Joy in Chaos

If ever were there a time in my life where chaos and stress collided with peace and perseverance, it's now. 
I've done two 12 hour days the last two days and today and tomorrow I'll be working as well. 

I'm not the type of person who can sit and organize for hours. I get the steam for it in bits and spurts and so it's a work in progress. Monday is our big day. I've never had such a stressful moving experience.

Yesterday after a long day, I returned home and gathered and boxed up and made quite a bit of progress for an hour or two and then in a moment of sitting alone I realized I needed to be around people or risk going slightly insane and thus tracked down my friends and joined them for an evening of painting. 

Painting is such a de-stressing activity, and of course the company of my sweet friends was perfect. After we completed our projects, we went for a Kalona adventure that involved getting jumped by men with guns, being led through the woods in flipflops and finding every stinging nettle off the beaten path with our feet, 
then sitting around the most peaceful beach side bonfire I've ever seen in my life.
(The boys with guns were perfectly harmless apart from them enjoying our shrieks of terror as they took advantage of our being in an unfamiliar situation in the dark.)

I just LOVE every interaction with my Kalona friends on account they love Jesus a lot and there is is an obvious sense of the Spirit's presence wherever they go. There is peace and there is joy and I always feel so loved by Jesus just by the fact that they exist. 
I often wish I was more like them. They're carefree, adventurous and kind. 

Our evening came to a close in the wee hours of the morning as we sang some of our favorite worship songs by the fire under the most magnificent display of stars with which  the Lord could  blessed  us. I imagine that I should much like to worship Jesus on a beach in heaven someday. It's so wonderful!

We were returned to our homes sometime before 3am but of course there were things to complete and accomplish before going to sleep, including scrubbing mud and sand off my feet and legs and packing some more. I imagined that I would sleep til 10am and get a glorious 7 hours of sleep. Of course when you're used to waking at 5am, your body thinks you've accomplished a great thing when you've slept til 7:48am and since you're not used to getting more than 4 or 5 hours of sleep anyways, why should you sleep any more than that? Oh well. I got good things done before helping a friend out with some errands.

I also got a few more hours of packing done before leaving for work. That's where the peace meets the chaos. 
The bonfire last night was peace and joy and the presence of God in a beautiful gift box wrapped up with a bow. Sorting, packing, organizing and everything else centered around my house today has been chaos and everything else opposite of last night. I'll save my tears for after it's over though, maybe.  

 I shall much like to spend a day with Jesus when all this is behind me. Moving itself isn't as bad as I'm making it sound, but there are other factors about this that make it..trying. 
But this time next week I'll be looking at peace and joy all over again. 

Praise the Lord! I really need a day with Jesus to let my heart rest in His presence. That will be wonderful. Me and Jesus. It's a date.