Was It A Life Changing Sunday???

Okay, Okay!  I'll finally answer you all.

YES!  It absolutely was!!!

You know how you wonder what on earth God is doing in your life?  You have it planned out the way you are SURE it's supposed to be, and then God throws you a curve ball...or in our case, numerous curve balls!

Life for the past 8 years has seemed like we've been completely off course.  It's like using one of those car navigation systems.  We've been praying to God & asking Him for direction.  Then we follow the directions He gives us, turn by turn, & we end up completely "off course" (a.k.a. LOST).  Only, we are neither off HIS course nor lost.  We ended up EXACTLY where He wanted us.

Those of you who have followed this blog have known that we have been in the "valley" for some time now.  As I've said before, I don't like referring to it as that.  I prefer calling it God's Training Ground.

It's difficult to be used by God to comfort those who are hurting if you've never experienced heartache, pain, loss, or suffering.  It's tough to be understanding with those who once had plenty of money and then went broke unless you have gone through that as well.  I remember being very judgmental of a family many years ago because they were living a very comfortable lifestyle...nice house, new cars, fancy vacations, etc... and then they began needing financial assistance from the church just to pay their utility bills.  I naively assumed that it was their own fault for not saving in the bountiful times for the hard times.  (I was really young & dumb way back then.)  It was only after we went from living a comfortable financial life to wondering where our next meal would come from that I realized how foolish I had been to think that of them!  We had saved our money, but how quickly that money disappears when you are paying unexpected medical bills!  I've often wondered since what I could have done to help that family, and I'm ashamed of my judgmental attitude.

My husband is called of God to be a pastor.  He has the Bible college/seminary training.  He's been ordained by a pastoral council.  He has the degree.  You know what?  That's just a piece of paper.  (Sorry if that offends any scholars out there...)  It's just that he's learned more through life experiences over the past 8 years than he ever could learn in any school.  School taught him how to study & learn.  Life taught him how to love, comfort, & lead.

Sunday my wonderful husband accepted the office of Senior Pastor at our church.  He's been a Youth Pastor, Children's Pastor, Associate Pastor, & Visitation Pastor before, but this will be his first time as the Senior Pastor.  This is something that he has been praying for since he was in college.  His heart was burdened for our community and we spent many, many hours crying out to God asking Him to use us.  Then our entire world fell apart.  We lost any financial security we had once had.  We lost my Dad.  We lost my health.  We almost lost Gigi to illness.  We lost a daughter & a son.  (They had been placed in our home as foster children.  After months & months this led to adoption only to have them pulled out of our home 2 days before it was finalized due to a clerical error.)  We didn't get to build our dream house.  We had to give up our fancy vehicle & go back to driving clunkers.  The list seems endless.  Yet as we look back we see that this was all part of God's Training Ground.

Everyone who has accepted Christ as their Savior is enlisted in God's army.  All soldiers have to go through some form of basic training.  I believe that was Bible college for us.  Then there is special forces training.  I believe that is what God has been putting us through over the last 8 years, and I'm sure there is more to come.  It's no coincidence that I spent over a decade of my life as a personal assistant to a wonderful pastor!  That was part of my training to be a help to my husband!

I'm just so very honored to be my DH's wife!  He is a humble man.  He has been treated very poorly by other pastors and could have retaliated, yet his character would not allow him to stoop to that level.  I'm proud of him.

We really hoped that God would allow us to serve in our area.  We've worked with hundreds of kids over the past 15 years through bus ministries and various other ministries. Once that church came under new leadership, all of those outreach ministries were abandoned.  The new pastor felt there were too many insurance & legal risks.  Our desire has always been to go out & find those kids who are now adults (probably with families) and try to get them back into church.

Right now our church is small.  It has only been there for a year and a half.  My husband will be bi-vocational for now at the request of the church.  They cannot afford to pay him a full time salary.  We were fine with this.  We're not in it for the money.  We're used to being broke now.  We are just so excited to be able to serve in this way!!!  DH will be cutting his hours way back at his current job.  He'll be working some half days & taking full days off.  This will equal a big cut in pay, but we know God will provide our needs.

The church does not have a constitution and this will be the first *business* issue that DH will be taking on.   The church was truly excited when DH told them this.  He explained that we need to do things "decently & in order" – the way God intended.  A friend of the former pastor is a lawyer, and he has volunteered to handle the legal end of this for free (thankfully). 

We have been up talking very late about so many ideas.  We are crazy excited!!!!!  Outreach is a passion of ours.  The church is ecstatic about having a younger pastor, too.  The majority of the church is in the 25-40 age range, and they wanted someone young & full of fresh ideas. 

Isn't it so cool how God's directions lead to the right place at the right time!!  We have no idea how long God will have us at this destination, but we truly want to give it all we've got while we are here!

Please keep us in your prayers as we head out on this new adventure!

(I typed this up in the middle of the night.  I hope it sounds the way I meant for it to sound.  I've tried to read it about 50 times today, but I just have way too many kids running in & out to be able to concentrate!)

Stacey

God's Sense of Humor

I have a very special nephew.  His name is Devin.  He was born just a few days before I began my Senior year at high school.

His mother was also a senior.  She felt that she couldn't handle doing school & taking care of a newborn, so he lived in our home.  His crib was in my brother's room which was right beside mine.  When the baby woke up crying because he was hungry or needed a diaper change, guess who got to him first?  ME!  I adored that baby!  It was like he was mine.  In fact, that's how I love him...as if he were my very own.

Eventually his parents got married.  Still, he spent more time with me & my Mom than them because my brother was working 2 jobs and his mom was always out doing...whatever.  Mom kept him while I was at college in the morning, then I'd take him with me to work in the afternoon. 

When Devin turned 3 my brother joined the Army.  He ended up stationed all the way across the country.  Can you believe they had the nerve to take their child with them?  I was devastated!!!  I did save up (which was hard since I was paying for college) & flew out to visit him.  He begged me to let him come home with me.  It just killed me to get on that plane without him!  I used to selfishly pray that God would convince his parents to give him to me.

When my brother's service time was up they came home.  Then, this beautiful little boy was put through a lot of awful things.  His mom ran off with some other guy.  He was bounced back & forth between his parents.  He's had multiple step-fathers & step-mothers who were all nasty toward him.  I kept secretly praying that God would convince his parents to just let me have him.

In spite of it all he has grown into an amazing young man.  He just graduated high school.  He's 18.  The day after he graduated, guess what he did????

He moved in with me.

Now, he's no angel.  Unfortunately he had a few teachers at his Christian school who had a very negative influence on him.  He trusted them.  They were young and cool.  He figured that since they were Christian whatever they said must be right.  They ignited rebellion in him slowly over the past two years.  Growing up in such a tumultuous lifestyle as he did, the sparks of rebellion turned quickly into flames!  He's not terrible or anything – just misguided, sadly to say, by these Christians.

I should take a minute to give my brother a word of praise.  He has turned his life around and has tried desperately to rebuild that relationship with Devin.  They have become close again and my brother is giving him some excellent Christian advice.  He's trying to help him not make the same mistakes he made.

All that being said, we sat down with him & gave him a set of rules for living in our home.  We explained each rule to him & the reason behind it.

He's been here for a month and so far has not broken one rule.  He gets up and goes to work each day.  He's home by curfew.  He respects our rules about his behavior with his girlfriend in our home.

Please pray for Devin.  The decisions he will be making over the next few weeks & months will affect him for the rest of his life.  Also pray for DH & I that we will have wisdom in working with him.  We are not thrilled with the girl he is dating.  I'm still trying to figure her out.  I'm not sure she is Christian.  I haven't been able to spend much time with her as of yet, but I intend to sit down & have a long talk with her.

When he knocked on my door with a duffel bag over his shoulder the day after he graduated and said, "Aunt Stacey, do you remember when I was 5 & I asked you if I could come live with you and you told me I could if my parents would let me?  Is now good for you?" – you could have knocked me over with a feather!

The first thing God brought to my mind was this...."You asked me for him...now you've got him!"

Who says God doesn't have a sense of humor!!!

A.W.O.L.

Just wanted to let you know why I've been absent without leave.  My MS has been out of control.  My eyesight has been limited as well as other complications.  I think I'm on the mend now, PTL!

Please pray that I'll be able to be all that I need to be for Gigi this coming week.  Her recital is Saturday & we have dress rehearsals, etc...  It's a busy week and it is important.  I feel that I fail her so often because (due to my health) we can't do all the things I dreamed of doing with her.  I just want to give her this week.  She deserves it.  She's worked so hard.

Thanks for the prayers!

Stacey

Pray for My Brother

Please pray for my brother.  He was unloading a trailer full of food into the warehouse where they hand it out to those in need each week.  He lost his footing and fell backwards about six feet onto a concrete slab.  They rushed him to the hospital.

He has a kidney that is severely bruised & bleeding and his back is really out of whack.  He can hardly walk.

They sent him home (due to insurance issues) and gave him strong pain medication.  I'm very worried about him.

He is also going through some private issues.  He is hurting emotionally as well as physically.  It just breaks my heart.

Please keep him in your prayers.  His name is Larry.

Stacey

Selfish Prayer Request

If you think of it, say a little prayer for me.  I've got a bronchial infection.  I'm starting a round of antibiotics which scares me because I always have an MS flare at or near the end of the prescription.  I just got over a flare and I'm really praying that God will allow me to be flare-free for a while so I can get things rolling with Gigi's new homeschool program.

Also, remember Sarah (see post below the sing-along).  She's battling West Nile Virus.

Thanks for the prayers,

Stacey

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