It is 4:45 pm on a Thursday and I am waiting for Mom’s Shuttle Service to be put into use for the evening.

I am thinking we will be having BLT’s for dinner and then we will end the evening watching The Rock’s TV show The Titans.

My husband is in Dallas, Texas while we sit in our home in Michigan.

I am concerned over one kid having the flu while at college, the almost 16 year old’s new-sprung independence seems to resemble a cantankerous withdrawal, and the ever-present need to entertain the 13 year old while his cool dad travels for work in my boring-old-mom’s-a-girl way.

I live a pretty simple life…one that revolves around meeting my boy’s needs and being available to my husband- my life partner and best friend.

However, just over 10 years ago, Christ intersected my life plan in a profound and loving way because I was living life just for myself…for my happiness. Yes, I loved my husband and my kids, but perhaps it was in a way that more benefitted me. Today, I love them in a way that better benefits them.

I was lost and Jesus found me. I was blind and He helped me to see. I was broken and He put me back together.

He truly is the Potter and I am His clay.

These past 10 years have been a journey of discovery: who I am, who do I want to be, who the Lord created me to be…

Now, looking ahead, I see how I have been trained and groomed to ready me for the next stage of my life…and the time has come to start taking steps towards my future as well as prepare my sons for their own.

I have grown in age, in experience, in love, in family…my priorities have shifted and then readjusted as different needs arise.

In all my years I never would have known a day would come that I would want to be a writer…that I want would want to be a speaker…that I would want to preach the Gospel.

I never dreamed I ever could.

This life is not what I ever envisioned…but it is better than I could have planned.

The twists and turns that unravel before me offer teaching lessons to take into the future and to use for God’s glory- not my own.

Matthew 9:17 speaks to the use of new wineskins versus the continued use of the old ones:

Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.

The example here is about Jesus not coming to patch up an old system…He came to bring something new. What He offers does not fit into the old system of thinking: being ruled by legalism (what to do to be saved). To follow Christ means to live a new life, have a new way to look at people, and to see new ways to serve.

I am apparently wearing new wineskins…fermenting for His use.

My simple life may look strange to others. I was even told once recently that how we live in our home is “abnormal” because we actually enjoy being together so we may not be a good example for another to follow…

I guess my wineskin looks strange as it expands…But we live how the Lord leads us. And, in my home, we really like each other- not just love each other…We appreciate what we have because we came so close to losing it all years ago- FYI: a blessing of having a husband who travels frequently is that we do not take each other for granted because we genuinely miss each other when we are apart (kids included in that)!

This year is a year for forward movement, a time to do new things, and days to be bold in our belief.

I am pretty excited for what’s to come actually…I didn’t see most of the events of the last decade coming and not only survived them but have been transformed because of them so who knows what challenges lie ahead??

What I do know is that I serve a faithful loving God who has plans for good for me…So- bring it on.