Walking in the Desert

I've been asked to post the reasons why God led us to Arizona, so here goes!

My life journey started off being born into a fourth generation Church of Christ family, and when I was 11 years old I made the decision to be baptized into Christ by my best friends dad. I had a fairly uneventful life as a teenager, due to the constant intersession of prayer by my mom (a true prayer warrior). As a freshman in college at Hope International University in Fullerton, CA, I was exposed to young adults who seemed to have a different relationship with God than I did. They talked about Him in a personal way that I had never felt. I was curious as well as disappointed that I didn't know God this way. What were they talking about, a "personal Jesus", what in the world was that? I met and married my husband through our church, where we sponsored his family as missionaries to Zambia and Kenya. I spent our early married life happy, but somewhat lost for true purpose. While searching for the perfect diet solution, my dear friend Laurie asked me to be a part of a new weight loss program called The Weigh Down Workshop. After one session I realized my life was not focused on God, but on other things. Satan was using food to distract me from worshipping God with all my heart. "Those who live according to the sinful nature have there minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires." Romans 8:5. This verse focused my mind on God as the provider of nutrition, and that all food is blessed by God. After three sessions of WDW, I had given God complete control of my eating and was no longer tempted to make eating healthy foods my idol. I was sending an e-mail to several of my closest friends asking for direction to a deeper study of God's word and my hunger to know Him better, when my brother in law Jon suggested I look into a study called Experiencing God. My husbands parents, along with several of our elders, were beginning the study and I joined them. I have gone through the study three times, led it once and taught a Sunday school Bible class. The principles of EG are sevenfold.
1. God is always at work around you.
2. God pursues a continuing love relationship with you that is real and personal.
3. God invites you to become involved with Him in His work.
4. God speaks by the Holy Spirit through the Bible, prayer, circumstances, and the church to reveal Himself, His purposes, and His ways.
5. God's invitation for you to work with Him always leads you to a crisis of belief that requires faith and action.
6. You must make major adjustments in your life to join God in what He is doing.
7. You come to know God by experience as you obey Him and He accomplishes His work through you.
God was just waiting for me to find Him. He has always been right there, waiting for me to ask Him into each part of my life. When I found out I was expecting an unexpected third child, I sure felt a crisis of belief! I had my life all worked out the way I wanted with two kids, a beautiful house in OC, a great husband (and a great relationship thanks to Intimate Issues), and a great church home where I'd attended since I was 8 years old. All this seemed to be what God had put in my life as blessings, but what would another child mean? There was no realistic way to remain in the house we currently had with three kids, and buying a bigger house in the insanity of the '05 market was not going to happen if I wanted to continue to remain the primary care giver for my children (the most valuable job). We began to search for what God was saying we needed to do to keep in His way. We found that the Phoenix housing market was quickly moving out of our price range and several neighborhoods we looked at were sold out. My uncle in Scottsdale suggested we look at Anthem, as he really liked the community idea and recreational activities offered to members. We drove up on a Sunday morning and signed the papers on our new house after lunch. We were blessed to be immediately involved at Canyon Church by several members that have known my family for decades. All this is to say that God has definitely led us to the desert, as He did Abraham when He said "Go forth from your country, And from your relatives to the land which I will show you; And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great..." Genesis 12:1 & 2. God didn't tell Abraham where he was going or what would happen to him once he got there, only to go. Abraham went, and all people are blessed because of his faith in God. I carry this passage in my heart and I still feel we are living in the desert God led us to, but He is faithful and will bless me and my family for trusting Him.