And now, back to our regularly scheduled programming!

I do not think I will be blogging daily, but will definitely be blogging more often. Sadly, I was sick last week and spent a lot of my days becoming intimately acquainted with the new (to me) loveseat in my room. But, I am back.

As far as some direction (now remember a couple posts back about God only giving us one step at a time?), I got a teeny little piece of direction today. I was talking to a friend at church explaining a little of what I had been feeling about wanting to do more. She had also been through Grace Adventure, which is a two month long workshop I am starting this week. She told me that when we begin this workshop we will be asked not to make any life-changing decisions until we complete the program. So there is my Step One--I am to go to Grace Adventure, but not make any life changing decisions at this moment in time. Pretty simple, huh? Well, God's directions are not always complicated...although I do hear that this workshop is very challenging spiritually, so it is not going to be easy. So please pray for me during the next two months, but in particular the next two weeks as I will be doing a good part of the training then. A few of the friends who have previously gone through have told me that their lives fell apart just prior to going. One friend got extremely sick while there. Well, my life has not fallen apart, but I was sick last week--extremely sick Wednesday. For one thing, people's lives have changed dramatically as a result of this conference, so the devil does not want that to happen so he tries to use whatever he can to try and keep people away and to discourage him from going. However, even when people experience challenge just prior to going, the Lord uses that to bring them to the place spiritually where they will best benefit from this experience.

So yes, I am very nervous about going, but also starting to get excited about what the Lord is going to do in my life! Part of the conference will be learning more about how the Lord has made me--and the unique heart that He has given me--something important to know before making important life-changing decisions! Well, I do already know some things about the heart that God has given me--I have a heart for orphans, adoption, and children with special needs. However, I can always stand to learn more about how the Lord has gifted and motivated my heart. In the meantime though, I can continue to live from that heart right now while praying and waiting on the Lord to reveal His further direction.

I am excited to be spending tomorrow through Wednesday at my college's missions conference--getting to meet and visit with missionaries and maybe discover some potential future places to serve! However, I will not be committing to any ministries at this time...but it never hurts to look into possible future options...and meet other people who share my passion for missions!

I was also talking with a close friend tonight about what the Lord is doing. I realized that while the Lord is not leading me to make any decisions until the end of March or later, as far as what country/ministry I am to serve with long-term, there are reasons why He causes us to be uncomfortable with the idea that other people are suffering and I am sitting here doing nothing. Some of it in my case was to motivate me to use my time wisely. There are things that I can be doing to get the most out of this time of waiting and spiritual growth. I can clean and organize my room and go through the things that I am not using at the moment--I cannot take it all with me overseas and have to go through it sometime. Why not while I am between jobs and have extra time to do so? Then when God does move me, I will be ready--and sometimes He does not move us until we take the necessary steps to prepare ourselves. Spending some time reading God's Word is also very useful as I cannot expect Him to direct if I am not spending time with Him. No, I have not done so well at the Bible-reading plan--I still intend to read through the Bible this year--but I think I was attempting too much at once--especially when I will be gone for so many days out of this month and the next one--so definitely read my Bible daily--but not 15 chapters or so every day.

Speaking of which, I need to get off this computer. So what will I be doing now to help me move towards God's plan for living my life to the fullest?
~ Have a short quiet time
~ Locate the contents of the package that I need to mail to my son in Ethiopia tomorrow. He is finally getting a Bible! I am so excited for him!
~ Go to bed in the next 30 minutes or sooner so that I can wake up in a reasonable hour and have possibly a little time to straighten my room before I leave.

So there I have it--little steps--but necessary ones. Spend time with the Lord. Continue to live out my heart for orphans and adoption-starting with the boy who calls me "Mom". Get some rest. Get organized.