Family Life – Blest Be The Tie That Binds
With moving to Minnesota, many have said “and you are moving away from family?” Yes, we are. The human side of me says it will be hard, but when keeping Christ as the center, I know God will use it all for the good. It may not be easy, but I believe that God ONLY works for the good – even if we move away from family. When Dan and I were in full-time ministry, we realized we did not see our families THAT often, even when we were in the same area or same state. Our schedules were just opposite of most people’s – we were busy on the weekends and nights, when most people weren’t. In thinking about coming home, we realize that at times, it will be just like it was last year!
But in realizing we are moving away from family, we know God has His body of Christ out there too. We are looking so forward to that. We feel so incredibly blessed that Dan is in a job where our move, puts us directly IN a church (in our case churchES), where we are introduced to the wonderful body of Christ. Willmar/Prinsburg people are some of the most genuine, friendly, kind-hearted, and loving people I have met. I am not just saying that b/c we are moving there. They shine Christ. That is why this song (we happened to sing it in church on Sunday) means so much to us right now. Not only are our ties with our family, but also our Christian family. How blessed we are!
Blest Be The Tie That Binds
1. Blest be the tie that binds
Our hearts in Christian love;
The fellowship of kindred minds
Is like to that above.
2. Before our Father’s throne
We pour our ardent pray’rs;
Our fears, our hopes, our aims, are one,
Our comforts and our cares.
3. We share our mutual woes,
Our mutual burdens bear;
And often for each other flows
The sympathizing tear.
4. When we asunder part,
It gives us inward pain;
But we shall still be joined in heart,
And hope to meet again.
This past weekend I went up to my parents to just hang out with the fam. My sisters and I decided we needed to do one last thing together, so we went to Wolfies in Zeeland (YUMMY paninis!), went to Joanns afterwards (yes, the love for crafts runs deep in each of us – thanks mom :)), then went back to Kari’s house and played games. It was a wintery afternoon, so it was another good day to sit inside and enjoy the company of family. Then we enjoyed a nice supper together (STEAK!) before I headed home. It was just what I needed.
And I got to enjoy the smiles, bubbles, and cooing of my little niece Scarlett. It was so wonderful spending time with her and ALL my nieces! How can you not fall in love with that sweet smile and those big eyes :).
I love this picture because it looks like she is going to sock me in the face in like 2 seconds – and those eyes say “I’m going to get you Auntie Kristin!”
We are SO excited to head to Minnesota again this weekend! In realizing that it’s going to become our home, we are excited to see what our home will look like and to just make Minnesota our home. We are ready.
