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...