I learned enough in my 40's for both of us

Purpose in Trials. These 3 words accurately sum up my fourth decade, a period spanning ages 40-50. A period when God took me through some painful lessons to get my attention and get my eyes on Him. The good news is that "it took."

It took 10 years but He has largely broken me of me. The hardest lessons were the first 7 years. I will spare you the agony. During the last 2 and 3/4th years, he separated me from my family for 5 days a week as I worked in Dallas. It's easy to see His hand in this as, once He had me looking up, He needed to set me apart and provide the time to change priorities and establish new ones. I can't tell you how hard it has been to be apart from the ones I love the most each and every week but I see it was absolutely necessary to plant a new vision, new insight, into what is and is not important in life and my purpose from this point forward.

In 3 days, I leave my job in Dallas and draw an end to the hardest decade of my life. Both the most difficult decade and yet the decade in which I have been taught the most. It will be a blessing to be home with my family when I am not doing mission work overseas. I tell people all the time; until you have done without something, you are not able to fully appreciate it. Until you have been through hard times, you cannot fully appreciate the good ones. A paradox of life.

All too prevalent in our American culture is the message that life is to be all about us. Pouring resources into things that don't matter and don't satisfy. Such a fallacy and unfortunate development and consequence of what was once a good thing, the American Dream. I so look forward to what God has as I step out in faith to go be a blessing to those who don't yet know of Him. Though many uncertainties exist, no one is more confidant than myself in Who walks ahead of me every step of the way. Such a blessing to serve Him and, because of that, I am appreciative for the brutal 10 years that now closes with some painful lessons learned and placed in the rear view mirror.

I say fairly confidantly that these are lessons that will not need to be repeated. It is my hope that a few readers can use their imagination and appreciate them vicariously as you read this and learn from them and that God will begin to shift the priorities of other Christ followers. You don't want to go through what I have. But, that said, in my case at least, I would not undo them if I could, for I would not have learned the lessons any other way.

He is worthy of my every breath and I withhold nothing from Him. Still a work in progress, I have found my purpose and it is good. I have found my purpose and it is God.