Fall is my favorite time of the year. I love when the weather cools down and the wind blows through the golden red and brown leaves creating a whirlwind of color in the sky... I love breaking out the sweaters and hoodies and scarves - heck, it's Oregon: the mittens too! I also love seeing school supplies in the stores, Daylight Savings Time and even the unavoidable argument of Ducks vs. Beavers during football season.
I've been thinking a lot about seasons lately, and not just the seasons we learn about in kindergarten.
Seasons of life. For two years I was in a season of "finish school, work hard, squeeze in the fun." I didn't know it, but I was in a season of preparation. Getting ready to meet my husband. Getting ready for a full-time ministry position. Getting ready for my world to change completely!
I graduated. I got married. And I joined my husband, Dave, at My Father's House, a family shelter in Gresham, Oregon. We moved into a great, little one-bedroom apartment on the main level, and Dave's role went from Floor Manager to Overnight Manager. His job, amongst other things, was to keep the night safe for residents. I was also promoted to Office Support Director, a full-time position at Abundant Life Church which led to increased hours and responsibility.
We loved it. We spent our precious off-the-clock hours enjoying each other, and settling into this new season of life and juggling plans with various friends and baby-sitting our wonderful niece.
We've also been learning a lot about family shelters, homelessness, and the crazy co-existence of marriage and full-time ministry. Both are emotionally, if not time-wise, demanding. Both are wonderful. And as we navigated toilet seats being left up and who's cooking dinner or who's doing the laundry... we navigated how each one of us is gifted by God to serve and love Him... how together we bring a whole new team to the table for God.
We thought we had planned things out perfectly. We'd live at the Shelter for year or two, working on some past debt, learning about each other and how to be married and praying for what God had for us next.
(I was hoping for Nicaragua; he was hoping for Croatia.)
And then our timeline got crunched. God had other plans for us!
Starting with our zip code. Hello packing boxes! We will be saying our farewells to the staff and residents of the shelter starting, well, now. We will be moving out of the shelter the first week of November. We will be moving from 97030 to 97060 - to a great two-bedroom apartment we found in Troutdale!
(For those who know me well: Elwood can come too! It also means I get my "shared" office area back!!!)
And Dave will no longer serve and work at My Father's House. He didn't do anything "wrong" - just another victim to the downward economy. When giving to non-profits is down: you gotta do, what you gotta do. We love the shelter, we love the staff and the families. We especially love the youth kiddos who have enriched our lives this past year in the youth group. THEY have taught us so much about dealing with change and dealing with things out of one's control. They're pretty amazing, actually.
His last day will be October 28th. They told the staff and residents today; we waited for them to know before we made the news 'public'. Most people thought we were breaking baby news.
Nope.
And maybe you're confused because you thought we had "good news." Read on.
It's easy to feel bitter or scared. Read my previous post: Dave and I were going through big changes and it was causing me to wonder about my faith in God and the plan He had for us... not because it's bad, but for me: because I don't know what it is. I have to step back and trust in Him who has all things under His mighty, loving control.
During this time, Pastor George Powell (ALC) gave the staff the book Ruthless Trust by Brennan Manning. Honestly, the timing couldn't have been better for me. I could quote many things, but I love this (and it was easy for me to find again!):
Unwavering trust is a rare and precious thing because it often demands a degree of courage that borders on heroic. When the shadow of Jesus' cross falls across our lives in the form of failure, rejection, abandonment, betrayal, unemployment, loneliness, depression, the loss of a loved one; we are deaf to everything but the shriek of our own pain; when the world around us suddenly seems a hostile, menacing place-- at those times we may cry out in anguish, "How could a loving God permit this to happen?" At such moments the seeds of distrust are down. It requires heroic courage to trust in the love of God no matter what happens to us. (pg 3-4)
Wow! was all I could say when I read it the first time. I needed to be reminded to be brave and to trust that God loves me so much. How easy it is to dwell in our own pain and to blame the world.
I also take condolence in the words Paul spoke to the Galatians. Now, Dave is the pastor-not me- so I'll need some grace here as a stumble through the biblical application portion of the post. But Paul shares his concerns to the Galatians (Galatians 4:8-11):
Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? You are observing special days and months and seasons and years! I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you.
Yikes. How easy is it to forget that I am a child of God, and that I am not to be enslaved by the worldly values... values that could be also called sin. Separating me from my Abba father, when I need Him the most.
I love that Paul says not to dwell in the stuff God rescued us from, but (and this is where I twist words a little) says to celebrate! Okay, so he says NOT to celebrate the worldly holidays, but I am going to argue he'd be cool with celebrating the days, months, seasons and years that God gave us to serve and love Him! Because in these seasons, God is teaching me -us- so much. Besides isn't there something about a season for everything? A time to plant and a time to uproot... We are living in not just new zip codes, but in a new faith and trust for the future He has for us.
So, I gotta admit: we are getting pretty darn excited. Sad to say goodbye, of course, but we have chosen to look to the future with anticipation. We have pledged together to trust God wholeheartedly.
And new fall-time sweater adorned, my handsome, wonderful husband went to his first job interview this week...
Recent Comments