To get a complete picture, I suppose one must start from the beginning...or as close to the beginning as is rational within a single blog post. So, let me tell you a part of "our story" - how we got to the place where we are now. The place where we are awaiting training and commissioning to serve overseas. The place where we are planning to move our family and live overseas in a mere three months.
Yeh, so, how did we get to this place?
I say our story started about two years ago, but looking back over the course of both of our lives, we can see how God's hand has been preparing us for this journey for an even longer time than that. Don't you love how God moves, little by little...and at times, seemingly, all at once??
From Amy's Perspective (Andrew's Perspective forthcoming):
Don't you know God uses our children to teach us things? Don't you know how they are chisels as He ever-conforms us to the image of His Son? Chisels, most certainly. But His mouthpiece? At least in this one instance, I am quite certain that was the case:
For about a year or so, the children and I had been praying for the nations as a part of our morning routine. Right after our breakfast and Bible time, we would locate our "country for the week" on the map and every day for that week we would learn a little bit about it (the people, the culture, the belief system, the unreached people where no Gospel message had ever been heard - or it had never taken root, etc.). Our prayers would always echo Jesus words in Matthew, asking the Father to send more workers to these places. Well, one day as we were wrapping up our time, my oldest asked a most profound question, "We always ask God to send more workers. Do you think maybe He wants US to go??" WOW!!! Talk about hearing a Word!
You see, for the past week, I had been seeking God about that very matter. Andrew had come home from a mission trip and asked me if I would consider praying about ministry - that maybe God really did have something more that He wanted our family to be doing than what we were doing presently. Not a new question from him. He had breached the subject two other times in our twelve years of life together; both times my answer was an immediate NO. I had always felt certain that we were where we were supposed to be and that we were fine.
However, this time that he asked was quite different. You see, God had begun to soften my heart for the lostness of the world during my morning prayer times with the children; He was faithfully at work in me when I did not even realize it! Before I told Andrew yes, I would pray about it (I think he about fell over when I told him yes), there was a slight pause in our conversation where I so audibly heard in my spirit the Holy Spirit reminding me of the time seventeen years before when I told God I would go anywhere and do anything for Him. It was as if He was asking me, "Did you mean that? And you're not even willing to consider any other possibility that I may have for your life?" So, I said I would PRAY about it. I was not making any commitments or anything, but I was WILLING to be willing.
So, after seeking God in prayer and through His Word, He began to move my heart over the course of weeks and months to not only be willing to be willing to being willing to asking "why NOT me?" (I could no longer think of any good excuses to not listen to His call) to send ME to send and use not just me, but my little family altogether, a team of six, so orchestrated and created by God for WHATEVER He had for us.
Once I decided to let go of the plans I had decided on for my life, the real adventure of living by FAITH really began! Now, I would be misleading and fake if I said that it was only an exciting time of adventure - for it is also a bit scary and sad and stressful, too. But we'll take all of that, too, because it is such a deep down, "fire in the belly" feeling that this is EXACTLY how He is leading us and we just HAVE to trust and obey. God has shown up time and time and time again, and He continues to confirm that THIS is the path He has for us.
Yeh, so, how did we get to this place?
I say our story started about two years ago, but looking back over the course of both of our lives, we can see how God's hand has been preparing us for this journey for an even longer time than that. Don't you love how God moves, little by little...and at times, seemingly, all at once??
From Amy's Perspective (Andrew's Perspective forthcoming):
Don't you know God uses our children to teach us things? Don't you know how they are chisels as He ever-conforms us to the image of His Son? Chisels, most certainly. But His mouthpiece? At least in this one instance, I am quite certain that was the case:
For about a year or so, the children and I had been praying for the nations as a part of our morning routine. Right after our breakfast and Bible time, we would locate our "country for the week" on the map and every day for that week we would learn a little bit about it (the people, the culture, the belief system, the unreached people where no Gospel message had ever been heard - or it had never taken root, etc.). Our prayers would always echo Jesus words in Matthew, asking the Father to send more workers to these places. Well, one day as we were wrapping up our time, my oldest asked a most profound question, "We always ask God to send more workers. Do you think maybe He wants US to go??" WOW!!! Talk about hearing a Word!
You see, for the past week, I had been seeking God about that very matter. Andrew had come home from a mission trip and asked me if I would consider praying about ministry - that maybe God really did have something more that He wanted our family to be doing than what we were doing presently. Not a new question from him. He had breached the subject two other times in our twelve years of life together; both times my answer was an immediate NO. I had always felt certain that we were where we were supposed to be and that we were fine.
However, this time that he asked was quite different. You see, God had begun to soften my heart for the lostness of the world during my morning prayer times with the children; He was faithfully at work in me when I did not even realize it! Before I told Andrew yes, I would pray about it (I think he about fell over when I told him yes), there was a slight pause in our conversation where I so audibly heard in my spirit the Holy Spirit reminding me of the time seventeen years before when I told God I would go anywhere and do anything for Him. It was as if He was asking me, "Did you mean that? And you're not even willing to consider any other possibility that I may have for your life?" So, I said I would PRAY about it. I was not making any commitments or anything, but I was WILLING to be willing.
So, after seeking God in prayer and through His Word, He began to move my heart over the course of weeks and months to not only be willing to be willing to being willing to asking "why NOT me?" (I could no longer think of any good excuses to not listen to His call) to send ME to send and use not just me, but my little family altogether, a team of six, so orchestrated and created by God for WHATEVER He had for us.
Once I decided to let go of the plans I had decided on for my life, the real adventure of living by FAITH really began! Now, I would be misleading and fake if I said that it was only an exciting time of adventure - for it is also a bit scary and sad and stressful, too. But we'll take all of that, too, because it is such a deep down, "fire in the belly" feeling that this is EXACTLY how He is leading us and we just HAVE to trust and obey. God has shown up time and time and time again, and He continues to confirm that THIS is the path He has for us.
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