God's Will is Whatever

As my alarm goes off at 4:30 a.m. on Sunday morning, my first instinct is to hit the snooze button. Then I hear cracks in the old wood as my dad walks down the staircase and poors his bowl of cereal. My cat usually meows and licks my face informing me its time to join Dad for our Sunday morning breakfast. We share yawns and a few laughs over a rerun of Married with Children until the clock strikes 5 a.m. then its time to give the pigs their breakfast before church. I admire my Dad for teaching me church is worth waking up two hours earlier and the only reason we are able to farm as we do. Any Sunday morning we don't go to church something will go wrong and he will say its because he didn't go to church.  It would be easy to stay home from church and take a nap, but each Sunday morning I wake and see the little lives that were morn Saturday night while I slept and am reminded of why I must go worship the Lord.

Since graduating college I have been in a funk. A funk where I know my life is meant for something more, something great, but I don't know what that greatness is. I love my life working on the farm, but I have a feeling God has a will for my life. Have you ever wished you could just look into a crystal ball and have God reveal to you exactly how you are meant to live? Who do I marry? Do I marry? What job do I take? Do I take a job at all? Do I start my own business? Do I take over my parents' business? Do I write a book? Be a leader for young women? Travel the world? Become a missionary? or perhaps none of these matter and I should just live in a one room cabin in the mountains rocking in my chair on the front porch as the sun rises and the back porch as it sets because life should be just that.

Just as I was ready to throw in the towel on what my life should become, God made me realize that His will is whatever. The pastor at church explained how God's will is whatever we are doing with our lives as long as we are doing it for Him and allowing Him to lead us. We can spend so much time trying to find out His will that we never fulfill it. Ephesians 5:7 tells us, you can't do God's will until you understand God's will. He wants you to know His will and His will, will happen! God can use things outside His will to accomplish His will such as people, events and circumstances. We can get so wrapped up in the who, what, when where and why. I fall victim to this as a journalist at heart, but His will is written out to us in the Bible. It is all there, but many of us fail to see it. I wish I could say I read His word on a consistent basis, but I don't. The world has distracted me with social media and celebrities so it seems I know more about what Taylor Swift's life than what God wants for my own and in the time I can wish I had someone else's life, I can live my life in full.

It can be easy to get scared we won't make the right decisions, lead our life down the wrong path and miss what God wants us to do. I believe it's possible to know what He wants us to do and He places people and opportunities in our lives for a reason. Right now at this moment in time, I am working with my family on a pig farm in Somerville, Ohio for a reason and while I am here I should live and work in a way that is a spiritual worship. I should take care of these piglets that is satisfying to God because they are His creatures and gift to us. God is not a crystal ball, He wants my heart to follow Him first and then He will lead me where He wants me to go. While sometimes it would be nice to know if fortune and fame or perhaps just an old wood rocking chair in the mountains is in my future, I won't force Him to tell me. I know He will lead me. Colossians 3:17 tell us, whatever you do, do it all in the name of the Lord. Do it for Him and give Him thanks. If I put Him first, He will lead me into His will. I believe God is an Aerosmith fan telling us to "Walk this (His) way!"

A farmer's daughter with curly pig tails to tell...

Well Hi!

Thanks for thinking enough of a curly haired farm girl with a slight piglet and cat obsession. My hope is for you to find smiles and comfort that just may fill an empty space or light a spark in you to think about your place in this world a little differently than before you read my writing. My writing is a form of passion and creativity. A method of transcribing and sharing the good work God does in my life through the pressing of keyboard buttons to relay the whimsical thoughts He places in my mind. I know I have a purpose in this world. Sometimes I loose it only to find it again as quickly as it was lost. It is never lost for long because of the silent conversations I have inside my head with a greater being whom I know takes care of me, my piglets and my cats.

I was born the daughter of a pig farmer in Somerville, Ohio. I won't lie, some days I think how my life may have been different if I were born the daughter of a billionaire in Beverly Hills. These are usually the days when I have worked from sun up to sun down in a snow storm only to see a tractor break down, a sow struggle to farrow and hear curse words rolling off our tongues as we wish we could make it all go away. Then the next morning I see the smile on my Dad's face as he works with me side my side taking care of the new born piglets who celebrated their birthday during the night as we slept. I see a little runt grow into a happy and strong piglet ready to flourish and nourish the lives of others with its life. It''s then I realize why God made my dad a farmer and why God made me the daughter of a farmer. With this blog, I will tell my story. While in the outside world I may come across as a peaches and roses kinda girl, it is here I will share what it takes to be a farm girl with curls and inspire you to think more about your place in this world at this time. God does have a will and I am fulfilling it with every day I wake, every bite I take, every step I make, every word I speak and each thought I write.

Oinks and Meows,

Lauren