Selvaggio Family Update

It has been several months since my last posting and a lot has happened. We are at yet another place in our lives where we have to discern our next step as we seek God's Will for our family.

We listed our house for sale over the summer and after realizing the serious implications that would come from our situation, we quickly shifted to rental. Well, we rented the house within a week to an awesome family and we were moved out a week later! We then moved in with my mom anticipating our move to North Carolina as part of the New Church Launch Team in early 2010.

Around the time that we moved I began to feel like God was no longer leading us in that direction. I prayed and prayed, but did not mention it to Joe in fear of dampening his passion. After several weeks went by Joe shared with me that he was feeling the exact same way! At that point we realized that if both of us were feeling the same that we had to go straight to God as a couple...asking Him for clarity and direction for our family! After all, this all started as we began to pursue what we strongly felt was God's Will in the first place!

We began to pray, fast and consume ourselves with His Word. We were begging God to speak to us! Please God, tell us where you want us and we will go! Joe and I both felt God saying to remain focused on Him and He will direct us. At that point we didn't feel Him leading us to North Carolina.

To be honest, this was a bit devastating for us. As a family, we had been planning for this move for months and were really, really excited about it! We were going with some of our best friends and could not imagine what God was going to do through us...and for us to get us there! Our faith opened a HUGE platform for Him to be glorified! We could not imagine not seeing what was to come on the other side! But, we did not feel Him leading us in that direction anymore. We were very, very confused.

I was talking to one of my closest friends and she said, "Maybe God brought you to this point and is pleased with your faith thus far, but had other plans for you from here." When she said this, I immediately thought of the story of Abraham. I went straight to the Bible so I could read that story again.

In Genesis 21:12 God said to Abraham, "...Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted." So, in Genesis 22, when God told Abraham to bring Isaac up the mountain to be sacrificed, Abraham obeyed Him, believing that God was going to keep His promise all though he didn't know how.

At this part I thought of how Joe and I knew that humanly speaking it would be next to impossible to relocate our family to North Carolina, start a business as means of income for our family, help launch a church and provide the financial means for all of it during such a horrible economic time. But, we believed God put it on our heart to begin taking steps in that direction, so we did. We told our family & friends, which was not easy, we rented out our house which in turn made us homeless and we moved in with my mom. All of these steps were taken out of faith and faith alone. Faith that God would continue to provide even though we did not know how.

God brought Abraham all the way up the mountain to sacrifice his only son and Abraham did this by faith, and faith alone. But, God was sending Abraham on this journey for one reason, to test his faith. God was pleased when Abraham got to the place of the sacrifice and it was then that He revealed His plan.

We know with all of our heart that God brought us to this place. We know that He continued to give His blessing with each step of faith that we took. It is hard to understand why we came this far only to feel Him guiding us in a different direction. But, as it says in Isaiah 55:8-9, "My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts," says the Lord. "And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.”

We don't know what God has planned for our family, but we know that He brought us this far and we will continue to serve Him while we are waiting and praying for Him to guide us exactly where He wants us.

As we continue to discern God's Will for our future we take comfort in Jeremiah 29:11, "For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope." Although we may have no idea what our future holds, He does!

It has been an emotional roller coaster, especially when I attempt to take this all in without letting God stay in control. Humanly, this situation seems overwhelming, but with God...ALL things are possible!

Romans 8:28 reminds us that "God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose for them." Even though this situation seems like the end to so many things, we have to remember that verse and know that He will make it work for the good because we love Him!

Please pray for us as we move forward and discern God's plan for our family. Even though we are no longer moving to NC, we still plan to live out Hebrews 11:1...living by faith, with confidence that God will use us here and guide us wherever He wants us!

Also, please join us in praying for TJ & Wendy Ward & their girls and the rest of the New Church Launch Team as they prepare for their move to Winston-Salem. The vision statement says it all, "New Church exists to help those that are far from God experience new life in Jesus Christ!" Please pray that God will use New Church to do just that!

****After I wrote this blog a couple nights ago and saved it as a draft, Joe and I were blessed beyond our imaginations! As I said before, we rented our house out and are staying with my mom. We have been looking at rental homes and praying that God would help us find something comfortable for our family, but that we would be able to stay within the same budget as our mortgage. Well, we looked and looked at houses in various areas of town and walked away disappointed more times than I would like to remember. Until yesterday. I found a newly listed house online Wednesday and scheduled an appointment to see it Thursday morning. It was EXACTLY the price we were wanting to spend and it was AMAZINGLY beautiful! We prayed, asking God to confirm in our hearts that this should be our next step. We put our application in late yesterday afternoon and much to our surprise got a phone call from the agent within an hour stating that we got the house! It was completely a blessing from God! I know that nothing is too big for Him, but we were still amazed at the home He provided for our family! What an answer to prayer!

We love and appreciate all of our family and friends more than you can imagine! Thanks to all of you for the support and encouragement you've given our family during this time! We can't wait to see what God has in store for us next!

With Love,
Joe, Heather, Madison & Megan

Surprised to see Me?

When circumstances arise that we need God to act, we pray. We pray for Him to heal our sick family, sell our house, protect our children, lead us to find a new job, and the list goes on, but you get the picture.

Now, we pray for these things like we want Him to answer, to come through for us when we really need Him. So, my question is why are we so surprised to see Him when He shows up?

We look for every earthly reason as to why circumstances change, why our sick family is all the sudden better when the doctors said it was impossible or would take much longer than it did, or why a job suddenly came through, and so on. So, why is it that we do not immediately know that it was a result of prayer, of God moving in our lives through our act of worship?

In Matthew 21:21-22 Jesus says, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and don’t doubt, you can do things like this and much more. You can even say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."

As I sit here I am feeling very convicted. There are so many times I have prayed and much to my surprise the circumstances improved. Then I sit there wondering why & how it happened. Hello Heather! It's God! The same God that you prayed to, the same God that parted the Red Sea, the same God that kept Daniel safe in the Lion's Den! He is the same God now as He was then! He may not literally be moving a real mountain, but He is moving what seems like a mountain to us.

Although we are to believe Him for what we ask, we are not the first generation to show lack of faith in answered prayer. Do you remember Peter's miraculous escape from Prison? The story is found in the book of Acts, chapter 12 and goes like this...

King Herod arrested James and ordered him to be killed by a sword. He saw that this pleased the Jewish people so he proceeded to arrest Peter. Herod imprisoned him, placing him under the guard of four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring Peter out for public trial after the Passover. But while Peter was in prison, the church prayed very earnestly for him.

Now notice, the church was earnestly praying for Peter. Okay, here is where it gets real good...

The night before Peter was to be placed on trial, he was asleep, fastened with two chains between two soldiers. Others stood guard at the prison gate. Suddenly, there was a bright light in the cell, and an angel of the Lord stood before Peter. The angel struck him on the side to awaken him and said, “Quick! Get up!” And the chains fell off his wrists.

Did you read that? The chains fell off of Peter's wrists! Let's see what happens next...

The angel ordered Peter to get dressed and put on his sandals & his coat. He then led Peter past the guards and out of the iron gate as it opened by itself. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him.

Peter proceeded to go to the home of Mary where many were gathered for prayer (they were praying for Peter). He knocked at the door, and a servant girl named Rhoda came to open it. When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed that, instead of opening the door, she ran back inside and told everyone, “Peter is standing at the door!”

Okay, here is where it gets all too familiar...you know, the part where the prayer has been answered, but there has to be another explanation.

"You're out of your mind," they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, "It must be his angel." Meanwhile, Peter continued knocking. When they finally opened the door and saw him, they were amazed.

Why were they so amazed? How many times are we amazed & astonished when God answers our prayers? How many times do we give up when we think that we are past the point of no return? Peters friends prayed all the way up until the day that Herod was going to execute him. He was already captured and sure to be executed. But, they continued to pray. You would think that if they were continuing to pray that they would not be surprised when Peter knocked on the door. After all, that is what they were praying for.

Don't be surprised when God answers your prayer even when it seems too late. He is answering prayers in my life even as I sit here this morning. I ask Him now to help me recognize His presence in my circumstances and to not question or be surprised by my prayers being answered. I thank Him for continuing to be here & hearing my prayers even though He has already given me all I need.

In Matthew 19:26 Jesus said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible.” So, when you go to Him in prayer, have faith that He can answer that prayer...even in humanly impossible situations.

Faith vs. Control

Can you have faith and still stay in control?

Whether we like it or not, the answer is...NO!

We are in the midst of trying to figure out how to get out of our house. I don't mean we have cabin fever and want to go somewhere. I mean we need to move out! We will be heading to Winston Salem to be a part of New Church and need to figure out what to do with our house here in Jacksonville. You are probably thinking, "duh, just sell it!" Well, it is not that simple. Without getting into details, let's just say that the housing market right now is not very pretty. If we sell, there are consequences we will face. If we rent, well, there are consequences we will face. From a human perspective we are not going anywhere. We are so lucky that our God does not see things from a human perspective!

Just like in Exodus 15 when God said to Moses, "Why are you crying out to me? Tell the people to get moving!" Then He goes on to say to him, "Pick up your staff and raise your hand over the Red Sea. Divide the water so the Israelites can walk through the middle of the sea on dry ground." It looked completely impossible to them! There was water or the enemy on ALL sides of them. From a human perspective there was NO way out! Then God says to them that they will walk through the middle of the sea on dry ground? Can you imagine their confusion? They were expected to walk forward in faith that God would help them cross the Red Sea, a task that seemed completely impossible!

What Red Sea are you up against? What seems impossible in your own strength that when all is said and done will allow God to receive all the glory? For me it is believing that He wants our family to be a part of something bigger than we can imagine and knowing that He will work out the details along the way. Details that seem like huge mountains to us and like tiny piles of sand that He can blow aside to Him.

We do not have control of what will happen, but our God does. We must release control to Him and take the necessary steps in the direction we feel Him leading us. As we step out in faith we come another step closer to His perfect will for our lives.

He will move mountains, seas or whatever it is standing in the way of His will for you. You just have a give up control and choose faith in Him!

Let's go forward in faith knowing that He will part our Red Sea and show us dry ground when the time is right. In His perfect time, not ours.

Living out Hebrews 11:1

Welcome to the first post of our family blog! I set up this account almost a year ago with every intention of posting on a regular basis. Well, today is as good as any and I have some very exciting news to share!

Hebrews 11:1..."Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see." (NLT)

Has God ever spoken to you very clearly, but what He had to say was beyond your understanding or capabilities? He tells you that He wants you, yes you, to step up to the plate and step out of your comfort zone. You reply with a "Ummm...God, I believe you have the wrong person!" He replies with a "No, I am talking about you, but I am not asking you to do this on your own. I will be with you and continue to guide you, you just have to trust Me."

Well, this is exactly what has happened to Joe & I. Our very close friends, TJ & Wendy Ward, have been called to start a church plant in Winston Salem, NC. When they first asked us to pray about it, we immediately knew that God had been speaking our involement in this into our hearts already! Neither Joe or I hesitated to be a part of this awesome undertaking!

The only thing was that we were not in any position to relocate to another city! Joe has been with his company for 14 1/2 years and it's a local company with no opportunity of relocating, we have a house to sell in a hard market, we have our share of debt & other bills, the girls are in a christian school that we absolutely love, I work for the church and run the children's ministry, both of our families are here...and the list goes on! How in the world can we up and move to a new city? Then He reminded us... "It is not that we think we are qualified to do anything on our own" (2 Cor 3:5)...we have to release our control on these situations and hand each of them over to Him. He is the only way any of this will work out.

We know this is God's will for our our family. He has called us and we just have to be willing to trust Him. Listen to what it says in Ephesians 3:20..."God is able to do far more than we would ever dare to ask or even dream of, infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, or hopes!" (The Living Bible) ...He is bigger than anything holding us back and can handle the things that seem impossible to us!

He is in control and we are stepping out in faith knowing that He will walk us through every challenge that we will face! We are excited to release our grip on the things of this world and grasp on to the things of eternal value! He has called us to reach the unsaved and that is exactly what we will do in the city of Jacksonville until we leave and in the city of Winston Salem when He is ready for us to go there! Material things can not go to heaven with us, but people can!

Please pray for the Ward family and our family as we take this huge leap of faith! It is not going to be easy, we all know that. But, we are ready to step out in faith and let Him work out the details. We are giving Him all we have and I have to say, it is an exciting feeling!

Until next time...