Trials....

So I have been thinking a lot the past couple of days about the trials we face in life... specifically the ones I have faced in one way or another. Many of you know about my past and the abusive boyfriend that I had growing up, although it was not my "finest hour" God has used that trial in my life to help me to become the strong woman I am today. Never again will I fall victim to someone like that and I now have the strength to stand up for myself and those I love to protect them from what could harm them. Another trial in my life was leaving Perry and moving to Idaho! Although it doesn't seem like that would be a trial it was for me. When Robby first took the job in Perry I was excited but when he told me we were moving there, that excitement quickly turned into disspare, it was a small town and I was a big city girl, Robby new everyone really well at the church but I still felt like an outsider! However once we moved in it didn't take me long at all to call Perry home and I came to love it more than any place I had ever lived in my life!! (Tulsa and Stillwater)I loved the community, our church family, the peace everything! I did my student teaching in 3rd grade with Mrs. Martin and LOVED everything about it! I fulled planned to graduate, get a job and settle our family in Perry, then we got the news that we couldn't make the Youth job in Perry a "full time" position, so we had to move. I was devestated! I am not a big fan of change, and it took me long enough to fall in love with Perry I couldnt imagine leaving but here we were headed to Idaho of all places. This is where the trial came in, we moved 36 hours away from all of our friends all of our family to a place that was VERY VERY hard to fit in. Robby and I were both so homesick and struggling but once again God used that trial in our lives to pull us together and rely on one another instead of support from friends and family, it made our marriage stronger than ever. Which helped as we faced the next trial we had when we moved home from Idaho and lived with Mom and Dad for 11 months while Robby searched and then found a job and tried to get our feet back on the ground. God used that trial to teach us to rely on him! Then I faced the trial, 2nd hand, of my best friend Debbie losing her son, I have never in my life hurt so badly for someone else. I felt as though my own heart was being taken away, I cried and cried, yelled at God wanted to know WHY!? Once again God used that trial for His glory, Robby and I were able to minister to Debbie and Kris and help them through that time and it brought all of us closer together and has opened so many doors for Debbie to help other women facing the same loss. Once again we are facing a trial, on January 31st my husband turned in all of his issued gear from the City of Tulsa and ceced to be a Tulsa Police Officer because of budget cuts and layoffs. His dream had ended, at least for now. This has been a very difficult time for our family but one I have decided to look at in anticipation for the glory God will get from this trial. I dont know what God has in store for our family, but I do know that He will use it for His glory, and for that I praise Him!!!