The Content Heart

       

"Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness,

And for His wonderful works to the children of men! Let them exalt Him also in the assembly of the people,And praise Him in the company of the elders" - Psalm 107:31-32 

It is 6:55 in the morning on Thanksgiving Day and I have been wide awake since 5:30. I have learned to spend these mornings to spend with Jesus. My bible opened to there was a book mark from my psalms class that I had just finished and it was Psalm 107. Which just happens to be about thankfulness, as I read this psalm I was reminded about all of things that I should be thankful for. Of course I am thankful for Travis, our baby on the way, our combined families, our "family" in Hungary, the total blessing of Travis' having a job , the home that we get to live in, the car we have to drive. All of these things are incredibly awesome, and I am deeply thankful for them. But as I read Psalm 107, I was reminded to be thankful for the LORD. I was reminded to be thankful for His power, for His goodness, for His sacrifice, for His mercy, the list goes on and on. Thanksgiving is a busy day, some may have to travel far, or go to several different places in order to spend the day with our whole families, and it's easy to get caught up in the moment of being busy and then suddenly Thanksgiving is over, we have totally forgotten to be thankful for anything. And then our minds fly to Christmas, and we begin to device our Christmas lists, our menus, and who we are going to visit, the cycle continues. I grew up on the mission field, and I spent every Thanksgiving with at least 30 other believers, we spent all day fellowshipping, eating, and then we made a point to prayer and to just be thankful. I want to encourage you to do that today, if you can before you have to get busy just pray, and be thankful for the LORD and who HE is in your life or you can pray before you go to bed and reflect on those things. 
       Now, as you may be wondering why I titled this blog " The Content Heart", you're about to find out. I have learned that a thankful heart springs up from a content heart. I now that I am guilty of dwelling on the things that I do not have, which really is super dumb. Which afore mentioned in the paragraph above, I have so very much. Everyone in the world is in want of something, some of you really want to leave mom and dad's and have a place of your own, some of you really want to be married right now, some of you really want to have kids right now. And as awesome as these things really are, it is best to just sit back and have a content heart. Now, this is coming from someone who had several major changes of seasons in just the course of one year, I got engaged,married,pregnant and I moved countries all before my 21st birthday. I had to learn to be content in the season I was in because I knew that it was going to be changing very soon. Of course I have had( and I still do) moments where I am uncontent where I am, and that is when I discover that my heart is not thankful and get grumbly and my heart gets gross. 
So, today I really want to challenge all of you to reflect on the Lord, and ask Him to reveal Himself to you so that you will know all of the things that you have to be thankful for. I also challenge you to be content in the season that you are in RIGHT now. And I want you to know that I will be challenging myself with this as well, I have about four more months until this baby gets here, so four more months until it is no longer just Travis & I , we will have a child of our own ( whoa, crazy). So I am thankful for the days I have when it is just us, and I steeped myself in this very short season I have left of this.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving !

Love,

Autumn

Leaving

       It is Wednesday, November 7th and my husband and I are leaving Hungary in 10 days.  As excited as I am about the move, the change of seasons, and the bundle of excitement that awaits us, I can't help but feel a little weepy and sad. I have lived in Hungary for nearly two years, and the Lord has changed my life in every way possible. When I think about the 19 year old that came to Hungary on February 3rd, I hardly recognize her. Her heart was in a totally different place, her own hopeful dreams could not have even begun to conjure up the plans that the Lord had for me. I cannot even begin to express the thankfulness I feel towards the Lord for all the changes He has brought to my life in two years. If you would have told me two years ago today that I would be a married woman and an expectant mother living in Budapest, Hungary, I would have laughed at your. My life was not heading in that direction, but as we know...the Lord has many other plans for His beloved.

       I know many of you were aware of our move to Arizona, but for those of you who were not, allow me to tell you about the biggest decision that Travis & I have made as a couple (besides getting married that is :)) it was about two weeks after arriving from our honeymoon, our home was broken in to and Travis had been acting weird. After our morning devotion time, Travis told me that he felt the Lord calling us back to his home in Arizona for a season. But he wanted to pray about it for a month and see what the Lord spoke to us about it. We prayed and waited a month; we both felt that it was our time to go home. We were not really surprised about this decision; we had both felt that our season in Hungary would not be a long one, ever since Travis and I started talking about marriage and ministry together. Our plan and desire is to spend two years in Surprise, Arizona and to get really connected with a church. Our hearts are rooted into Europe, I cannot imagine never coming back and serving the Lord. But who knows, maybe the Lord has other plans for us. We will see what the Lord has for us at the end of these two years! 

     So here I am, 10 days away from moving to a different country, 10 days away from starting a whole new life and a whole new season. We are starting to give away our furniture and pack away our clothes. It really hit me today that we are leaving, I look at my cute little newlywed apartment on Dohany utca in the VII district, and I look at the furniture that Travis and I bought with our wedding money, and I remember all of the memories made in my first home, and I am reminded that I will be leaving it all behind. I couldn't help but get a little overwhelmed with the thought of it; I am going to miss Hungary so much. I am going to miss Cserpes milk, kakaos csiga, kurtoskulacs, and I am going to miss looking over the city at night. I am going to miss looking out my window and seeing Gelert Hill. I am going to miss the people that have become my family over the past two years. I am going to miss it so much. Although my heart is heavy and I am trying to cover up the little tears that are falling (I love how my mind decides to get emotional in the middle of the church's coffee shop...I'll blame it on pregnancy hormones), I am reminded that the Lord is faithful!! I am going back to America with so much to look forward too! I have my husband with me that will be there to keep me smiling, I am going back to his wonderful family that loves me like their own, I am going back to start my own little family! And my family is coming to the states for six months in January! God has provided EVERYTHING we need to start our lives in the states, and I am incredibly grateful for that. Through this whole transition of moving, God has had his hand in it every step of the way!

With a heavy yet hopeful heart,

Autumn

Ps- I'll write about our babymoon to Salzburg soon!