It’s been an emotional couple of weeks in our household. If you’ve followed our newsletters, you’ll remember hearing of how the Lord worked to sell our house in only 3 days on the market. The next month was a whirlwind! So many things that need to be orchestrated, completed, moved, and finished. The flood of emotions that come with good byes. Saying good bye to our friends, family and neighbors. The single most emotional moment was pulling out of our driveway for the last time, kids crammed in between bags and a trailer in tow. As we packed and each of our neighbors came to say good bye, we realize just how much we’ll miss that home.
I had one prayer, I asked our Lord to keep the question, “Are you excited!?” from being asked. I didn’t want to be the “bad missionary” who isn’t excited in one of the steps toward the field! I mean, we are delighted to watch the Lord work, we’ve seen His hand through the entire process. That doesn’t mean it’s not hard to leave. Like any work we do in life, not every part is exciting, not everything is an adventure.
The Spirit brought to mind, Philippians 4:4-7 “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
As life changes, twists and turns; we rest assured of God’s continued provision and plan for us! We know that we can rejoice in the Lord, His goodness, and His sovereignty.
Please be praying for us as we integrate our family’s routine into my parent’s routine and we all learn to live under a single roof. We know it’s not an easy thing for my parents either to suddenly have 6 extra people in their home!
And of course, please pray that the Lord moves people to support the work we will be doing in Papua New Guinea, so that we will soon be on our way.
Thank you for your honest story-telling. I think it’s important in the church that we quell the culture of perfect. We are not perfect people. Missionaries are not super-Christians. We have bad days, hard days, even days when we cry out to God in pain and discouragement. But there are also sweet days– of ministry fruitfulness, of seeing our kids “get it” as their lives transform from their experiences abroad. Our lives are just like every other Christian, full of ups and downs, good days and hard days… and Jesus can handle that just fine!