Hello again! It's a new month, but at least it's not a new year! :) Today I plan to dive into what I intended to blog about last time before I realized God had different intentions!
If you are someone that has known our family for any length of time, you would not recognize us now. Our life has experienced an Extreme Makeover. The best part about it is that God is the Host.
So, here's our story...
When we decided to stay in Jacksonville we honestly felt so spiritually beat-up that we allowed Satan to convince us that we had let God down. We believed that by choosing to stay we had also chosen to fall out of His will for our lives. We felt like a sail boat with no wind. We felt stagnant. But, most of all we felt unsettled. I continued to lead the kid's ministry at our church and Joe was continuing to work for the company he had been with for 15 years. We both longed for something, but Satan was still convincing us that God was done with us.
We began praying and fasting over several aspects of our life. The main two being work and our future in ministry. We looked back at the journey we had been on and began remembering how we felt God leading us. The two things we clearly recalled were starting our own business and helping with a church plant. Both we mistakenly thought were only an option if we moved to North Carolina. It was then that we realized that if in fact those two things were God's will for us, they were still His will for us.
We began focusing our prayers on those two possibilities. That was the point when God put it on our hearts that Joe was to start his own business. We knew that could not be done in our own strength. We have monthly expenses and a family to provide for and not a lot of savings. The only way it would work is through God's provision.
We prayed, begging God to either give us peace or help us know that it was not His will. We both felt extreme peace about moving forward. So, Joe left his company of 15 years and started Tigris Landscape Solutions. God provided in every aspect of getting started and continues to place people in our path that can use our services. We have several weekly customers already and even some sizable one time jobs. He has provided and continues to give us peace about the future.
That brings us to the second prayer focus, our future in ministry. We knew God opened our eyes to the need and purpose of church planting through our time with the New Church launch team. He gave us a strong desire to be a part of a church plant in some capacity. So, we decided to locate a church plant in Jacksonville that God could use us in.
I am known by some as "Ms Researcher," because I can not make a conscious decision without a ridiculous amount of research. This was no different. I was determined to research and find a church plant to contact and serve in the kid's ministry with. I found several in Jacksonville...way more than I realized were out there! But, we did not feel like God was leading us to pursue any of them.
Humanly, I was ready to give up, maybe we were where God wanted us. But, God would not allow us to feel settled with that thought. That is when I realized that I had attempted to control the situation. God never laid it on our hearts to find a kid's ministry or to spend an obnoxious amount of time looking for a church plant. That was me jumping the gun because kid's ministry is where he had us before and I am a "researcher."
So, we began praying that God would lead us to the place that He wanted us, whether it was a place I had previously found or something I somehow missed. We also prayed that He would make it abundantly clear in what capacity we would serve. Shortly after that, I came across Newsong Church, a church plant that although had been public knowledge since November of 2009, I had not come across in all my research. I'm sure He was waiting for me to seek Him and His will completely, not my own version of His will created in my own power.
So, we met with the pastor, Ryan Turner and his wife, Jenny. There was an immediate connection personally and they even had a need for kid's ministry! We thought this was PERFECT! So, we joined the team and began dreaming of what could be in kid's ministry for this church! Then I remembered telling God that we would follow His lead on where to serve in the church. This was an issue because we had jumped the gun (again!) and told them we would do kid's ministry. So, we prayed, thinking that God would give us peace about it. Well, He didn't. I wasn't sure how to proceed. Then, a few days later Ryan announced at a meeting, in front of the entire team that he wasn't sure kid's ministry was where God was leading him to use us. WOW! But, why am I surprised? Why would God put it on Ryan's heart to use us where He wasn't planning on us being?
So, we have committed to serve in whatever aspect is needed. We're not sure what will come in the future, but I do know that we will consciously seek God's will over our own!
So, right now we are in a different house, at a different church and even have a new company. The constant? God...and He was there through it ALL! :)
Until Next time...
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