Doors

It’s day 5 of the new year! How are you doing with your resolutions/goals?

As you know, I chose the word “trust” for the new year. I want to trust that God is going to take care of, well, everything. I am still a work in progress, but I have total peace about this door closing; and that is huge.
I was laughing with my younger sister yesterday about the way God has answered prayers of mine. When Scott graduated from BBC and we were looking at different church positions, I prayed, “God, please put us near the beach. I love the water and would just love to be near it.” I meant ocean.. warmth.. God and his sense of humor said, “Here, Michigan is SURROUNDED by beaches. Enjoy.”
This past year, Scott and I both started to feel like God was laying the possibility of moving on from here on our hearts. Moving on from youth ministry. Not saying that we are sick of our teenagers; we are NOT. God just works and moves and we obey. We started praying that God would open and close doors where He saw fit. Scott sent his resumes to some churches and we would pray that God would close the door if it wasn’t right. Then, the door here closed. Not what we were expecting.
Sometimes, it hurts. We question. Was I doing something wrong? Did we not do enough? After a lot of questioning and praying and crying, I really have no regrets. We have done everything that has ever been asked of us. We did what God called us to do. No, we absolutely are not perfect, and I am sure there are things that we could have done differently. But, I don’t for a second believe that this is punishment. It is protection and provision in ways that we can’t understand right now.

I truly believe this. I believe that the door here at FBT closing is protection for us. It is provision for us. Not only that, but it is protection and provision for our church family. It hurts to see them hurting. Some of the members were born into this church. Their entire lives have been spent serving God here. It grieves them greatly to know the struggle that the church is facing. I truly believe that this is going to work out the best for EVERYONE.
I TRUST that it is the best for everyone, and that we are all going to be able to do MORE for Christ through this.