Thursday, October 16, 2008

Taking a break

This will be my last post for awhile. Our family will be moving back to Tennessee on November 1st. We are looking forward to time with our family and friends. We are also looking forward to worshipping again at Westminster. We will be in Tennessee for about ten weeks.

In mid-January we will be moving to Sugar Land, Texas for the next phase of Brian's work project. Sugar Land is a southwestern suburb of Houston. Unless the project gets cancelled, we will be there 2-3 years. This is not the course I would have chosen for our family, but it is the one God has placed us on. We look forward to seeing how He might use us for His glory in Sugar Land.

I have struggled with the thoughts of being away from family and friends for so long. A dear friend recently sent my a quote by the 19th century Christian author Elizabeth Prentiss. Here is the quote along with commentary by Christian radio host Nancy Leigh DeMoss.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss: When she was in her fifties, the 19th-century writer Elizabeth Prentiss found out her husband had gotten a new job. She’d have to be uprooted from her home in New York and move to Chicago. It meant leaving a lot of friends, and the move would be dangerous to her fragile health.

Here’s what Elizabeth wrote in a letter to a friend:
“Place and position have next to nothing to do with happiness. We can be wretched in a palace, radiant in a dungeon. Perhaps this heartbreaking is exactly what we need to remind us that we are pilgrims and strangers on earth.”


Nancy: Maybe you’re facing a big, difficult change. Remember, true joy doesn’t come from our circumstances; it comes from our relationship with the Lord. He can help you be radiant today, even if you feel like you’re in a dungeon.

I wouldn't call Texas a dungeon, but I do pray God will help me to be radiant no matter what my circumstances. If you are facing difficult circumstances, may this quote help you remember where our true joy comes from.

With all the moving we will be doing in the next few months, I'm going to take a break from my blog. Look for more Joyner news in February.

1 comment:

Kimberly @ Raising Olives said...

Hi Jama,

I have enjoyed following your blog, when you post. :o)I hope that you are getting settled in Texas and maybe you will start posting again?
Well, I wanted to let you know that we started our own blog recently. The children and I are really enjoying learning about html and seeing who is visiting and where they are coming from. We have had a lot of foreign traffic, I think because of our blog name. Malaysia, Istanbul, Germany, Spain, Italy, etc. Anyhow it has been fun for the children to see how global the internet can be.

I pray for you daily and hope that we will live close together again soon.

Blessings,
Kimberly