Happenings

We blinked after coming home from our New Year's Vacation and find ourselves halfway through the Spring Semester:

Kip is taking two classes and working about two shifts per week at the hospital. He is loving all he is learning, and frequently comes home spilling over with questions, topics, Scriptures which we discuss over dinner.

I am working full time but have also started taking classes offered as a part of the Seminary Wives Institute on campus.  I have always loved learning, but this is really a special opportunity to learn from wise professors and their wives on campus. This season has really fanned the flame of passion for His Word to get deep in my heart. I want to live, breathe, think, speak this Word, and to constantly obey it. What a gift it is to us!

We both keep pretty busy between work and school, but try to make time for the occasional dinner or brunch date. Here is a photo of us on a recent outing to the Anchorage Cafe for breakfast.

I have been slowly reading through the Old Testament and it has been blowing my mind to see how God reveals Himself!  I recently finished Genesis and have been reading and re-reading the chapter where Joseph reveals his identity to his brothers. The same brothers who sold him into slavery 22 years prior, and considered him dead. I imagine all of the emotion in not only learning their brother is alive, but in recognizing all the Lord has done. Joseph tells them in 45:5 "Do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life". And in verse 8, "It was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt".

How amazing is the Sovereignty of God! There are no gradients of it, no degrees of His control. He is fully, completely control of all things in all power. Every single thing that has happened and will happened is in His capable hands, exactly as He intends it to be. What a powerful, life-giving thing to really believe!

In regards to the life of Joseph, he was hated by his brothers, plotted to be killed by them, and sold to Egypt as a slave. However, the Lord's plans for him to rule and prosper were not only accomplished, but every attempt at thwarting this was actually all a part of His purposes!  Not only did Joseph rule as he'd dreamed when he was a young man, but think about some other things we see accomplished, as a result of the brothers' jealous actions:

• Full reconciliation and love between Joseph and his brothers
• Maturity of faith in Joseph and his brothers, the development of tender hearts toward God
• Many people in Egypt saved from the famine
• Favorable position for Joseph in Pharaoh's home
• God greatly glorified in the eyes of Pharaoh and the Egyptian people
• Joseph's brothers and fathers blessed and given new territory surrounding Egypt

We see the all-encompassing grace of God to His people everywhere in His Word. We can trust that this is who He is, all the time. The things that feel good and the things that feel bad, are all purposeful in the Sovereign hands of God. Even our sin and mistakes are redeemed by Him and used for His purposes! And the best news is : He is only working GOOD for us. He wants to thank Him for what we cannot yet see. Thank him for everything, in faith. He is the perfect Creator and He is creating a bigger, better, more beautiful plan than we can know.

"And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose."

In all of our happenings, let us recognize the Lord is Almighty God, Sovereign over all things. There is not one thing that is out of His hands. He shows us in His Word that : 1) He is always in control and 2) He is always good and merciful to His children. May these promises greatly comfort us and be the pillars of our life and faith always.