Here We Go...

Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43:19

I am interrupting the series I have been working on to share what God has been doing in mine and my husband’s life. For the last few months, we have been praying about what to do “next.” We have been feeling like we were reaching a “critical mass” moment in our life. Our agreement had been to not make any changes to our life until three months after our son was born. The reason for this was simply to give me a chance to be a “normal” person post-partum. I struggled with a little post-partum depression after my first son was born, and I wanted to make every effort (for my sake and ultimately for my whole family’s sake) to not find myself in that same struggle this time. Taking these precautions required my husband to set aside a calling to move to the north part of our city (to read this back story, read the following posts: “North” and “North, Part 2 (a.k.a. “Oneness”)”). He was faithful to his calling as husband to lay down his life for me when I was in need of being treated with care (read, “Porcelain, Part 1”).

Due to much prayer for this season and a calm and consistent life these last few months, I thankfully have not struggled with post-partum depression this time around. In fact, over the past few months, my husband and I have been consistently talking about our next season of life and all the possibilities that are in front of us. For quite a while, we were leaning toward moving to Washington to join Soma Communities (to read more about this, click here) so that we could learn how to do “missional communities.” Basically, a missional community is a small group of people who gather regularly to share life and learn more about God together, while focusing on one primary “mission” to serve their city. Missional communities are meant to serve others and live out life as God intended. Both my husband and I have a heart for discipleship/shepherding. We love walking with others through life and engaging what God is doing in them. We love leading small groups of people to know God more. So, moving to Washington and purposefully learning this missional communities lifestyle seemed like a good fit.

We were somewhat considering staying in our current town and either moving into the north part of the city or not and either having my husband stay at his current job with a Christian medical residency program or not. I was also considering having us move back to my hometown to be a part of my old church (Living Stones), simply because I so missed and longed to again be a part of that community and mission.

Then a crucial conversation happened. The night before Thanksgiving, my husband and I went out for a dinner “date” (with both babies in tow). On that date, we had a valuable conversation about surrender and our need to be fully surrendered to whatever God would show us…even if it meant staying put.

The next day (Thanksgiving Day) my husband was able to leave the hospital earlier than usual…right in time for the boys’ naps (naptimes are such an evidence of grace!). We spent that whole afternoon talking through what each of us felt in regards to surrender and staying. We each shared that neither of us had a clear direction to move to Washington. My husband shared again that last January he had felt that we were called to move into the north part of our city. As we talked, we both agreed that a good default for our life is to always fall back to the last thing either of us possibly heard from God and obey that leading. So, we started seriously considering staying here and moving into the north part of the city. All of the sudden so much clarity came to us. My husband had been feeling like he had tried to follow God in what he thought God was leading him to do (move into the north part of the city), but that it had not been good for his family (i.e. me, in regards to post-partum depression prevention). As a result of this, my husband had really been struggling with whether he was really hearing the Lord or not. It seemed as though he could either obey God in a calling towards the north or obey God in a calling to care for me, his wife. As we talked, it became clear that he would be able to do both now…that both were calls from God and were not mutually exclusive.

We both agreed that not moving eight months ago was the right decision. We both see how much stronger our marriage is, how much oneness we now possess. We are also both amazed at the grace we have been given to have a peaceful season in which I have been myself (and not a depressed version of me). We see how good this time has been for our family. There are many other details that would not have been good for us if we had moved into the north eight months ago. We feel that God is calling us to move into the north now. We feel the affirmation that my husband does hear the Lord and that I do too. We are learning that we may hear different details about what God wants to speak to us. The goal is to bring those details together to discover the whole picture of how God is leading our family.

And now, we are ready to pursue moving up there. So many pieces and possibilities have started clicking into place since our conversation during naptime on Thanksgiving Day. I see so much evidence of grace in how things are coming together.

As we have reflected back, we have seen that God has been working in us to transform us towards this next step. My heart for our current city has been developing (read, “The City”). One of my husband’s friends has opened a prayer house in the north. We are under the authority of a church, which actually brings freedom. We have friends in the north and more that want to move into the area. And we will still pursue learning the concept of missional communitites through sermons from Soma Communitites. We simply want to be obedient to whatever God is calling us to do. We know that He wants to do a “new thing.” And so the adventure begins. Here we go…