(Written on April 13th while flying to Texas)
It has been a while since I've sat down to write a new blog post about the adventures in our little household. At the end of February, we made the decision to move to Texas as we continue to pursue where God wants us to serve in ministry next. The last six weeks have been a whirlwind of preparing for this next step in our life adventure.
For the last year or so, Nathan and I have been reading from the New Living translation of the Bible, and Philippians 4:6-7 reads "Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus."
For those of you who know me well, I love to plan and organize the details for events and trips. "Just winging it" is definitely not my style. Right now our little family of four is walking by faith in a new way that daily requires me to choose not to worry, trust that God is working out the details of our life, take my "needs" to Him, and praise Him for the ways He is working. On days when I don't know how I will get done, Hebrews 12:2 keeps coming to mind... "And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith."
The simple story of where we're at in life is that we've been actively job searching for our next ministry position for over five months now. We've felt the Lord calling us to the Texas region to be nearer my family, so we're moving down there to do more searching in person, and will be living with my parents while we get our feet on the ground.
The God-story going on in our lives is so much deeper... From the very beginning of this decision (about six weeks ago), we have seen God in such incredible ways big and small. We wrote down our list of "needs" to physically make the move and started praying for them throughout our days. Within a week, our financial cost for the move was reduced by more than 50% in a variety of ways through a variety of sources. It became almost comical when we made phone calls to a company to take care of certain details or checked our mail and found unexpected letters from friends & family. These "needs" were being met by our incredibly faithful God, and greatly encouraged our hearts.
And because I'm such a detail-oriented person, the second half of that verse is what surprised me the most... A peace literally filled me in ways I can't even describe or understand. When I shared our decision with friends and family, I remember thinking almost every time "I sound a little crazy... This decision doesn't make rational sense, yet here I am excited and walking forward in it!"
But let me say that while I have been filled with a peace that has motivated me towards our unknown future, there have still been many (many!) days of craziness in the Sliter household. Packing up an entire household with a beautiful 16m old daughter who loves to climb EVERYTHING and a 3 year old son who thrives on routine/consistency has had many challenges. And I have surprised myself with how emotional I have been some days. This was our first place to live as a couple, this is the house we brought two newborns home to and watched them grow... We love our neighbors and were involved in a small group with other couples in similar life stages. I have walked alongside many teenage girls in our youth group through their junior high and high school years.
But seeing all the ways that God has been working, all the doors He is making FLY open, we are filled its anticipation for what is next. We have continually felt God leading us to new ministries: Nathan to lead corporate worship and preach more, and myself to get involved in teaching/discipling women and hopefully planning community ladies events. We know that's what we're being called to, and leaving the details of where, when, and how for the Lord to reveal to us in his time. That's where Hebrews 12:1-2 reminds me daily of how I can keep walking forward in the midst of unknown things and the craziness of transition with toddlers. The only way we can do this is by "keeping our eyes on Jesus".
This was a little long, but this is my heart right now. Continue to pray for us. Find us on Facebook or write us an email. Here are a few prayer requests for the next couple of weeks:
- for all of us as a family to settle into my parents' house and experience our new home for this season. Especially for the kids who probably don't understand that there is no going back to Ohio...
- for Nathan as he is applying for transitional "secular" work in the area
- for both of us as we continue to seek where God wants us involved for future ministry... Whether its neighbors, coworkers at "secular" jobs, and eventually a church or ministry organization, we want to follow where God leads us and not pursue something out of our own desires
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