Praises, Provision & Professional Dog Sitting

"I will bless the Lord at all times;

His praise shall continually be on my mouth.

My soul shall make its boast in the Lord;

The humble shall hear it and rejoice.

O magnify the Lord with me,

And let us exalt his name together."

Psalm 34:1-3

I usually come across psalms like the one above when I'm feeling especially selfish or needy. I'll be asking God for a list of really big things like a job, housing, friends, etc. and He reminds me of where my heart needs to be—praising my God. How often do I praise Him? Is His praise continually on my mouth? I continue to go back to Matthew 6 where Jesus says to "seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added on to you." Most of the time my earthly needs beat out praising and seeking His Kingdom—but why? Why would I allow that to happen when He promises to provide all we need WHEN we seek His Kingdom first? This is where I've been placing my focus this month—in truly praising God and learning to love Him and his Word with my heart, soul, strength and mind.

Neither Chris nor I have been successful in finding work yet, but somehow God continues to provide for all of our essential needs. Over the Christmas season we were dog sitting for a couple (the Cathey's) just down the road from our original 'host family'. When the Cathey's got home we asked them if it was possible to stay with them longer. They got back to us a few days later and said their neighbors need a dog sitter during the first two weeks of February so we could stay with the them until February if we agreed to dog sit for their neighbors. We were very thankful for their unexpected generosity and a little surprised to see that in our pursuit for careers God has allowed dog sitting gigs to provide our housing.

This week we have an opportunity to attend a conference on building spiritual bridges in reaching out to Muslims. We are really excited to attend and look forward to how it will inspire our love of sharing the good news. It is interesting to notice that if we had work at this point, the four-day event would be out of the question.

This adventure has not been what we had expected at all—but we continue to cling to God's promises, be in awe of how He has provided, and thankful for the time we have to spend together and the people we've met along the way. We're praying for work (and looking at every opportunity) and seeking His will.

O, magnify the Lord with me,

And let us exalt his name together!

"I will bless the Lord at all times;

His praise shall continually be on my mouth.

My soul shall make its boast in the Lord;

The humble shall hear it and rejoice.

O magnify the Lord with me,

And let us exalt his name together."

Psalm 34:1-3

I usually come across psalms like the one above when I'm feeling especially selfish or needy. I'll be asking God for a list of really big things like a job, housing, friends, etc. and He reminds me of where my heart needs to be—praising my God. How often do I praise Him? Is His praise continually on my mouth? I continue to go back to Matthew 6 where Jesus says to "seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added on to you." Most of the time my earthly needs beat out praising and seeking His Kingdom—but why? Why would I allow that to happen when He promises to provide all we need WHEN we seek His Kingdom first? This is where I've been placing my focus this month—in truly praising God and learning to love Him and his Word with my heart, soul, strength and mind.

Neither Chris nor I have been successful in finding work yet, but somehow God continues to provide for all of our essential needs. Over the Christmas season we were dog sitting for a couple (the Cathey's) just down the road from our original 'host family'. When the Cathey's got home we asked them if it was possible to stay with them longer. They got back to us a few days later and said their neighbors need a dog sitter during the first two weeks of February so we could stay with the them until February if we agreed to dog sit for their neighbors. We were very thankful for their unexpected generosity and a little surprised to see that in our pursuit for careers God has allowed dog sitting gigs to provide our housing.

This week we have an opportunity to attend a conference on building spiritual bridges in reaching out to Muslims. We are really excited to attend and look forward to how it will inspire our love of sharing the good news. It is interesting to notice that if we had work at this point, the four-day event would be out of the question.

This adventure has not been what we had expected at all—but we continue to cling to God's promises, be in awe of how He has provided, and thankful for the time we have to spend together and the people we've met along the way. We're praying for work (and looking at every opportunity) and seeking His will.

O, magnify the Lord with me,

And let us exalt his name together!