New Beginnings!

I just finished registering my son for kindergarten; between that and a conversation with my husband after that, I decided today would be as good as any to begin this blog (although I haven't told anyone about it, and I'm not sure when I will if at all, this may be old news by the time anyone sees it!).

When I told my husband, Jeff, that his baby boy was officially registered for kindergarten, he asked me if I was over the shock of having a baby yet. See, when we had Kevin, our daughter Kelly was 14 and our son Walter was 12, so needless to say Kevin was a BIG surprise! I call him our "bonus" baby (I never liked it when people call their kids a "mistake" or an "oops" - just because we didn't know he was coming doesn't mean that he wasn't in God's plan all along.)! My answer to my husband was that yes I am over the shock of having a baby and am focused on the blessing that he is. I also told him that I'm learning more every day that God is full of surprises and has more in store than we know!

I'll share more as I continue with this post because that is really the reason that I decided to start this post. I have great friends who have blogs out there that I love, but I just couldn't imagine having anything to post that anyone would want to invest their time in reading. But God has been doing so many amazing things in my life and in the lives of my friends, family, and others around me that i decided this could be a great place to share what He is doing and all that He can do if we just allow Him to lead us.

I chose the title "Surrendered & In The Potter's Hands" because those are the overwhelming lessons I've been learning, especially over the last couple of years. While I have been a believer my entire life, I did not understand having a personal relationship with God until April 2002 when I re-committed my life to Christ and began searching for how to develop that relationship. While I told others about listening to what God told them to do and knew small things that I felt God wanted me to do, I never understood how someone could "really" hear where God was leading them until the last couple of years, and especially the last six months. So that is where the title of this blog comes in... It has been very difficult for me to surrender everything to Him completely and to obey what He tells me. However, I've learned that my life is in far better hands when I surrender it to God and His leading (duh!). Obviously, I've had to allow Him to change me and stretch me way outside of my comfort zone, and learn to trust Him completely (hence 'In The Potter's Hands').

I'm no where close to where I need to be (and I hope I never begin to think I am!), but one of my prayers everyday is that God will show me where He is working around me and give me the courage to act when He calls me to do something. I still struggle sometimes with being obedient immediately, but I have been getting there eventually and am getting better at realizing when I am being disobedient and adjusting more quickly. I have also tried to let go of trying to know where God is leading me or what the big picture is and just focus on that next step. It is only when I trust Him and take that next step without knowing any of the following steps that He begins to show me another step. Besides being Biblical, I really don't think we could handle it if God told us His whole specific plan that He has for our lives. Plus, I think we would focus too much on the plan at that point than on God. So, my daily goal and focus is simply to be "Surrendered & In The Potter's Hands"! Admittedly not always easy, but always right.

New beginnings... Kindergarten and beyond! Sometimes makes me anxious, nervous, confused, chaotic, and even a little psycho at times - but always exciting and reassuring with a peace that comes only from a personal, life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ!