Step, Stroll and a Stride

Happy New Year!!

I've been meaning to share the link to my son and daughter in law's blog,

Step, Stroll and a Stride.

and this seemed like the perfect time. 

They're in Korea, enjoying the adventure of a lifetime! 

Here's their newest post...beautifully written by Sarah :)

2012 Was a Good One

There’s something about a New Year’s Eve that gets me thinking.  If you’re like me, you made resolutions in years past that you’ve probably not kept. And you’ve regretted even making the ones you knew you weren’t going to keep anyway. This blog isn’t about resolutions, because let’s be honest, the last things I need a longer list of things to do. It is, however, about is God’s goodness, and that my friends it worth list making!

2013 is kind of a big question mark. We don’t where we’ll be this time next year. I personally don’t know if I’ll be working, if i’ll be a mom, or if I could, by some small chance, be at a job that requires me to waste time on Pinterest. (Now, that would be AWESOME!) I also have no idea where I’ll be living, what church i’ll be attending, or what crazy ideas i have for the next coming year. But, what i do know is this. Every year is an panorama of God’s goodness. And 2012, as all my years past, was just the same. It was packed-- rich and full-- with the favor of the Lord and that is worth every bit of reflection. 

A little over a year ago, my best friend ask me to marry him at a little place folks call Disneyland. Maybe you’ve heard of it? And it seems like life to follow moved at warp speed. (Baby, it can be used outside of Star Wars... and yes, i know what it is!) The Lord “gifted” Randy and I with eagerness( some would call it impatience), and we set a wedding date 5 months out. No big deal,eh?! (Ask my mom about that one... maybe she’d answer differently.) Regardless of the timeline, the details (while awesome!), and the endless hours of DIY-ing, the Lord’s favor covered it all. Down to the smallest, seemingly insignificant, details. It was as if the Lord could calculate how to gift me with the simplest and smallest things that would make me the most happy. As a good Daddy does.  From a perfect wedding venue, the blessing of a woman who had all the lovelies to make it beautiful, the perfect mustard yellow bridesmaid dresses(which i hunted down and secured like a mad woman through several wee hour mornings) and a family who gave more than imaginable to make it wonderful! That my friends, is the favor of the Lord! Not simply over the celebration of a wedding, but over the marriage I was going to enter! It was the Lord’s favor that blessed me with my husband. One who loves and serves me like Jesus, and makes life sweeter by the day. The Lord’s favor is sweet... and while so underserved, too rich and good to not ask for more.

The days and weeks following our wedding were something akin to chaos. Some said we were crazy and questioned what we were doing. But the Lord’s favor covered it all. He’s good like that! And in hindsight things are always a lot clearer! Three weeks after the wedding, with 10 days notice,  we packed up our first house and moved to South Korea. How we managed to get on the plane in one piece-- without any big brawls-- with the essentials for two in a foreign country is a blessing in itself. One only to be attributed to the Lord! I’m ever more convinced that  he calls and moves and blesses those whom he desires. And it’s there his favor rests. It is that favor that establishes the work of our hands.... and the direction of a plane in some cases.

Life has settled down for the Murpheys. And yet life continues. Even as I watch life happen, admittedly from my News Feed, I’m daily reminded of the goodness of the Lord and the favor he covers his beloved with. A daily reminder that draws my heart to worship! 

My list is short and far from complete... but they are good reminders of God's favor!

The favor of the Lord is on my cousins, who, in all different directions, are forging the world with the love of Christ. Architecture, medicine missions and airplanes. You are connecting the dots of the Gospel for people and creating a web of grace for them to look at. The Lord’s favor is on you... and big things are ahead for you!

I see the Lord's favor all over my brother. He's got one of the most giving and gracious hearts I’ve ever known. He’s one of those guys who would literally give his jacket and shoes off for anyone in need, take them to Denny’s for a $2 stack of unlimited pancakes, and then bless the waiter with a $30 tip on a 4 dollar bill. Yea, he’s that guy. And the Lord’s favor-- so very evident in his life-- establishes the work of his hands! Big things are ahead of him!

I’ve watch my lovely sister, brother and their two beautiful daughters. The favor of the Lord is all over this family! His favor is over Kenny’s job. It’s over Sharon’s ministry to Kenny and raising two Godly, hilarious, kind hearted girls! The Lord is establishing this family to be a powerful tool in the lives of people around them. It’s such a beautiful thing to watch... only bigger things are to come!

My brother-in-law rocked a full time job and started an awesome master program. Another started the police academy. My best friend give birth to a sweet baby girl!  Our dear friends gave birth to a handsome little man. Friends have been provided with stellar job. New house. Long awaited diplomas.  People have been saved. Baptized. And called to missions. Friends have written books. Moved to new places. Gotten engaged. Married. And all to many have been impregnated. That, my friends, is the favor of the Lord littering my News Feed!

(Did i just justify Facebook?) :)

You can thank me later.

When i think about the favor of the Lord, it’s a little baffling. It seems to land, undeservedly, on the most unexpected in extraordinary ways. And that’s what’s so beautiful and baffling about it! It just doesn’t make sense, but there is something so rich about it!  It’s like a cloak of royalty on a the back of a simple woman.  It humbles me to be covered in it, and yet there’s no where else i’d rather be. 

"Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!" Psalm 90:17

Go over and follow them if you get a chance, at:
Step, Stroll and a Stride
May God bless you in 2013!
Marcia