we will continue to seek His will and that we will be as faithful to Him as He is to us.  Pray that we will stay on the path that He has illuminated with the light of His lamp.

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