Changing Mindset (Kristine)

I had a radical thought the other day, well maybe it wasn't so radical to most of you, but it sure was a perspective changing thought. For years now I've been actively seeking out God's will for my life. Wondering, pondering, dreaming about what His plan for me is. I've looked online at different ministries that seemed awesome and gotten involved in many different ministries. All the while I've been looking forward to the future rather than stopping and looking at the present.

As I was driving down the road thinking about my life it hit me, God desires us to serve Him where we are as who He made us to be. Yes, it's good to train for future ministry, but we can't lose sight at the ministry opportunities right around us. I was so focused at finding a church and finding a place to serve that I never realized I could serve just by being me. Simple thought, yet it's so hard to do sometimes. I can serve by how I interact with my neighbors and friends. How I interact with that homeless person or how I react when someone hurts me. I can serve by helping others in their time of need and showing people the love of Jesus but how I live. THAT is serving. It doesn't need a label as "women's ministry" or "children's ministry" or "homeless ministry", it's actively living for Christ and ministering as you live out your life. It's perhaps the hardest ministry around because you have to actively be thinking about where God is presenting opportunities for you to serve Him and mustering up the courage and strength to stick your neck out in faith and do it.

I am going to strive to be more purposeful in my friendships and my interactions with others. To build friendships and relationships to be able to talk with people and hear their heart stories. To be a better mom for my daughter and a better wife for my husband and really focus on what example I am setting for THEM at home. Family is perhaps the most important ministry of all and sometimes we get so outward focused we lose sight of that.

I still hope that God will allow us to serve overseas with Mission Aviation Fellowship, but I don't want to let my desire to serve overseas shadow the work God is wanting to do through me here. We're getting closer to finding a church to be a part of and a community group to join and it's exciting to be a part of a community of believers again. We'd love prayer for our home in Oregon to get completed (we're almost done) and sold soon so we can move forward up here. God is gracious and we are thankful He still works in us.

Washington Residents

We're officially residents of Washington state. I know this may not seem like a big deal, but for me (Kristine) it's nice to be back "home". Right now I am trying to navigate life as a stay at home Momma to a toddler while Eric works full time. It's definitely not easy, especially since this is my first born child. I barely get time to blog let alone research everything I am supposed to do to prepare her. Fortunately for me, she's one bright little lady and somehow, by the grace of God, she's learning things. 

She can identify animals, letters, body parts (head, eyes, nose, knees...), loves to color, loves to read and is a whiz with electronics...all at 20 months.  The teacher in me wants a curriculum to follow, some way to navigate our days so that the mornings aren't spent watching Sesame Street and the afternoons aren't spent with ample toys on the floor with no direction. I'm working on it, but sometimes she's quicker, heck most times she's quicker than me. I think that's the hard part about being a stay at home momma, you don't have time to research what you are supposed to do, you just do it. 

On a different note, we're making progress on the house in Oregon. After painting the past couple of weekends I definitely realize why people have painting parties. Painting takes FOREVER. Seriously. I feel like I barely accomplished anything when I painted for six hours. But we're pressing forward. We are really hoping to list it most likely by the end of June, if not sooner. It's just hard to work on things when you only have the weekends. 

It's been interesting watching and praying for those that were in the same class with us at MAF continue on with  building their ministry teams and getting closer to going overseas. We think about how we could have been at that point too, and get a little sad sometimes, but then remember that God has a plan for us. We have not a clue what it is, but we're trying to seek Him to figure it out. We hope it's still eventually going overseas with MAF, and we're working towards that still, but we're trying to be open in case God wants us elsewhere more. 

It reminds me of something I heard in regards to finding your "soul mate". A lot of us feel there is only one match out there for us. Like one person in the universe that would work well with our personality, and that person is who we are to marry and somehow we have to find them. No other person will do. In reality, there are many people that would work well with us, it's finding the person that fits best. I feel this is the same with ministry. There are many ministries that we may fit us well, but it's finding the specific ministry that fits us best so that we can continue to carry out God's purpose for our lives, that's the goal. 

We hope to update this blog frequently with family happenings as well as ministry stuff. So keep on checking back! We just get little spurts to be able to update here and there. Hopefully soon we will have a few pictures. Thanks so much for your thoughts and prayers, we do appreciate them! 

Love,

The Reeds