2018...The Year of Trust

2017 was a year filled with hurt, frustration, anger and uncertainty. We spent that year sending resumes all over the country and knowing that our time in Virginia was coming to an end but having no idea what the next step would be or when. Brian was consistently in the top few candidates but time after time God shut those doors. As 2018 began we started with all the emotions that 2017 left off on and we continued to pray and beg God to show us where He wanted us. We chose our words for the year, words we felt like God was giving us for the coming year, and we felt that these words would hold more meaning then previous years. Brian's word was Freedom and we saw this played out in so many ways. One of which was watching our son, Malachi get freedom for his food allergies through OIT (Oral Immune Therapy). That alone was life changing in so many ways. Eden's word was New and when God gave her that word Brian and I couldn't help but just look at each and smile. At this point the kids didn't know we'd spent the last year applying all over the country and didn't know we were looking to move. We had been praying for their hearts for the past year knowing how difficult it would be for them to move and leave friends and familiarity. God gave Eden that word and started working on her heart in ways we couldn't have imagined. My word for 2018 was Trust. This word became my life line. My mantra that I had on repeat in my mind was "God is good, He has a plan and He can be Trusted". In typical God fashion, using the Sacred Echo, every song I heard and thing I read reminded me to Trust Him. Lauren Daigles song I Will Trust In You and Elevate's song Do It Again became our theme songs. We had seen God move in ways we couldn't explain 5 years ago when He brought us out to Virginia and we knew that our time our there served a purpose. We made some incredible friends, experienced amazing things, learned so much as a family and together went through some of the most trying times. We had seen His hand in ways we couldn't explain and we knew He could do it again. This became the cry of our hearts and filled most of our prayers as we cried out to Him that we trusted Him and we were desperate to see Him do it again. We prayed very specifically for a healthy church (no church is perfect but there are healthy churches), for a place Brian could have collaboration, for them to have confidence in his leadership, and for the relationships that God would provide not only us but our children.

February came and with it the feeling that we had to do something. Sometimes waiting on the Lord means to be still and wait for Him to show you the next step and sometimes waiting means to be active while you wait. We felt that the time had come for us to be more active then just sending out resumes. We decided that since the housing market was getting to a good place we would list our house and see what happens. We had no idea where we'd go or what we'd do when it sold but we trusted that it wouldn't sell until God was ready for it to. We started painting and getting the house market ready but before it could hit the market I ended up needing surgery. And in typical fashion for me I under estimated the recovery time and how much my body would require from me. While we were waiting on my body to heal enough to list the house Brian was continuing to send resumes all over the country. On March 23rd one of the resumes went to a church in Omaha Nebraska. A week later he received a questionnaire from that church. Finally on April 2nd we officially listed our house. Immediately we started having showings which was exciting and scary all at once since we still had no idea what we would do if it actually sold! A little more then a week after the questionnaire was received this church requested a facetime interview. We'd done multiple ones of these with churches all over and so while it was hard to not get hopes up this one felt different. Hope started brewing and we continued to pray that God would allow us to be in a healthy church and that He would go before us in all of this. The very next day this church calls to lets us know that they will be contacting our references followed shortly by a phone call that our house SOLD! Only 10 days being on the market and our house sold. So we continued to pack the house and sell things off having no clue what the next step was. April 19th we get an email from the church and it basically just said they were continuing to check references but there was one word that flew off the screen, confidence . This very word we had been diligently praying they used that word in describing Brian. At this point we were having a very hard time not getting excited or too optimistic. A week later we got the phone call we had been waiting for, they offered Brian the position and wanted to set up a facetime to meet me and talk about the details in bringing us out there to meet. We immediately began looking for houses in the area feeling the very real pressure as our house was sold and we were on a very tight time schedule. The housing market at the time in Omaha was insane! Houses were listed in the morning and sold for well over asking price by that afternoon. There was no way we could find one and it still be available by the time we got out there. Our incredibly sweet new friend from the search team graciously went and did a facetime walk through of a couple of houses for us in attempt to help us get one before it flew off the market. We even put an offer on one only to be out bid. Then there was this one house that popped up for sale and for some reason it didn't sell immediately. In fact they dropped the price by a little a few days later and we instantly jumped on it. We called our realtor first thing in the morning and said we didn't need a showing we just wanted to put in an offer. We included a letter about us and a family picture and started praying. They ended up having multiple showings that morning and decided that they wanted to sell it to us! The letter and picture sealed the deal and they knew we would love the house. So there we were in Virginia having bought a house just off the pictures online. Many said we were crazy and we did feel a little bit nuts but again we Trusted that God was up to something good. A couple weeks later we left our kids in wonderful hands and flew half way across the country to visit what we prayed would be our new home. We immediately loved the city and most importantly the incredible people of the search team. Brian got a chance to preach, we got to see in person this house we just bought, and we made instant connections with these people God was giving us. We flew back to Virginia and packed like crazy for a couple of weeks before Brian and I made the final trip out to make everything official. We flew out again 2 weeks later and we had a wonderful meet and greet where the church could get to know us and us them. Brian got to officially preach for them and they unanimously voted him in. Immediately we were showered with love! We flew back from this trip with incredibly full hearts ready to finalize what needed to be done to get our family out to our new home. The original closing date for our Virginia home was May 25th but God knew what we needed and the date got pushed back to June 15th, which was the day after the kids last day of school. His timing couldn't have been better as that allowed us to stay in our home until the kids finished school and us to pack everything up. We left Virginia June 15th and made the journey west.

8 weeks. In the span of 8 weeks Redeemer received Brian's resume, we listed and sold the house and Brian was hired and we bought a new house. Everything that we had been waiting a year and a half for happened in just 8 short weeks. In church world that doesn't happen. The application and interview process for churches is painstakingly slow most of time and yet God exceeded our expectations and then some. This word Trust lived out in ways that didn't seem possible. God is good, He has a plan and He can be Trusted!



A friend posted this the other day and I couldn't believe how true it is. She said, "It is truly amazing how you can go through your days never realizing how truly sad you were until you're suddenly happy once again!" The past couple years this was true and I didn't realize how much that sadness had seeped into so many areas of my life. There were many amazing relationships and memories made during our time in Virginia and I wouldn't trade our time there because it shaped us into who we are today. Part of being out there allowed us to realign our priorities and appreciate things far greater. We missed family so much being half a country away from them. Our hearts desire was to be closer again but we told God we'd go anywhere He sent us, and then He allowed us to move back to the Midwest. We've been able to spend more time in these last 6 months with family then we did these last 5 years. He's allowed us to be loved on and cared for in ways we didn't think were possible from a church. He's renewed our hope and faith. He's allowed us to have friendships that have soothed very weary and hurt places. He's provided in ways we couldn't even imagine.

In 2018 we saw God's provision and His faithfulness played out over and over. We wouldn't have been able to witness and experience those provisions and faithfulness first hand if we hadn't gone through those hard wilderness moments. Going through those difficult times has allowed us to have a far greater appreciation for this next stage He's brought us to. 2018 reminded us to not give up. That when God has called you to something you pursue it with everything you have. Even when you feel alone in it. Even when it doesn't make sense anymore. Even when you want to quit and find something easier. You don't give up and you don't quit, ever. 2018 reminded us that just because you're waiting and not seeing prayers be answered that doesn't mean God is quiet or inactive. He's always working, always present and always active, despite how we feel or what we see. In those times of uncertainty and frustration we had to remind our self of all the ways God has been faithful in the past. Since we, like the Israelites, are incredibly forgetful and constantly panic and forget in those hard and scary moments that God has been faithful in the past, we've seen Him do miracles and wonders and we know that He can do it again. 2018 reminded us that God knows hearts and our needs far better then we do. He knows that things we need to survive and sometimes He surprises us and exceeds those needs in unimaginable ways. Sitting here in this house at the moment I look around and can feel nothing but gratitude for the ways God blessed us.

As we begin 2019 we are filled with contentment, gratitude, joy, peace, and excitement at what God will continue to do because we've seen Him do it and we know that He can do it again.