Be there deserts or be there valleys.

We all know God is faithful. We grow up hearing constantly about how faithful He is. But most of the time we don't actually BELIEVE God is faithful.. or maybe we just think He won't be faithful in the things that we WANT Him to be faithful in. I (Lisa) have always felt that just because God can give me some thing, by no means does that mean that He will. So many times I have struggled with if I should even expect certain things from God. It wasn't that I didn't think He wanted to take care of me, I was just pretty sure He was always going to be trying to teach me some thing that I would be to dense to get, and there for not be ready or worthy of His faithfulness. Living here has been Gods time to show me His faithfulness and it's been life changing. The things I grew up knowing, I now see Him doing in every aspect of our lives and I am humbled by His grace and faithfulness.
 Take for example our house. I really wanted a house out of town, with enough rooms for people to come and stay with us, with a deck, and I really wanted a house with a view of the water.. though I figured the last one would be a fat chance indeed. Instead of getting the little hole of a house I figured we would get, we got a house with all things I wanted and more. We have a house with three bedrooms, plenty of room for people to come stay and the perfect little room for Aaron to have as a music room, which he wanted so very badly. We have a dryer, which is not totally common here, and some thing that I really wanted, for I do so love fluffy towels!!! I have been wanting to relearn piano, but in the States, where I had a keyboard, I simply didn't have time. So God gave me a furnished house, with a piano! Come on now! What house COMES WITH A PIANO?? Mine does! Simply because God loves me, and cares that I want to learn the piano again. I have a friend who is willing to give me the piano books she has so that I can start reteaching myself with out having to go out and buy them, as I had to leave all the books I had boughten in the States. And while I haven't confirmed it, I think God actually might have worked out a way for me to actually be able to take lessons on the piano. (more on that later if it comes through!)
 The house even came with a T.V. and DVD player. Which we thought wouldn't be able to play our DVDs, as the regional codes are not usually compatible in other countries. But we decided to pop a movie in just check, and it played! Some times it skips or freezes but the thing plays all of our movies! We don't have to watch them on the computer!! It was amazing!!!
 Aaron had two jobs before we even got here. One teaching guitar, in which he already has 9 students and a few more possibles. In three weeks! And he is able to learn recording and actually do it for his job sometimes. Which is the career we had been praying about for him. God is just lining things up for Aaron in his work, quickly. And it's been so cool to watch God just hustle on our behalf in this.
 I went job hunting for only two days. I already have a job, as long as I do well on the practical interview. A job that is only two days a week, days that Aaron doesn't work, so we don't have to worry about the car. And is close enough to Aaron's work that if we do end up working same days we can walk to the other work and get the car.
 We got a car for a steal, about a grand less then it was worth, the day before we moved into our house. So that we wouldn't be stranded out of town, thus forcing people to still have to cart us around. And the car is perfect for us. Aaron loves little cars, and I love cars that you sit up higher in to see the road better. This car is both, cute little red car, with high set seats. How often does that happen? We both love the car.
 We thought the car had some mechanical problems. And they were things that could have cost us hundreds of dollars. Instead they either turned out to be completely easy fixes or not even a problem.

 Really, the fact that we are even HERE, and with in a month in a half have a house, a car, a cat (who is wonderful and cuddly and darling!), two jobs for Aaron and more then likely a job for me, blows my mind. As we had both struggled for so long, knowing we were supposed to be over seas, but not able to get there yet, for God's timing wasn't ours. He brought us here, He fulfilled the calling that He had given us both, long before we even know each other existed, and proved His faithfulness in amazing ways just in the bringing of us to this place. And then He had to go above and beyond any and all of our expectations, and bless us so completely and so fully that there could be no doubt that it was all His doing, that I now KNOW just how completely faithful and wonderful my God is. And that life isn't always a desert, a time of soul searching and hard lessons, but also there are times when God brings us to the lush valley, where we can rest and be restored. Probably to prepare us for the next desert! But knowing that there will be another lush valley on the other side of that big old desert, and that He holds our dreams and dreams them with us and for us, humbles me. And makes me so thankful, and so proud to call  Him MY GOD. And I will thank Him the next time He brings to me that desert, and praise Him for the work He is doing in me. For while He might have me in a desert, it is only so I can be worthy of the blessings He is waiting to give me.