Flooded with Praise and Thankfulness

I've been meaning to post for a while now, and I really wish I'd been keeping the blog more current. This has been a really, REALLY good week. I just don't want to neglect to tell you about how good things had gotten before this week. So let's work backwards...

On Wednesday, I got a nephew! David Clinton Walker finally made his way into the world, a short week after his due date. (My sister, Mindi, was SO ready!) He came fairly peacefully, from what I understand, and weighed in at a hefty 9 lbs, 1 oz! He's a big boy, but still not big enough to beat Aunt Jess' family record! I can't believe it's going to be a month before Rob & I get to meet him face to face.

On Tuesday, I was offered a new job at Lifeway Christian Resources. I'm really excited about the position! I'm going to be a (the?) multiethnic resources editor. It sounds like a fancy title, which is kind of cool, but it's the job itself that gets me smiling. I'll be working on a project to get two Bible study/discipleship books translated into 50 different languages. No, I don't have to learn 50 new languages; my role will be more of a project manager than copy editor. The best part is- as they are completed, the translated materials will be available online for FREE! I love that this isn't being driven by dollars and cents, but by the fact that this is important stuff and people need to hear it. They're still not sure what phase two of the project will be- translating more material into those same 50 languages, or translating the same two books into 50 more languages. Either way, I'm thrilled that my day-to-day work is going to have an eternal purpose.

On Monday, I went to lunch with a friend at my current job and we decided to start doing a Bible study together. She confessed quickly that she doesn't know much and I'd have to teach her. I didn't tell her that's what I had been praying for; I've been wanting to be in that sort of discipling relationship again. I meet with a fabulous woman of God every week who counsels and pours her wisdom into me, and I want to pass that on to someone else. Pray that our weekly lunch dates will be profitable for both of us, and that we won't be easily distracted from meeting after I begin working somewhere else.

And before all of this happened this week, God had really been working on my heart. I had been feeling somewhat unsettled in the midst of all the waiting- waiting to hear back from Lifeway, waiting for David- there were too many "unknowns" for my comfort level. Our church has been in a season of studying "What does a disciple look like?", and I think I was feeling convicted that I wasn't doing enough- not sharing my faith enough, not spending enough time in the Word, not bearing enough fruit. The uneasiness was probably the result of conviction (that's never comfortable, is it?). Anyway, I felt like God had finally gotten my attention and was shaking me back into step with Him. It's kind of hard to explain now that I'm trying to put it all into words. Pruning, stretching, refining- whatever you want to call it, it never feels good at the time, and that's where I was for the past month or so. It's so refreshing to come out on the other side, though. I think God did some "spring cleaning" in my heart! I have the excitement of realizing that I'm a new creation all over again, and I'm thankful for that more than anything else.