"A new Thing"

this afternoon, 2 of my co-workers were giving me a hard time. They were reminding me that I often say "I was not always a Preacher's wife". On this particular occasion, one was questioning the photo on my blog. She thought it was a tattoo. (It is a heart shaped leaf skeleton floating in the water. the caterpillars had eaten all the tender part of the leaf and left the skeleton which, to me, looked like lace. I took the picture either this summer or last, but when I saw it, it was if my Heavenly Father had sent me a little love letter, just to let me know He was thinking of me.) I told them "like I would have a tattoo" and they promptly reminded me that, you guessed it, I was not always a preacher's wife.
On the way home tonight I thought about that. It is true, I was not always a Preacher's wife. When Satan's minions start whispering in my ear "remember when...", I am tempted to travel back down the road of my life. I am tempted to stop and visit all the bad choices, broken hearts, embarrassing moments, and blatant sin. A few years ago, I chose to break this cycle of lamenting the past and looked for God's hand in it all, from my parents' divorce, to the broken hearts of my teen age years and early 20's, through all the dark moments...I asked God to show me where He was in all that mess of a soul that was me before I became "a preacher's wife". And He did. In more ways than I can list here, He was there, guiding me, calling to me, drawing me to Himself. He allowed me to stumble and fall, time and again until the hunger and thirst in my very soul was so great that only He could quench it.
Isiah 43 says to Forget the former things and not dwell on the past.See! I am doing a new thing, Do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. (verses 18 and 19) I am humbled at the new thing Christ did in me. He touched me. He quenched the thirst in my soul. He completed me. He filled the longing in my heart. He created in me a love so pure and so strong that I can honestly say that I would do absolutely anything for Him and I trust Him completely and totally without question....well, without many questions.
My prayer for the Ladies in my life, the Ladies of FLO, the Ladies in my Sunday School Class, the Ladies I work with, friends, family...is that each one of you falls totally and completely head over heels in love with your Savior. He will satisfy the longing in your heart...that nagging, gnawing "something is missing" feeling. He will quench the thirst in your soul for "something more". He will curb your appetite for lesser things such as possessions, power, lust, and physical beauty and will create in you a desire to grow His kingdom, to be humble, to be pure, and to exude inner beauty.
He loves you enough to make you a princess....a daughter of the King....
Hugs!
K