Good, Pleasing, and Perfect

This has the potential to be a long, rambling post, so I'm going to try to get to the point.


Our family is in a kind of "limbo" state.  Not sure if limbo is the best word, but here's the situation:  We are living in a house that belongs to the Baptist mission here in Porto Alegre.  We are good friends with the Baptist missionaries here.  All of them have always been a tremendous source of encouragement and support and friendship to us throughout these almost 9 years.  Anyway, they had a house that was vacant.  They needed someone to live in it until another family would arrive.  We needed a place to live, and so we have been blessed to stay here for the past year and a half. 


Well, it is now time for the family to arrive in Porto Alegre - they are scheduled to arrive in June.  So we need to find a new place to live.


That sounds easy enough - look for house or apartment to rent or buy and go for it.


But we are not sure what to do.  House or apartment?  Buy or rent?  Where?  How much?  For how long?


There are a million little details that mix into this equation, and I won't go into all of them now.  But they have to do with our financial situation - the fall of the dollar and the constant rise of inflation here.  Constantly, things cost more and we make less.  They have to do with the sale of a property that we own part of, that could sell soon....or not.  A bunch of real estate mumbo jumbo that we don't really understand. 


Another question in our minds is do we stay in the same neighborhood?  Do we branch out?  Do we stay in the same city, or country??  Those are huge questions.


In all of these options, we have no opinion.  Or hardly any opinion.  We sincerely don't know what to do.  Part of us loves to be around things that are comfortable and familiar, but we don't want to miss out on any opportunities that God might have in store for us.


Seriously, we want God's will to be done in this situation and all its details.


It used to scare me to say "God's will be done" because I felt like I was allowing God to choose for me - and I might not like what he chooses.  Several years ago, I did a Bible study in which we focused on this verse:

Romans 12:2

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

God's will is good:  Good for me, my family and his perfect plan.

God's will is pleasing:  Hey!  I'm going to actually like God's will!

God's will is perfect:  Don't know what to do?  Let God handle it - he is always perfect.

Thankfully I have learned (or I think I have) not to dread God's will.  I'm not going to take God's matters into my own hands.  

I would really appreciate your prayers for our family - that we would go or stay where He wants us and that we would KNOW that it is HIS will - and obey.

Thanks for listening.  I'll keep you updated about how this all works out.