some thoughts of the week

It is funny that when we got back from Christmas in Ohio we thought wow, we have 4 weeks to get everything done, and now we are sitting at not even 14 days until we leave. Tonight was Nate's last time leading worship to the Wednesday evening crowd of Glenville. As I sat there singing "This is the Air I Breathe", I was thinking to myself, this is all that matters, that I am desparate for Jesus and that I let Him speak through me. This has been an emotional week for Nate and I, as I have begun to really go through those junk drawers that have accumulated over the last 7 years in this house and put things in their proper place (finally)...we have both done some crying. We know that God has called us to this new area, it's just that we honestly thought we would never leave, I actually even said that a time or two. We will never leave and especially we will never move back to Ohio. When we first came here in October 1998 and then a few short months later we found out we were going to have Riley, I thought ok, this child will be born here but our next one definitely won't. Then 3 1/2 years later, I had Brady...and the rest is history. There are so many things that have happened to us in the last two years that have really been pushing in this direction, not that the last two years have been all bad, our ministry has grown and is thriving, but two specific things happened that if they had not, I don't think we would have even considered a move. It's amazing how the events of your life, good or bad, shape your future. I am scared to start over, but I do feel we deserve a fresh new start. We only want to do God's will for our lives, when we decided to move to Kansas, which was 12-16 hours from our families, many times we would get asked: "why would you move so far away from family?" and our answer was always the same: "God told us to go". and now that God has spoken again and told us to move to Ohio we are getting the question: "How could you leave us?, no one is ever going to be able to fill your shoes". Again: "God told us to go", this is our choice to follow God's calling, but also we answer to one who is higher than us and who knows every step of our future. We don't ask why? we just go. We know this is what God wants for us as a family and we are very excited for what our future and ministy hold, even though our hearts are sad and thoughts are heavy to leave this place we have called home for over 9 years. Proverbs 19:9~ "In his heart a man plans his course, but THE LORD determines his steps."