So yesterday I wrote about my last month of life which has all been linked with the same feeling of how a pea must feel...sitting in a pot of pea soup.  It's thick, its foggy, it's dark...and well, quite frankly... it's a bit lonely!  Of course, there are lots of other peas floating around with me... some more mashed than others (how punny) but all in all... unless I were to swim around, I wouldn't know there were any other peas in this big thick pot of "life."


At least let me say that based on texts, comments and FB posts... I am not the only one feeling like a vegetable these days...or feeling like someone shut the lights out on my world... so I think this is a post we can "go through together."  What do you say?  Let's do it.... lets be peas...and "filled with peas."  (Get it.... peas/peace?)  I might have lost it.


Okay, enough with the analogies... I'm either feeling sheepish for so much "close to potty talk" references to peas or feeling bloated at the thought of eating pea soup... how bout I get to the topic, eh?

Nope.  I have to go back to the peas.... but let's stop being like my kids who pretend to be Skippy Jon Jones for a minute and quit calling it "Inner Peas" and really talk about Inner Peace.

THAT IS HOW YOU KNOW HOW TO NAVIGATE THROUGH PEA SOUP

Inner peace.

Not the kind you can get from smokin something.  Not the kind you can get from simply taking a few deep breaths.... (fine print... deep breaths are ALWAYS helpful to slow yourself down when you need it.) but that alone will not get you Inner Peace.

It only comes from within your spirit.... and in your spirit resides your creator.  Guess who?

(Perhaps I have watched far too much kids programming lately after having a sinus infection and flu for the last 10 days but I"m thinking of Phineas and Ferb's character Dr. Doofenshmirtz who might say something at this point "Why is this lady always talking about Jesus... I mean its like she can't have a blog post without mentioning the guy... as if he is the only solution.  I'll have to go make a Jesusinator."

Well, as much as I might be all over the place here... it's true.  Jesus is the only one who can satisfy that anxiousness or lost feeling in our soul.  If you believe in God and his son Jesus, then you know that he was the author and creator of you... he's the very center of you.  And if you don't currently believe in God and his son Jesus... now would be a great time....because He is the only thing that can offer you a ladle to climb on out of the foggy soup..... and transform you from "pea" to "peace."

One day I am convinced I will look back on this post and wonder if I got enough sleep last night.

Let me help you friends to get very practical with this.  I'm going to give you my "foggy" story (aka announcement) to help connect the dots... find the ladle... and walk in ASSURED peace.  Because like everything...there's a Jesus component and a "You" component to making this work.

At the end of November we were asked to take on a very big project.  Big.  BIG.

BIG.

Chris and I didn't want to.  We had just settled down... for a long winter's nap.  (Twas the night before Christmas line...did you catch it?)  Anyhoo... life was good.  We felt like we had just enough on our plate to begin to relax now that we were fully transitioned in Seattle, school, neighborhood, church, old friends, new friends... you get it.

But how many of us know "Good" can be the enemy of "Great?"

You see... we as people want a "good life."  But God promises us a "great life."  

"I know that my God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that I could ask or imagine because of the power that works in me."  Ephesians 3:20

Mmmm... so I do I continue with "good" (comfortable) or do I go for "great" (stretching.)

Ahhhhh.... but life is so good when it's comfortable.

Truth be told... however... I believe so many of us don't make choices that move us from comfortable to stretching because it gets foggy... it gets scary.... we have to spend a lot of time in faith... in the darkness.  I also believe:

If you haven't seen fruit of things promised or hoped for and you give up....you will never receive it!

That's the price of staying comfortable.

So what did I do?  

1. I prayed... a lot.  Now don't get any funky "religious" ideas...the Bible says that God hates our "religious rhetoric" for the sake of being pious or looking "holy."  Prayer is just conversation with God.... like picking up a phone and talking to your perfect Father.  (Don't Facetime.... it won't work... you'll get that in Heaven... so for now, it's just cell time but the minutes don't go on your plan.)  We teach our kids to pray at night like they were reading a letter out loud to him... "Dear God... thank you for today... thank you for helping me with my test... please help me in "x" situation, etc."  So I prayed a lot about the choice in front of me.
2. I read my Bible.  Did you know that the Bible is a "LIVING, BREATHING" document?  Try praying for God to reveal himself to you and then read some of your bible (I recommend the gospels first) but you'll be amazed that words almost seem highlighted...your heart leaps... you see something in a new way that TOTALLY applies to your situation at hand.  Do you ever remember being in trouble as a kid or teenager and then you watch a show with your parents and it seems like the show was about the same thing you just got busted for?  (Anyone else get busted a lot... just me?   Great.)  Anyway, God does the same thing with the Bible.
3. Talk to wise counsel.  Hey, if they don't love God... they ain't counsel... they are just great friends and supporters...but don't confuse the two.

If you have done all these things... I promise you... God will give you peace (peas...tee hee) about the road you are to take.  Remember that: In all your ways acknowledge Him

And He will direct your path.  (Proverbs 3:6)

And so, we as a family chose to follow him.  Again.  Into new territory.  And I am doing it with Peace. A peace that surpasses all understanding.... that is inexplicable.... because on the outside it looks unexpected, surprising and wow... "didn't see that coming."  But on the inside... it's amazing peace.

THE TURNLEY'S ARE MOVING TO 

AUSTIN, TEXAS!

Yep...that is right, y'all!  We have been asked with the Malouff family (Children's pastors at The City Church to help them start a church in Austin Texas.  Chris will be serving as the Executive Pastor (aka C.O.O.) and continuing his NVP role at Iron Mountain.  We move in July after school and sports are out, but in time for my oldest to get plugged into "Football Country."  We are thrilled, excited, full of anticipation and wonderment.  Counting the cost was heavy...so many friends, our family, our church.... but when God puts the ladle into the pot to get you out of the fog and see your next step... you gotta take it!  

Check us out at: www.expressionchurch.com

Umm... and yes... I'll be writing more about this later... and I'm sure the mom stories will make a comeback next week... now that I'm not drinking NyQuil and Benadryl as a cocktail, my full brain-power should be alive and kicking within days!!!