Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.” How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.” Otherwise you are boasting about your own plans, and all such boasting is evil. -James 4:13-16
Clearly not much has been happening here on the blog. But, much has been happening with our family. Once again we have been reminded that following God's plans for our lives and walking in the path He has laid out before us is never a dull or boring process!
In September, we decided to pursue more fully the opportunity placed before us to move to Zambia and work with a great organization called Wiphan. It was a huge decision for us and not one that we took lightly or made easily. However, as we did pursue the opportunity more fully, it became increasingly clear to us that this was not the path God was calling us to walk right now. There were many things factored into the decision. And just as the decision to fully pursue it was difficult - the decision to let the opportunity pass by was difficult as well. But we became more and more confident that the time just was not right for our family of 6. It also became clear to us that, even though it wasn't to Zambia, God was asking us to move. As we began trying to discern what that meant for us, a strange but beautiful thing happened. God laid a city on both of our hearts - separately - but at nearly the same time. As we talked and shared what we were feeling, we discovered that God had given both of us a strong desire to move to Nashville. We are fully convinced that God placed this desire in both of our hearts. Nashville has never been on our radar. Yet, we both felt fully confident that God was saying, "Nashville."
A lot of people read this verse and think, "Oh, if I just delight in the Lord he will give me what I want. I can have all the desires of my heart!". But over time we have learned that truly delighting in the Lord means that His desires will become our own. If we ever truly and perfectly delighted in the Lord (which we are FAR from doing) we would no longer have our own desires, but would only desire what He desires.
So... as long as it's "what the Lord wants us to", it looks like we're moving to Nashville. We've never before decided what city we were moving to before we knew what we would be doing in that city.
We are sad to leave the many wonderful friends we've made in Tuscaloosa.
It doesn't make sense to us that we moved into our current neighborhood only one year ago because we felt God leading us here and now He seems to be leading us away.
We don't think following Christ in America will be easier than following Christ in Africa. I believe that in some ways moving to Nashville will prove to be more challenging than moving to Zambia.
It will be difficult to leave the beautiful house that Duane painstakingly built with his own 2 hands while I was holed up in a small apartment with 4 kids after only being able to enjoy the fruits of his labor and my sacrifice for exactly one year. But we see it as a great reminder that God has asked us never to build anything or store up any treasure that we wouldn't gladly walk away from if He asked us to. In fact, we already have a contract on our house - which is nothing short of a miracle. And the people buying it are anxious to move into the neighborhood for many of the same reasons that we did. Win, win. God's been so faithful to provide many evidences and confirmations that we've heard Him clearly and are on the right path.
I sure hope Nashville is ready for this crazy crew.
