Is it spring yet?

Well - I think I can answer this question with a resounding YES!  One of the perks of living up in the clouds is being able to see Central Park as it is changing with the seasons.  I can now look out my window and see green trees and flowers.  One of the real pluses to a long, cold winter is the beauty and birth of spring.

It is still hard to believe that I get to live near this park.  It takes my breath away every time I have the chance to stroll through it. 

We have lived in NYC for 5 weeks.  During those 5 weeks, we have had quite a bit of company and have traveled back to Texas twice.  We have found a church home, met a lot of our neighbors and Alan has been working to finish his Chicago job and begin his NY job. 

To say that it has been a bit wild would be an understatement.

When I was walking through the park this morning, I was thinking about the promise of spring. 

New life out of what is dormant. 
New life out of what is dead.

Don't we all need that? 

These 5 weeks have held so much fun, joy and promise.  They have also been full of adjustments, new things, missing friends, missing family, losing my grandmother and setting up a home.

I don't know what I would do if I couldn't wake up every morning with the promise that God's mercies are new each and every day.

I don't know what I would do if I didn't have His assurance that my grandmother is with Jesus - completely whole and healed.

I don't know what I would do if I couldn't trust Jesus with all of my family and friends that are far away.

But I can.  He is trustworthy.

He will birth something new out of what I left behind.

I have to die to my former life and allow Him to birth our life here.

Is there some old dead something that you are hanging onto for dear life?

Does it seem impossible to let it go and trust the something new will come?

I want to encourage you, that just as spring follows winter, Jesus is in the business of bringing life from death.

In fact, He is the expert.

Don’t revel only in the past,
        or spend all your time recounting the victories of days gone by.    

Watch closely: 

I am preparing something new; it’s happening now, even as I speak,
        and you’re about to see it. I am preparing a way through the desert;
    Waters will flow where there had been none.

Isaiah 43:18-19

New City ~ New blog

I have had several people ask me to continue writing my blog as I left Chicago and moved to New York City.  I thought a lot about it.  Writing a blog is a strange thing.  There is this part of you that wants people to read it and another part of you that is rather embarrassed that you would even ask or expect anyone to read it.  As I sought the Lord about it, He seemed to say, "Do it for Me - do it for you."  

You see, writing down the lessons I am learning and sharing them with others solidifies those lessons and truths in my own heart.  This blog becomes a journal of God's faithfulness over the years and serves to remind me that He has always been, currently is and will always be faithful to me (even when I am not so faithful to Him.)  

I have only been in NYC for about 3 weeks and I have already learned a great deal.  God is teaching me lessons in a hundred different ways.  I am looking forward to sharing them with others.

Just to update everyone, Alan and I were packed up and moved to NYC in March.  We have been in our apartment here for 3 weeks.  It is amazing how your life can just pick up and move rather seamlessly.  

I think it is because life is about Jesus and He is the same in Chicago, NYC and everywhere else.  When life is centered on Him, the upheaval of a move just doesn't seem that big of a deal.  

I am learning new rhythms in this big city life,

grocery stores

delivery

subway system

doormen

elevators

crowds

very friendly people

not so friendly people

unspoken rules

homelessness

broadway

Lincoln Center

church

Central Park

cabs

old friends

new friends

and 100 other things.

It is a great adventure that I am enjoying every day.

I firmly believe that the Lord has placed us here for a purpose and I am excited to pursue that every day.

I would love for you to follow along as I share what the Lord is speaking into my heart and the rather messy way that may come out in my life.

It's not always pretty . . . but it is always honest.