So, I believe it's time to let the cat out of the bag! We've gotten even more radical, or re-radicalized? (...Hmmm...Words are hard.) after our week at the Boardwalk. We got home, started praying about what God wants instead of just assuming things from hints and pushing ahead, and discovered that God had mostly already told us what He wanted anyway; we just need to acknowledge Him and ask because it's all about Him and His direction, not ours. It turns out we were already following a lot of the correct spiritual hints. We just forgot to hit our faces about decisions anyway, which is not good because when we just push forward with hints and not directly asking God, we fill ourselves up with pride, and start to hurt each other. We can do NOTHING without Christ, and when we don't approach his throne on the regular, bad growths on our hearts ensue, human growths which tell us that we can do without God. Since our very aim is to glorify God in all we do, we have no time or patience for these human shenanigans and lies. So, we are hitting our faces more, and are very happy about it!
We were extra blessed to return home to not only deeper prayer with each other, but some prayer time with new friends, Jessie and Adam North! They partner with the Navigators (which I first discovered in Colorado), and they are some fire starters at our church (Rich Fork!) who we didn't know existed until God put them in our path. As a result of our prayer time with them, we are even more assured of Japan (Jessie got a vision from the Lord, and I received two scripture verses that pertained to "going," scriptures that I had never heard before but that God put into my head to read aloud!). In addition, because of them, we've discovered a new Sunday school group at our church which shares their favorite quiet times with God from the week; this lends great intimacy and accountability! Jessie and Adam refocused us even more to not only read scripture but be intimate with Christ! So, Isaiah and I are having much better prayer and bible reading times, and are journaling through the Spirit everyday, which is awesome! These, I believe, are the friends that our Boardwalk people prayed for, fellow coals who we could find at home, who would encourage us in our faith. They are busy coals, but they exist! And God drew us together! Praise the Lord! Thank you, BWC friends, for praying for us! Your prayers were heard and answered!
As God has stripped us of independence and self-reliance, He is calling us to things greater still. We had pitched "To Every Tribe" missions school to the Rich Fork missions board, and we still believe that may very well be in our future. But God has shown us more immediate things, things that He has in mind sooner. The more we rely on Him, the more we are letting go of everything: stability, family, comfort, money, plans that make sense, etc. It's not that we hadn't let go of these things before. It's that we are offering them up on a whole new level, and are now ONLY focused on the Kingdom! If God and his people are our aim, who cares what else is lost! We will count it all loss for the sake of Jesus and his gospel! None of it matters, Who cares!, except that which is eternal: God and intimacy with Him and Souls for the Kingdom.
So, despite having just gotten an apartment for ourselves, fixing it up, and settling in, we are about to leave it all behind. That's right. Isaiah is at a job right now which is okay, but that he has no problem leaving behind. I am doing ministry with Crossmovement and Rich Fork, but those will end come early August, and though I love working with Colton (my brother), there are souls beyond my family, and I won't sacrifice God's call to selfishly focus on only the people closer to me. God has grown my heart to be much, much larger than that. I weep for far more than just my family. We also, though it is a recent blessing to find the Norths and this Sunday school, know that there is more fire up north among the folks we did the Boardwalk with, and likely more opportunities for evangelism and for Isaiah to minister among churches he already has relationships with. Honestly, I am surprised we didn't do this sooner.
In case, you're wondering dear reader, what in the world I'm blabbing on about: ...
We believe that God is calling us up North at the end of the summer/beginning of the school year! Perhaps to work at the BWC at the end of summer season, and probably to be around the likes of Chris Byrd, Ginni Corsello, the Dieckmann clan, and maybe even Seth and Eva Dorman (they literally just moved! lol) on a more regular basis. Perhaps we shall be led to PA! We would also be a bit closer to Jocelin and Tim Yagel and Britney and Patrick Wood, two of my favorite in love with Christ couples. We just want to be on fire more, to catch fire more with fellow coals for Jesus who pray together on the regular. If we are going to be missionaries, we need to maintain the Holy Spirit fire that is going to push us through the hard times. The best place to find that is where we already know we have it! We don't have many nailed down plans. We just know it's happening.
To answer a few questions folks might have...No, I am not using my teaching license at present, and this move means I won't be using it this coming school year in Lexington (that doesn't rule out God using it elsewhere). No, we don't have much of a plan. Yes, we are more broke than we ever have been, and it's not going to get easier right away. It's going to get harder first. Yes, we are going to be breaking a lease on a place we just got. Yes, I know there won't be blood relatives up there to help, but our family in the Lord is there. We have our orders from the commander in chief, where He leads us we must follow, which means none of the difficulties matter. They might in the world's eyes, but to God, to us, they mean NOTHING! God will provide. God will put the right people and jobs into our path. God will make a way when there seems to be no way, and we do not fear the unknown or the dark. We are stepping out on faith in a way we haven't before, and we're so pumped and so ready. The right man is on our side, and we will have brothers and sisters who will support us too (both in NC and Northward).
So, first, we're moving up north #Bombshell. (That's a piece of the puzzle we had no idea of until our Boardwalk trip!) Around next May, we're probably going with Dr. Krabbendam (Isaiah's mentor and the speaker for the week at the Boardwalk) to Uganda for up a year! We are hoping that some of our Boardwalk friends from up north come with us! Perhaps praying with these same people for a while before we go, will make us more unstoppable as a Soul Force. Dr. K wants to take us to Uganda, so we can get even more fire from the Spirit to head to Japan with. Honestly, I think this will be some great training. We will see God's abundance first hand in a culture that's easier to break into than Japan, which means we will gain confidence, something we will need in abundance in order to survive the hard times and spiritual depravity of Japan. Dr. K will also train us in missions, prayer, coupledom in missions, evangelism, teaching, preaching, and deaconship. He'll be helping us discover and cultivate our gifts! We are really, really excited about this, and the more we pray about it, the more we feel it's meant to happen! God's hand seems to be all over our lives. It's just crazy the way He's getting us to Japan. It's not as immediate as we thought by any means, but God's way is always best, I believe He is preparing us for bringing fire down on a nation that doesn't know the name of Christ; He wants to make sure we have the confidence and boldness to continue to preach that fire when times get hard, which means more preparation. So, the missions school, if it's going to happen, isn't in our first two steps....Northward & Uganda are going to happen first. Praise be to our crazy God who changes and refocuses our minds and plans so easily when our hearts are tender.
After and during our Uganda trip, we'll be praying to see if God still wants us to go to missions school, or if we are ready to head to Japan after Uganda! We can't wait to see what God does next. And are so excited about these next phases of our lives. We love all of our Lexington friends, and are excited to spend some last, great moments with them. It's just time to move, to go! I hope we have been a encouragement to those who want to know Christ well here, and we are grateful for God's provisions in giving us some faithful, fiery friends in our transition time (Meredith Worley and Amrita included!). It's just time to let the dead bury the dead, and GO!
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