I am long overdue for another post. This is a post I had only dreamed about being able to write, not knowing when the time would actually come. I feel beyond blessed to finally have this opportunity.
Many of my readers know my husband resigned from his position as a student pastor at a church in South Carolina in December 2012. This was not an easy decision for us, but one we felt the Lord calling us to make. He continued looking for another position, but as the weeks stretched into months, I really began to question if we had made the right choice, or if the boys and I should have moved to SC.
In my last post I told the story of my mom's last few months on this earth. Through her decline, we really and truly felt God was showing us that we HAD made the right decision, allowing us to be here with mom in her final days. I am extremely grateful I had that time with her, which makes all the job search discouragement and frustrations worth the extra stress. If that wasn't enough confirmation, we began receiving calls from churches looking for a student pastor the week proceeding mom's death. Honestly, once we reached double digits, we lost count of all the calls received. After 10 months of little to no activity on the job search, God opened the floodgates. In those moments, we knew we were exactly where God wanted us, although it appeared that was about to change.
However, all of these calls posed another problem. We only needed ONE church to provide a job, not a dozen! How were we ever going to know which direction the Lord was calling us? We visited several churches, making the search even more taxiing on us, the boys, and their caregivers while we were away. We were so ready to see the process come to an end. So many times I would cry out to God, asking Him to close doors we weren't supposed to enter and point us in the direction of the right door.
There's a meme floating around social media that reminds us to praise the Lord even when we're in the hallway. The whole last year of our life has been camped out in the hallway. There's a dent in the carpet where we've been waiting! Let me tell you, it is often very hard to be grateful when month after month, life seems to pass us by. Yet, I've learned some of the most precious songs of praise to our Lord's ears are the ones of His children when they are asked to wait in the hallway.
I wish I could say I did a better job during this time of waiting, that I had taken advantage of the time to spend every moment possible with my Lord. I feel more like all I can say is that I survived one of the most difficult years of my life. The best part about this year is knowing the Lord doesn't waste our pain. He uses it for our own personal growth, providing us many opportunities to minister to others experiencing difficulties. My prayer is for all of this to encourage others who find themselves in the hallway.
As the search continued, God began to slowly close the doors of each of the churches.
Except one.
We had said from the beginning that we would pursue a potential position until God closed the door. Well, to be correct, He HAS closed a door. This time it wasn't the door standing before us, rather the one just behind us, closing off the hallway. You see, last week we signed a full price contract on our house, after only 11 days on the market! God is definitely moving us forward, as He carefully places all the details in order. I love watching how the Lord plans out even the smallest details when we fully trust His leading.
Earlier today, our new church voted to accept my husband as their next student pastor. In just three short weeks, our family will be moving to Tennessee. We are so excited about this next chapter in our lives! We look forward to seeing how the Lord will work in our lives and the lives of the students we will be serving.
As can be imagined, we have many prayer needs. Our family would be honored to have others praying with us as we begin this new ministry. Below I've made a list of some of our prayer concerns.
- Praise the Lord for providing this ministry opportunity for our family!
- Praise Him for bringing a buyer for our house after only 11 days!
- Pray for all the details surrounding the close of our current house as well as finding a new house.
- Pray for our boys as they make yet another major transition, that they would make new friends quickly, and adjust well into a new school.
- Pray for my husband as he learns to juggle ministry and family time.
- Pray for me as I learn my new role as a minister's wife.
- Pray for family and friends we are leaving behind in FL.
- Pray for this next chapter of our lives to bring maximum glory to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
God is SO good!
