It is Finished!!!

The house is sold and I have moved out!!!!
A lot has happened, and I have been extremely busy, since the last time that I wrote.  Sorry for the lack of updates.  I hope I can summarize the Lord's work over the past month and a half.

I made some great memories through the holidays.  I spent Thanksgiving with great friends and spiritual family.  My Mom and Grandpa came to visit me around Christmas and we celebrated Christmas and spent the New Year together.  I even learned about their New Year's Eve traditions of grilled cheese sandwiches and Egg Nog!!!  It was the first time my Grandpa had visited my home in NY.  My Mom helped me get organized and get rid of a lot of things, while I was able to give her some clothes to take too!  We made several trips to Good Will and cleaned out the garage and basement!!  We did get to make some time to do a couple of fun things including going to Niagara Falls, getting our hair done and they got to see snow in the midst of a very wet and not very snowy winter!  It was amazing to see my Grandpa go in his wheeled walker over snow and ice down the icy Charlotte Beach Pier that I was apprehensive walking on!

Mom and Grandpa at Niagara Falls with little snow, right before it really started to come down!!!

Once they left, the Lord provided help from different people to help me in many ways.  It was so special to see the care of the Lord, and how He was providing through many brothers and sisters that would offer their help, lovingly and willingly in preparation for my house sale, clearing out possessions and even repairs for Moses (my Jeep), in preparation of the first journey.  I have truly been simplifying.  It is amazing how many things we think we can't live without, yet, they are really unnecessary.  I sold lots of things, gave away many things, threw away a lot of things and packed a lot less than I thought, although still a lot!  It was a blessing to see others being blessed by what they received or bought!

Another huge blessing was the storage location.  The Lord opened up a storage room at church where all the things that I don't need right this week are organized, safe and available to me.

January 21, the day of the move, was a whirlwind!!!  So many brothers and sisters came!  I rented a truck and so many came that everything was happening amazingly fast!  It was almost like the whole spinning motion carried me along (I know it was the Lord).  Many people moved things, wrapped things, organized things and cleaned.  Thank you all for everything you have done!  Words cannot express how overwhelmingly blessed and loved I have felt!!

I am now staying with Pastor Ray and Margie, who have adopted me into their home and are truly a blessing.  To keep in tradition with the first time I moved to Rochester, I moved into their home when they were out of town.  How amazingly trusting of them!!  I am adjusting to the new location and serving the Lord as He allows right where I am.  A friend needed to move her possessions in storage from Ithaca the weekend after I moved.  It was a blessing to be free from my own house responsibilities to be able to help her, especially after how much she had helped me too!

The big chapter of owning a house is now closed and finished. I don't know if it will be a chapter the Lord would have in the future again, but it certainly is not now.  Further preparation awaits me. Just as the Lord has helped and provided up to this point, He too will continue doing as He leads. I am excited as I seek Him for what is next and await His direction, while I continue being faithful where He has me, which right now, still includes my job at Xerox.

My first morning at Ray & Margie's was a Sunday morning and I read the following in my devotional (Tozer on Christian Leadership for 1/22):

"The Lord liveth, and blessed be my rock, and exalted be the God of the rock of my salvation."
- 2 Samuel 22:47

Oh God, be Thou exalted over my possessions. Nothing of earth's treasures shall seem dear unto me if only Thou art glorified in my life.  Be Thou exalted over my friendships. I am determined that Thou shalt be above all, though I must stand deserted and alone in the midst of the earth. Be Thou exalted above my comforts. Though it mean the loss of bodily comforts and the carrying of heavy crosses, I shall keep my vow made this day before Thee.  Be Thou exalted over my reputation. Make me ambitious to please Thee even if as a result I must sink into obscurity and my name be forgotten as a dream. Rise, O Lord, into Thy proper place of honor, above my ambitions, above my likes and dislikes, above my family, my health and even my life itself. Let me sink that Thou mayest rise above. Ride forth upon me as Thou didst ride into Jerusalem mounted upon the humble little beast, a colt, the foal of an ass, and let me hear the children cry to Thee, "Hosanna in the highest." 

Be Thou exalted in my life. Amen.