And here we are "AFTER"!

I started my blog way back in 2005. In sure doesn't seem that it has been that long ago. My blog started because life was changing in big ways. I named it, after much prayer "The Here and After" and what that meant to me was "Here" was what we had been living...life as I knew it. The "After" for me meant what was coming. At that time in my life I couldn't comprehend any other sort of life then living a quiet life, schooling my two children, doing everything as a family, and loving it!!! The meaning of life was clear for me...be the best Godly wife, mother, and teacher I could be! God had given me a wonderful husband, two fantastic kids, a home in the country that allowed me to see God all around me, great parents and siblings, and wonderful friends..."and make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own matters, and to work with your own hands as we commanded you." 1 Thessalonians 4:11.  As my children were starting in college I wondered how God was going to use me and would I hear his voice, would I be able to be used for something meaningful..."Here I am God...ready to go and willing!?" "Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails." Proverbs 19:21

My love for God was big and wide and deep...I understood that He had entrusted me with a very important job and it wasn't hard because being a wife and mother was all I ever desired...so what now!? Write a book...English is my worst subject....become a public speaker...no, I am too timid for that...teach something...no formal education for that....ummmm Lord! Long story short... here is a short list of events since then...me going back to school and in my last semester my daughter had a near fatal accident. During her long recuperation my son got engaged and married, we had one grandchild and I started babysitting him, then my daughter married and they live with us, then my mom got sick and I help with her, then grandchild #2 and now I get to watch both my darlings! And in the midst of all this my husband works all week and then rides the ambulance on the weekends. Life could not be more full for me! "For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for HIS good pleasure." Philippians 2:13

So, Trina, where is this going?! Well, what I have discovered, with the Lord's help, is that my life is a life of service...plain and simple! But wait, it is not just so simple! The important part of serving God to my family is to help bring Him to them...when my husband is frustrated and tired, when my daughter is in extreme pain, when my daughter in law hates to walk out the door and leave her babies, when my son has to hang in there and be patient on his job, when my son-in-law needs a laugh, when mama needs encouragement and peace, and daddy needs calm. What explains it better than I can are these lyrics from one of my favorite songs..."Let them see You in me, let them hear You when I speak, Let them feel you when I sing, Just let them see You in me! " THAT is the AFTER for me. God has entrusted me in a quiet way...not flashy, not notable to the masses, and not without my own struggles but with a loving word, warm hands, a song about a" bushel and a peck", a happy dance, snuggle time always,  a quiet prayer and heartfelt PRAISE! And I pray "let them see You in me" AFTER and forever!


"But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth" Exodus 9:16

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