Glory Quilts

Contentment in All Things

Last night we had a family meeting to talk about goals and priorities. To my chagrin (but not to my surprise), the number one goal of my sons was to move to town. Even my husband wants to move to town, but he knows I love it out here.

We rent a farmhouse on 300 acres. The fields are leased to a local farmer, but we have the use of the woods (maybe 50 acres) and the barns and pasture and very large yard. It's private. I like privacy. The house is a dump, but I'm not a house-proud person. I like my gardens - flowers, herbs and kitchen - and I like to have my chickens. The goats enjoy the four acre pasture, too! We have abundant foraging - black raspberries, apples, blackberries, mulberries, wild grapes, walnuts... and we have worked hard on the property for three years.  The landlord (a real city slicker whose parents used "the  farm" as a  weekend getaway from Chicago) says it looks like an estate now. And it does! We take very good care of it!

But this lovely farm is 40 miles from my husband's work, and he works night shift. Our middle son is in college at three campuses. Two campuses are 20 miles from here and the other is 42 miles from here! He also works in the town 20 miles away, where we go to church and socialize. We are spending so much time and money commuting! We are in town virtually every single day. The youngest son needs a job, and there aren't any out here. He would have to drive to town, too! 

This place is not outrageously expensive compared to other rentals, but it's too expensive for us under these circumstances. My husband needs to get a college degree if he is ever going to get off night shift. The youngest son (17) is not a candidate for the community college, so he is going to be very expensive. It's time for me to let go of this place - to change our lifestyle in order to let the guys fulfill their goals.

It's certainly possible that God will find us a rental property NEAR town but outside of it. He has done that before. It's been many years since we have had to live IN town. The guys would be fine with living 3 or 4 miles outside of town. I need to work on being content wherever I am, even if He places us in the center of the city.

I am not packing up yet, but we did make the decision last night to start actively hunting a new house. I have a home for the chickens and the goats. The dog has to come with us. It will be hard on him to be tied up after having this space to run in. He's getting kind of old anyhow - he's fine in the summer, but winters are hard on him.

Houses are really just shells. We have lived in 22 houses in 22 years of marriage, and that includes three that we stayed in for over three years! Except for one or two of them, we have always been blessed with pleasant lines. We have been able to keep small  livestock and lived on or near lakes, with privacy and plenty of space for growing boys. I don't need a fancy house. My very favorite place we ever lived was in a mobile home. It had been added onto, in a tacky kind of way, and a porch added out front. There was a metal roof over it. The house was pretty bad, but I loved that home. It was nestled into the base of a mountain, and it overlooked the valley. Mountains rose all around that valley, and it was beautiful. I had a garden behind the house,  chickens and other poultry ... even some peacocks that strutted all around. I drank coffee on the porch every morning and watched hummingbirds in the pine trees.

It keeps me focused on the fact that I am just a traveller here. Heaven will be better than that place, and better than this place. God may set us in another lovely place, or He might want me in town for a while. I am praying that I will bring my thoughts captive to obedience and remain content. In fact, I want to be not JUST content, but I want to rejoice in His provision and plan for me. When we are ready to  buy a home of our own, if we ever do, it will HOPEFULLY be in the country. Until then, we will just stay flexible and open to God's leading.  

Trusting in Him!

From Challice

11:43, Monday, January 30 .. Posted by Anonymous

I pray all will work out.

Untitled Comment

12:06, Monday, January 30 .. Posted by DonnaJoy

Cathe - I am praying with you. Sometimes God has other plans for us and we can't get the whole picture from where we are - we just have trust that He knows what is best for us at what time.
That has always been hard for me to do and as I get older and look back on all the mistakes I made because I felt like I knew better - I am more easily swayed to wait on Him and know that I am in good hands. Keep us posted on the move and how you are handling everything and most of all how God is answering your prayers.
Blessings and Peace to you!!
Donna