Oh, and Nehemiah

 This past year has been ONE.CRAZY.YEAR. When we decided to put our sights on KC, John accepted a job where he'd be working for himself but with a referral source out of Overland Park, KS. So, he was driving back and forth each week from September 2021 until we moved this summer. So, I was a single parent a good portion of the year. We were both working "busy seasons" in the Spring. I was also trying to help John stay afloat. (He has brought in clients hand over fist and has had difficulty keeping up!) I was also managing my own transition at work, kids in school and sports, etc., etc., etc. So... it really is incredible to be able to tell you that I've been reading the Bible through this year and have never been more than about 10 days behind all year. So, right now I'm reading through the book of Nehemiah, and Nehemiah 9 has really jumped off the page at me.

Nehemiah 9 consists of the Israelites recounting God's faithfulness to them - despite them turning away from him again and again and again and again (you get it). But here's a record of God's responses to their unfaithfulness:

v8 - "... you have done what you promised, for you are always true to your word."

v15 - "You gave them bread from heaven when they were hungry and water from the rock when they were thirsty."

v17 - "But you are a God of forgiveness, gracious and merciful, slow to become angry, and full of unfailing love and mercy. You did not abandon them."

v19 - "But in your great mercy you did not abandon them to die in the wilderness."

v20 - "You sent your good Spirit to instruct them."

v21 - "For forty years you sustained them in the wilderness. They lacked nothing in all that time. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell!"

v25 - "Our ancestors captured fortified cities and fertile land. They took over houses full of good things, with cisterns already dug and vineyards and olive groves and orchards in abundance. So they ate until they were full and grew fat and enjoyed themselves in all your blessings."

 v27 - "In great mercy, you sent them deliverers who rescued them from their enemies."

v28 - "In your wonderful mercy, you rescued them repeatedly!"

v30 - "In your love, you were patient with them for many years. You sent your Spirit..."

v31 - "But in your great mercy, you did not destroy them completely or abandon them forever. What a gracious and merciful God you are!"

v32 - "And now, our God, the great and mighty and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of unfailing love..."

v33 - "Every time you punished us you were being just. We have sinned greatly, and you gave us only what we deserved."

v35 - "...you showered your goodness on them."

If you couldn't guess it, in between those verses are all the examples of the Israelites rejecting God - they were proud and stubborn, they refused to obey, refused to listen, they did not remember what God had done for them, rebelled, made an idol, committed terrible blasphemies, threw away your law, killed the prophets, turned to sin, were obstinate, turned their backs on God, refused to listen and on and on. 

God gets a bad rep in the Old Testament for being a "God of Wrath." And I see where people get that, but it's just because we identify more with the Israelites (who were deserving of wrath) than we do with God, whose constant expressions of mercy and love are so far beyond our ability to comprehend.

I Stopped By to Say "Hi"

 I was reviewing my past few years of blog posts. (It didn't take long at all.) A lot has happened in the past year. Front and center among them all has been a move from Tulsa to the Kansas City area. "Kansas City area" is a bit misleading. We are in a small town outside of KC - not too far from the town where I grew up. This move was an effort to be closer to my family.

Saying "bye" to Tulsa was difficult, though the actual day was made easier by the details of our departure. I had scheduled moving help at 2pm on a day in June. The helpers asked if they could come at 4pm instead. Though I didn't like it, I wasn't sure we'd be ready for them at 2pm. Instead, they showed up closer to 5pm. And, instead of taking two hours to pack the moving truck, it took four. By that time, we were sweaty and gross and in need of showers. We also still had some cleaning/straightening around the house that we were vacating. We finally pulled out of Tulsa - in a 26' moving truck (U-Haul) at midnight. That's right - we LEFT Tulsa at midnight. And, we were pulling our Ford Explorer BEHIND the U-Haul, which made us incredibly nervous. Not only were we exhausted, but we were terrified we'd lose the Explorer and not even notice it. (We couldn't see the Explorer from the front seats of the U-Haul!) Point is - I wasn't focused on the fact of pulling out of Tulsa for the last time (as residents, anyway). 

You might be asking yourself, "why in the world did you leave at midnight instead of waiting for daylight?!?! You must be insane!!" Yes... possibly. But, we had other moving help lined up in Kansas for 9am the next morning.

Except for a 30 minute stop for John to rest, we drove straight through and pulled in front of our new house at 6:00am. The only benefit, I would say, is that we didn't have to fight traffic in a 26' truck with a pull-behind Ford Explorer. 

Needless to say, though, we were exhausted! But... welcome (back) to Kansas for the Holland family!!