Counting… 1, 2, 3…

Two days to go, and a year ago, we started recording our hopes and dreams for semi-retirement. Over this time, and even before this time, we have seen God move many, many mountains and come through for us in His perfect timing, so much so that we wanted to write them all down. When we are even older and grayer we can look back on these many blessings and realize just how cared for and loved we are by the God that created us and this beautiful earth.

"Rain down, O heavens, from above, Let the clouds pour down righteousness [all the blessings of God]; Let the earth open up, let salvation bear fruit, And righteousness spring up with it; I the Lord, have created it."

I was beginning to feel a deep-seated weariness, a type of exhaustion that I didn’t fully understand at first. Usually, people look at me and ask me where I get my “energy” from, but at this point in time I was just feeling weary.

As I pondered where this exhaustion was coming from I realized that it wasn’t that I felt the need to for a holiday or vacation, but that I needed to stop this type of work all together. Once I realized that it wasn’t the “job” per se, but the whole of it, I began to speak out the word “retirement,” dropping hints for Tom to hear.

We are not the type of people to stop work and seek out rocking chairs, rather we want to give back and be ready day in and day out to be God’s hands, feet, arms, eyes, ears, and mouths for the time we have remaining on this earth.

Fast forward to today and we will list out the blessings we have received (there have been blessings within most of these blessings, too, but I’ll draw broad strokes here) during this time. And, no, they are not coincidences, but God-incidences I call them.

1. Tom realized some things really needed to change if we were going to be able to semi-retire, so he started following and listening to Dave Ramsey - Financial Peace University, and encouraged us to sign up (again — round two) and become truly debt free this time. — We became debt free less than a year later and our final payment to a creditor was reduced almost in half!

2. While we were avidly working to become completely debt free, Tom started talking to me about purchasing our next vehicle with cash. — We were able to save up (working many extra hours, having also reduced our spending habits, etc. and purchase that car with cash!

3. Almost two years ago we began watching YouTube videos of people living and traveling in their RV full time. We realized that if we did things carefully, we could live this way be semi-retired, and work for months at a time to save up emergency and replacement vehicle funds, and then take a couple of months off to visit with our grandchildren. — We were able to purchase our “new to us” starter RV for cash and with this were many other blessings, too!

4. As we began closing the door to our old life and stepping fully into this new journey, we were hard hit with just how much comfort and security we took from having a full-time job and a home with four walls. This in turn drove us to more fully rely on the comfort of Jesus Christ, Father God, and the Holy Spirit. Praise and worship and much prayer helped to keep us steady and continuing to place one foot in front of the other. — As we helped others, God was placing key people around us at just the right time with just the right tools and knowledge to help us each step of the way.

We will probably be expanding this blog as we remember more and more of the many blessings upon blessings that God has been piling on us during this transitional time.

David Harper comes to the forefront of my mind from our time with Youth With a Mission in Barbados and this was a song we sang frequently:

"Thanks, thanks I (we) give you thanks
for all you've done
I (we) am (are) so blessed my (our) soul has found rest
Oh, Lord, I (we) give you thanks..."