As we change the page over from October to November on the calendar something truly transforms in the Crawford household. My husband and sons start to wear clothing that consist of ugly greens and browns; as if at any point they are ready to be thrown into a patch of woods, disguised amongst the trees hidden from the game they are hoping to sneak up on. Their topic of conversation goes from everyday talk, to turkey calls, tree stands, and the buck they are surely to find this year when hunting.

I am on the hunt again for Roanoke’s finest FAIVs. That is correct!

No plan “B”
    I’m a planner. When I went to college, I knew exactly what I wanted my major to be and was pretty confident in where that major would lead me post college. I was willing to do God’s will, but I also wanted it to fit within the parameters that I had already planned for my life. Over the past year and half, God has slowly broken down that wall that I had built up between us.

I have been studying an amazing book by John Perkins, Beyond Charity. In this book, he states that, “God's will exist whether or not I exist or respond. It is objective. But the call of God is where my feelings, my talents, my very gut response to God makes a difference, because it is a summons to a special place or situation in which I can do God's will with the special and unique equipment he has provided me. As believers we can find complete unity in God's will.” (Eph. 4: 1-6) This was such a challenge to myself!

There's much I'd like to share with you about the last month: so many encouragements and so many trials. I've laughed this month... and I've cried. There have been days when everything went just right, and days when everything went all wrong. Never before in my life have I had a month so full of emotional turmoil. If I hadn't already been a believer in spiritual warfare, this month alone would have been more than enough to convince me that our struggle is "not against flesh and blood" at all.