5 stones...

So, as summer winds down I find that I'm looking forward to a lot of things.

-Fall; cooler weather; the leaves turning...
-Both kiddos in preschool - WHAT? (Actually I'm not sure if I'm ready for that one!)
-Anticipation as to what the end of this year will bring for our family - and what next year holds...
-My 20 week ultrasound in Oct. to find out if we're going to have a football team, or another player for the "girl's team..."
-Did I mention fall?

Anyways, you're probably wondering what my title means. Let's just say this past Sunday's sermon, mixed with an insightful Sunday school class led to some really good discussion between Hubs and I about where we're at.

Even though we have yet to see anything major happening in our lives in the areas of finance, and work for Cornerstone, we are
still facing each new day with the expectation of great things. But 2 + years of this can get weary. Lately, Hubs and his partner have been taking on a lot of remodeling jobs which have brought a lot of work - but a lot more stress - because we still have SO much debt.

We thought it would be easy.

Put the house up for sale, start getting creative with jobs, cut back on our budget...

We didn't expect things like: the market to be flooded in our area with close to 700 homes and bare land for sale
Oh, and getting pregnant...

But, in the midst of all of this - we had a light shine on our circumstance in the form of some wise council. A friend of ours asked Hubs what his "5 stones" were. Hubs started to correlate this analogy with one of his favorite Bible stories about David and Goliath and the 5 stones he gathered before facing the giant.

Our friend continued to elaborate on what he meant by his question, and proceeded to say that even though David had the courage and strength of the Lord on his side, and he knew God was going to be victorious, he still gathered 5 stones. In his mind he must have thought that there is no harm in being prepared. Maybe he even thought it could take all 5 stones to kill Goliath. But with and intense faith, he picked those stones and looked at this "giant" of a situation, and what did he do next?

He ran. Full speed. At the giant.

And God was victorious! And it only took one stone.

To wrap this all up for you - I just feel like no matter what our circumstances, God has called us to be obedient and to sometimes just wait on Him. But that doesn't mean that we can't be prepared when he calls us forward to face our giant to be able to reach into our pocket and feel the smoothness of those stones and to know that no matter what happens, we are the vessel and God will be victorious through our sufferings if we allow His hand to lead us.

What are your 5 stones?