Finding the Treasure

I was a high school student, a native to central New York. The city of Syracuse, with its six-story Carousel Mall, roaring college life, and sprawling suburbs that offered every restaurant, recreational activity, and beautiful state parks with trails and beaches, was the perfect place for a girl like me to grow up in. Convenience had spoiled me. And I hadn't even been introduced to Starbucks yet.

I vividly recall this conversation with my mother. It's funny how God doesn't let us forget some things. We were standing in a clothing store, (most likely a J.Crew) and I was making my typical, pleading comment of, "Oh, I loooove this!" And my ever-loving momma looked at me and replied, "You better marry someone who makes alot of money to keep up with your expensive taste." My witty, unthought out retort was, "I'll marry anybody but a farmer."

I am now a thirty-two year old mother of two beautiful and rambunctious little boys. And I am the wife of a farmer. It is a very long story as to how I arrived here, but I AM here... living in a small, quaint little town, somewhere in the middle of Illinois. Corn and soybean fields encompass this little pocket of life. After years of pleading with God to bring me ANYWHERE but here, THIS is the place He wanted me. And the biggest shocker of it all, is that there is no place I would rather be.

Jesus was a storyteller. In one parable he tells us, "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it."

I am a wife, stay-at-home mom, daughter, sister, and friend. I forget almost everything, love to cook but hate doing the dishes, and consider late night ice cream indulgence to be just as important as breakfast. And God has given me a story. Abandoning the life I thought I always wanted brought me to a place of new beginnings. A place where my story took a sharp right turn and landed back on the pages of His story. And once again, as God always does, He brought me to the place I have always wanted to be... a place overflowing with His grace, love and mercy. Standing in a field of pearls.

I have journaled (privately, in books kept in my night table for noone else to read) for 14 years. After resisting nudges from friends, and well, let's be honest, Someone I should have learned to listen to by now, I have decided to take the plunge and put my thoughts "out there"... Not for my own benefit, but for the sake of sharing about my struggles, hopes, fears, failures, and blessings with the faith that there are others out there like me... exhausted moms who love their children, wives who adore their husbands but who still struggle with insecurities inflicted by the world, girlfriends who have the greatest women in their lives but still struggle with loneliness, Christ followers who desire to have a heart after God's own heart but fail repeatedly, and others with... a story.

We all have one. As I look out into my backyard and see the tall, green fields of corn stalks swaying in the breeze, I am reminded of the treasure I find when I trust God's plan for my life. I am excited to see how this continuing story unfolds.