Things that are praiseworthy

Philippians 4:8~ "Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things."

For those who don't know, the Korens are moving. "Where?" you wonder...very good question. We actually do not know. We are attempting to move into a short-sale home closer to our church SW Bible, but we have no idea when or if that will work out. All we know is that we have been praying that God would open and close doors for us to rent our home and He has done that. We have an awesome tenant that will be moving into our current home on the 13th. With that, my parents have opened their home to us through February.

It seems crazy, and I sometimes get overwhelmed, but God is good and He sees what we can't. I have felt myself breathing out a big sigh when anyone asks how I am doing (and it is negative for the most part). I was convicted in my heart about that at church this morning. As I sang about God's attributes I became more and more aware of how much I look to circumstance to dictate how I answer the question, "So, how are you doing?" Really, when I focus on what God commands me to, my sighing should turn into praises and opportunities to show how good He is.

Here is my list of praises (I have to give a little shout-out to my friend, Tiffany, who often stops me on the phone and says, "Okay, in this, what can we thank God for right now?" Sometimes my heart is not there when she asks, but the reminder always brings me back to focus whatever is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, of good repute, excellent and worthy of praise).

Things I can praise Jesus for RIGHT NOW:
*The hope of Heaven
*The joy that comes from knowing that if I lost/gave up all our earthy possessions (all the stuff that we are packing into our POD), we would be fine. We hold it all with an open hand.
*We have a great church and awesome ministers there that are worth driving to (and we have the freedom in America to worship openly).
*We have safe an reliable forms of transportation
*We are financially stable (Chris keeps telling me how grateful he is to get a promotion at work when he doesn't feel he deserves it. He says, "The Lord did it!")
*We appreciate our new tenant and are excited to be able to serve and love him
*We have two healthy children
*We have the strength to carry, lift and move things we need to pack (we also were given free boxes from a lady on Craigslist). It sounds silly to thank God for the ability to walk, use our arms, lift, etc. but have really been thankful for that theses past few days.
*We have heat, running water, a roof that protects us from the rain (when Isaac and I went on the train trip, we saw many who don't have these luxuries).
*We have wonderful friends who keep offering to help us (and are excited about the possibility of us moving closer to them)
*We have very sacrificial parents (in Oregon and California) who are bending over backwards to help us make this move work.
*Chris and I have each other! We are so, so thankful for that. Just like the time when we sold all that we had in California and moved with nothing, we are reminded of how much we just want to spend this life together...anywhere God takes us...with as little or as much as He thinks we need.
*I am thankful that at this very moment, I let out a big sigh...but a good one...breathing in all this truth and able to rest and rejoice in it.