Much has happened since I last posted, with one of the most significant being Elliot’s confirmation of faith. As parents, Malcolm and I were filled with joy to see that he has indeed taken ownership of his personal walk with Christ. We are ever so grateful for our wonderful church community for supporting us and our children, providing help, guidance, and fellowship. Elliot’s growth in Christ over the years is a demonstration of God’s faithfulness and grace, that despite our flaws as parents and as humans, Elliot has developed a desire to learn more about God and get closer to Him. Most importantly, this desire is not borne out of the need to make us happy, but rather grew out of the realisation that he needed to constantly keep Christ as the focus in his life.
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| Elliot with our pastor |
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| The children with their great grandfather |
This led me to reflect on my personal journey. Do I lean on God in my life? Do I trust Him with all my heart, and submit to him in all my ways? What difference does Jesus make to the goals of my life, to what I’m looking forward to and working towards? Strangely enough, the devotions that I was working through asked the same questions, and yielded help in the form of guidance to the relevant bible passages.
I had become so focused on our trip at the end of the year that it had become my ultimate “destination”. How very shallow of me. If my life were to end, I would have had many regrets with how I spent my days! My head knew what to do, but my heart had slowly succumbed to all the worldly worries and materialism. I haven’t been living for Christ and His kingdom. I haven’t been leaning on God and truly trusting Him. Rather, I’ve been trying to use my own strength and taking things into my own hands. It was a timely reminder to reset my priorities.
I have done as much as I physically can and I must admit that it was a struggle to surrender the “outcome” to God, to remember that God will always provide us with what we need. And that need may not necessarily be one of comfort or relief but refinement! It was also a challenge with the chaos of life to remember to serve others ahead of myself, to respond with love and patience even when I’m tired.
God has been faithful and He has provided. Friends have stepped in and helped out with commitments that I was struggling with. Building glitches have been ironed out with minimal fuss. My sister-in-law has come up with amazing designs for our new home despite being time poor herself. With the lack of childcare in the past week, family and friends have stepped in cheerfully. My parents have provided meals and school lunches for the children. Malcolm’s parents have taken the children to their dental appointments and extracurricular activities. Even my brother is doing my laundry! I am blessed with a boss who trusts me to manage my work time at home and a husband who is proactive and takes a real interest in every aspect of the household.
There are a few things still unresolved. One of them is childcare for next year. We have been searching for a new au pair as the one who was going to join our family pulled out. It has been a frustrating 4 weeks trying to find a candidate. I had previously been of the mindset that I HAD to get it sorted before we left before I came to the realisation that I was trying to force something to happen. I needed to trust that I had done all that I could and that God will do the rest, bringing the right person for our family at the right time.
The late nights and early mornings trying to finish all my tasks have taken its toll. I feel exhausted. However, I am in good spirits! We have had great moments of celebrations with family and friends. How could I not be happy when my family gives me such awesome presents! Or I could simply be delirious after the hit in the head I received whilst trying to clean the car out! Either way, I am looking forward to crashing on the plane on the way to France and grateful to have been given the opportunity to enjoy the wonder and beauty of God’s creation with my family.
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| My collector's item - Royal Doulton's Snow White |
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| Mickey Mouse by Jim Shore |
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