The Past | Thankful Thursday

The LORD impressed on my heart to carve out a section of my blog to share what I am thankful for. I started it on a Thursday and decided to call it "Thankful Thursday." Each week I share what I am thankful for. Come back each week so we can count our blessings together.

As I sit here in the final few hours of 2020, I am reflecting on how much our lives have changed in just two years! In many ways we are right back where we started. January 2021 will be two years since our family went on a 21 day fast and then God called me to a solitary fast for the final ten days of the month. He allowed me only water those last ten days and the clarity in the instructions was crystal clear! We were to sell most of everything we owned, uproot our lives, including our children's lives, leave family and friends, to move to a part of the country we never even knew existed before. God called us to Mobile, Alabama. He showed us the great need and we were able to help a lot of kids and impact a lot of lives, but we were forever changed. The real transformation was in our family unit.

In Indiana we fought a lot. We argued, we distanced ourselves (before that was a good thing), and we were drifting apart. I hated it and I just didn't know how to fix it. We would try to get back on track as a family, make each other a priority, but before we knew it, our busy schedules and hurried lives caused us to get back into the ruts of just existing with one another.

About a month ago God put in my husband's heart that He wanted us to move back to Indiana. Paul hesitated to tell me because he knew how much I loved living in Alabama. I didn't want to move back. The one person who drug their heels, cried a river of tears, went to the altar nearly every church service, and was reluctant to move to Alabama...was me! I didn't want to go. All my life I had said, "Send me Lord. I'll go!" And then when He said, "Go!" I was like, "You mean now? You mean us? To where, LORD? Are You sure? Did I hear right? You mean move...or like do a mission trip?" But finally my heart and will aligned with God's and I was so thankful for the opportunity. I loved Alabama. I loved the ocean and the sunshine and the climate.

The big transformation happened when we only had each other. We knew no one. We had no friends, no family, no jobs, no home, nothing! Well, we had God and we had one another. So we did things together. Paul and I were not working so we had a lot of time to work on our marriage. While the kids were in school, Paul and I would drive around Mobile and discover neat places to take the kids, fun things to do, and just did a lot of talking and driving. We connected in such a special way that we knew it was God. He literally breathed life back into our marriage. The joy was back. The peace was back. The true, deep love was welling up inside both of us. We smiled more. We looked at each other in the eyes more. We held each other more. It was wonderful! Nothing else was fighting for our attention. No jobs. No schedules. No deadlines. No other commitments. We were given the gift of time and we absolutely do not take that for granted. It was so incredible that our marriage changed and our family dynamics changed.

The kids grew a lot closer. They have always adored each other and I have always thanked God for that, but like any siblings they would argue and fuss and get on each other's nerves and then say or do things to hurt each other. In Alabama, they needed each other. They were different than the kids in their school. They did not grow up in the south and the culture was a big adjustment for these two. The food, the language, the communication, the atmosphere was just different than anything they experienced before. Yet, they learned so much more than lessons in school. They had opportunities to do and see things they never could have in Indiana. Kadesia excelled in school. She was in leadership roles, advanced in those, made friends, was respected by peers and faculty, and did not let the fact that she was different than anyone else in her class prevent her from putting her best foot forward.

We started out going to one church and then over the course of time we started going to a different church. It was wonderful. We loved it and we were so welcomed there. We were blessed and quickly began volunteering and using our gifts and callings for God. What a blessing to serve! Javan loves his youth leader. They remain in touch and he has made a lasting impact on Javan...and I believe the same is true in reverse. We said our sad goodbyes and hugged our friends from our church with sadness in our hearts...tears were shed but we know that God put us together for a reason and it was so clear why we needed to be there for each other.

I know Covid-19 played a part in many people's lives. I actually had Covid and it was absolutely awful but my case was not nearly as bad as others. God healed me and He continues to strengthen me. Even though I did get it, for the most part our lives didn't change much because of Covid. Thankfully we were not in a state that was heavily impacted and so our way of life didn't change that drastically. We were still able to do a lot of things we enjoyed. We could still go to the ocean, have cook outs, go to the park, take walks in the neighborhood. We enjoyed our time together and it strengthened us. It also gave us more time to connect with God and draw closer to Him.

So when God placed it on Paul's heart to move back to Indiana, he was a little reluctant to tell me. He sat down on the edge of the bed, facing away from me, and gave me the news. I think he was surprised because I agreed! God had been placing the same nudge in my heart. I didn't want to move again...get rid of more stuff, pack everything back up, have no home to go to, no jobs, no idea what we were doing but we prayed and prayed and prayed and God continued to reassure us that we had heard right. Every provision we needed fell into place. We had someone come and haul our stuff in one trip. Friends and family gave us money for fuel and food as we traveled. God even allowed our beloved Lola to find a home where she is spoiled rotten and loved on every single day!

We sure left a large part of our hearts in Alabama, but we know we are where we are supposed to be. I am thankful this Thursday for new beginnings, fresh starts, and for the past! I am thankful for the time to reflect on God's goodness and mercy through the years and I am so excited about the things He has put in our hearts to do for 2021. I can hardly wait to see where He takes Blue's Blessings. I am looking forward to when He helps me get my book published. I am eager to do the podcast, to sing the songs, to teach the lessons, to make the things, to write the curriculum, to be consistent with my blogs, to make the videos, and to grow closer and closer to Him as I journey closer and closer towards Home!

Sometimes the past can paralyze us. We get stuck. We don't want to stop reminiscing how good things used to be. We think of the relationship, the experience, the situation, the job, the success we have had and we don't move forward. It's fine to glance back to thank God for bringing us so far, but we can't camp there! We have a work to do in 2021 and we must keep going!

PHILIPPIANS 3:13-15 (13)Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, (14)I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. (15)Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.

I am thankful for this blog so I can share my faith with others. I have had so many text messages, notes, and emails telling me how something I have shared has been a blessing to them and that is such an honor. It humbles me. I hope to always obey Christ and share what He wants me to here on this platform. Let me wish you all a safe and happy New Year! Welcome 2021 with prayer and obedience! If you choose to fast over the next 21 days I pray for strength and help to make it through and may you reap all the benefits of crucifying the flesh to strengthen the inner man! May God bless you and keep you! Hope you'll check back next year to see what I share tomorrow!

God bless you!

~Bridgett Owens