A New Adventure

Well, by now most of you already know, but sometime around August, Chad & I will be moving onto Campus & becoming Full-Time Houseparents here at Gateway! We'll be taking Nate & Rachel's place at the Maple House. I can't remember how much I shared on here when we were praying about Gateway in the first place, but 1 Chapter we read & a story that kept coming up while we were praying about it was the story of Jonah. He knew good & well that God was calling him to go to Ninevah, but he chose to run. To turn the other way & try to flee from this fearful thing God was asking him to do. When we began to realize that God was calling us to GW, it was hard to accept. We continued to pray about it, question it, and try to justify why we just weren't "the right people". I told Chad one night that I was beginning to feel like a Jonah. It got to a point that I was fearful to think of what would happen if we DIDN'T pursue GW....if we didn't obey God's clear direction! And now....almost a year & a half later, I can't imagine our lives anywhere else! The love & compassion that has developed for these children and for this ministry has been amazing and overwhelming to see! You just want to reach out & hold on to some of these kids...and never let them go back to their hurtful past, or the bad influences, or the life of sin & hurt - the only life they've ever known. You don't want to let them go, fearful that they'll also let go of everything they may have learned of Jesus' unconditional love for them! But again...we just have to TRUST! Once we began to pray about becoming full-time, the thought of it terrified me! "We're not ready", "I don't think we can handle it", were some of the thoughts & fears I had....and then I opened up to it. Jonah. Chapter 1. The ever-so-painfully-clear story of God CALLING someone to FOLLOW. To TRUST. To OBEY! And so....here we are! Preparing to step-out into new, "unfamiliar territory" knowing with all our hearts that WE cannot do this - but with GOD...we CAN! What about you? Do you ever feel like Jonah? Running, avoiding, fleeing from the very voice of God, calling you to "unfamiliar territory"? Well, all I can do is encourage you to TRUST! We have seen first-hand how amazingly God can work when we SURRENDER to HIS WILL, and OBEY! Even when it doesn't make sense!