front porch people.

**pictures in this post taken by my sweet friend Kayla who was visiting this weekend**

Sometimes I attempt to be so creative or so careful with my words that I'm downright confusing. So if I haven't made it clear, 
I'm really thankful to be where we are. 

The kind of words I want to be careful with are ones like these: "we are really overwhelmed with the grace and goodness in our life right now. we're in a season we've longed for, for quite a while". Here's what I don't want people to hear: "we have a ton of money. we have a ton of answers about our future. everyone loves us and our kids are perfect and we get plenty of sleep and our life is a like christian novel with no conflict". That would be absolutely be the non-truth. 


The real truth is - we're really thankful for God's grace and where He has us right now. Here are some examples of what I mean: 
- We spent the last few years living in homes that were tiny or dirty or way out of the way. Now, we're in a house that fits all our stuff and all our kids and all our friends. 
- We're really thankful for where we are financially. The Lord is providing for us so creatively and in ways we never even dreamed of and while we don't have bookoo bucks or two cars or extravagant dates, we're finally at a place where we've learned that the Lord ALWAYS provides and that money is a very small trapping of this world that brings us no happiness or lasting joy. 
- We've spent the last few years feeling quite like we were in a holding pattern of ministry. One that was really beneficial for us. In each and every way the Lord held us, we learned and we grew and we soaked up what we needed to. But you know we were itching. And now, it feels like we have some freedom to walk in the ways He's gifted us as we closely watch and learn in the areas we still need much growth. 

For example: when you have a heart that is itching to minister to people and to share the gospel with your neighbors, it's quite hard to do that when you don't really have neighbors because you live a little bit in the middle of nowhere off a busy road. 


But now. Here we are. 
With everyday problems and no perfect solutions.
But we're finally front porch people. 
We're learning that the Lord always provides and He always releases in His perfect timing.
And try as we might, we just can't bear to come in from our front porch. 
Because we live on this precious street with these people who are precious to Him. 


If you're in the holding place, smile and bless Him today. When He lets go, you'll know you served as faithfully as you could where you were. You'll be thankful you didn't curse your tiny house with the broken toilet everyday when the Lord moves you on. Because then you would've gotten in the habit of believing that you DESERVE things, when you really only deserve death and destruction. Instead, when you have a functioning toilet - you'll just about sing the hallelujah chorus each time that bad boy flushes. 

If He's already let you go from a holding place, I'm smiling with you today. Let's not get trapped up by anything ok. Let's hold it all loosely. If you're finally a front porch person or a kitchen table person or a enough-food-on-the-table person or a finally-found-the-right-church-for-us-person, let's be really intentional to not move on with our day without thanking Him. For releasing, for healing, for giving. 
For front porches.