A New Calling for Our Family

I have some pretty big news to share.  After 20 months of what I would call some major character building, healing physically, emotionally, and spiritually, and really, a very different lifestyle for our family, God has called us back into a ministry position.

It all began with this event in Sept. '10.  That day changed the direction of our lives and catapulted our family in a whole new direction, a new journey.  We have seen God's purpose along the way.  We know what He was doing both in us individually and our family as a whole.  We are different people for this experience.  He has shown us once again(because for some reason we have to be reminded over and over) what His provision in our lives looks like.  He has used His people to bless us in ways we couldn't have imagined.  He has broken strongholds.  He has reshaped identities.  He has opened our eyes to reality.  He has used this "rest from ministry" as a time to help us define who we are, what we value, and what we want to be about in our lives.  It was so painful for me.  I think I might have cried for at least 6 months.  I have mourned losses, experienced new beginnings, been hurt deeply, and communed with God in a more intimate way.

It hurt.  It was hard.  BUT, it was God's plan.  I accept it and eventually have embraced it.  Along with the rest and healing we have experienced has come the deep desire to minister again.  We love The Church(I am using caps to emphasize the "church" as a whole, not a specific body of people.) and truly believe it is God's plan for us as believers.  We feel called to minister in The Church.

That is where a new calling comes in.  Both Rick and I have felt our hearts being tugged for ministry.  I am called to be a pastor's wife.  He is called to be a pastor.  We have been challenged to live that out over the last 20 months apart from an official role.  Now, God is calling us back to a lifestyle of ministry, one that I have deeply missed.

On May 7, Rick will begin his role as Executive Director of Operations at Mountain Springs Church here in Colorado Springs.  That title is a fancy way to say that he will be doing a role that he is really good at.  He will lead, minister, strategize, develop, implement, and further God's Kingdom through the local church.  He is excited.  I am excited.  I feel like a part of my heart for ministry has been pieced back together.  We are excited as a family to move forward in this new calling.

There will be loss.  We have been at Vanguard for 11 1/2 years.  It is all our kids really know.  I am thankful that they do not have to move or leave their schools or even their friends.  Regardless, there will be a time of adjustment.  Who knows what emotions that will bring about in all of us.  We are confident that God has called us to this and will sustain us through this transition.

I know this post has been long.  If you are still with me, I just want to share one more thing.  God has given me a picture of what He is doing.  The picture is that He is taking what has been broken in our lives over the last 2 years and is restoring it.  The really beautiful part is that He has shown me that He is not only restoring it, but making it better than the original.  That is what He does, doesn't He?  He uses the pain, hurt, and loss to shape us in such a way that when the journey is over, we are better than we were before.  We see God differently.  We see ourselves differently.  We see others differently.

 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.  1 Peter 5:10