Dwell Happy interviewed me over on their blog which made me realize that I should probably update my own blog to let you know what we've been up to for the past 3 months. We've been busy! Before I get to that, let me go back a few years to really explain how we got to where we are (you can read Dwell Happy's post if you want to skip to the end).
Part 1.
We started praying for a calling in 2014--just before I entered what would be a five-year-long season of doubting the effectiveness of prayer. I remember sitting on Nathan and Brandie’s couch and sharing this longing of ours to feel passion and purpose (something totally foreign to our cerebral personalities). These wise friends of ours pointed to my swollen belly and guessed that our purpose would be delivered in the next few weeks (Ellie).
Don’t get me wrong, parenting is a calling. But I needed something beyond “raising a generation of Godly men and women” whose only calling was more of the same. At some point, some Godly man or woman has to do more.
So we prayed (even though I didn’t expect an answer), we analyzed our skills and personalities, and we sat with the discomfort of having a rich life but nowhere to spend our riches. We continued to guard our resources--time and money most of all--but also made a concerted effort to say yes to opportunities that presented themselves--especially the ones that seemed like they would grow leadership qualities necessary for a future ministry of some sort:
We had family visioning meetings each year which always highlighted the same values and skills we’d discerned the previous year: peace, simplicity, cross-cultural living. We wrote down goals for ourselves that we thought might bring us closer to understanding or being prepared for our calling: host more, pray more, talk to people who know their callings. We even sat down with the BIC World Missions director who is also a family friend (a very dangerous thing to do when you think you might someday--but not yet--have a calling overseas!).
We wondered: Should we just make a decision and ask God to bless it? Should we just pick a country and go? But the only decision we had peace about was to keep waiting. It wasn’t a peaceful peace, rather an uncomfortable peace. Why do you bless us, God, unless it is FOR something? Show us what it is FOR.
Part 1.
We started praying for a calling in 2014--just before I entered what would be a five-year-long season of doubting the effectiveness of prayer. I remember sitting on Nathan and Brandie’s couch and sharing this longing of ours to feel passion and purpose (something totally foreign to our cerebral personalities). These wise friends of ours pointed to my swollen belly and guessed that our purpose would be delivered in the next few weeks (Ellie).
Don’t get me wrong, parenting is a calling. But I needed something beyond “raising a generation of Godly men and women” whose only calling was more of the same. At some point, some Godly man or woman has to do more.
So we prayed (even though I didn’t expect an answer), we analyzed our skills and personalities, and we sat with the discomfort of having a rich life but nowhere to spend our riches. We continued to guard our resources--time and money most of all--but also made a concerted effort to say yes to opportunities that presented themselves--especially the ones that seemed like they would grow leadership qualities necessary for a future ministry of some sort:
- Sunday school teachers
- Youth Leaders
- Refugee Resettlement
- Deacons
We had family visioning meetings each year which always highlighted the same values and skills we’d discerned the previous year: peace, simplicity, cross-cultural living. We wrote down goals for ourselves that we thought might bring us closer to understanding or being prepared for our calling: host more, pray more, talk to people who know their callings. We even sat down with the BIC World Missions director who is also a family friend (a very dangerous thing to do when you think you might someday--but not yet--have a calling overseas!).
We wondered: Should we just make a decision and ask God to bless it? Should we just pick a country and go? But the only decision we had peace about was to keep waiting. It wasn’t a peaceful peace, rather an uncomfortable peace. Why do you bless us, God, unless it is FOR something? Show us what it is FOR.
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