It’s been awhile since we have sent out much of an update on our lives since Africa. That’s because we didn’t really have much to update you on until now.
When we returned from Africa, it seemed as though the Lord had given us a sort of closure with regard to missions… at least for now. We had gone to Africa to seek out what the Lord had for us next in life, thinking it was long term missions, and instead the Lord showed us while we were there that He was going to remove “vision” for a time. We got back to Denver and returned to our normal daily lives – Nathan running his garage door business, and me at my nutrition practice. It was clear that God had created us for something more, and would soon take us into something new, but for the time He was just asking us to be content and let Him be enough. I confess, I realized how much what I “do” has given me a sense of purpose and identity. This doesn’t seem bad, until the Lord started to show me that it’s not about what I do that gives me any value apart from who I am – His daughter. He needed to spend some time reminding me of just that. I am His daughter, royalty in the heavenly realms, and He loves me extravagantly. THAT is who I am, and THAT is where my worth comes from. He allowed us to “stay put” in life for several months after we got back from Africa. During that time God called me into a place of rest and intimacy with Him while He called Nathan to continue investing and growing his business. Nathan hired a second technician and purchased a second utility van for the business. Yet the more he poured into his company, the more he realized just how unfulfilled he was, knowing the Lord had created Him for something different despite what the present looked like. In December, everything started to change… For the past year, I have felt the Lord preparing me to one day close the doors to my business. Business has been good, and I have been given some awesome opportunities, and even random job offers, but my heart was also becoming less and less satisfied with it. In December, the Lord finally gave me clear direction to prepare to close the doors to Restorative Nutrition this May of 2016. It took a few weeks of processing through the emotions – relief, joy, excitement, terror, fear, and a bit of an identity crisis. But in the end, the Lord affirmed it several times over in various ways and I had (and still have) complete peace that it was right. At the same time, the Lord started speaking to each of us separately about ending our small group Bible study that we had been leading for the last 2 years. This took about a month to pray through and decide on, and though it was incredibly hard to do, we had tremendous peace. After that, we both separately started feeling unsettled with our church home for no clear reason. We have been there for several years, and have loved our time there. It was strange to feel that way, but as we prayed, we quickly started realizing it was the Holy Spirit stirring us towards something new. While we were in Africa, we saw the dire importance of the Holy Spirit in our lives as Christians. We are powerless without Him, and that became very evident to us in those two months. If we want to see God’s Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven, we need to learn how to walk in the power of His Spirit more than our flesh. We needed a church that would teach us what that looked like. God brought us to a new church home where we have both been challenged to ask God bigger questions and search out truth in a way we have never done before. We have experienced His presence more deeply than we ever expected, and it feels as though the Lord is rapidly growing and equipping us for what’s to come. Then, in February, Nathan’s grandmother passed away. While he was up in Connecticut for the funeral, conversation came up about his grandparents’ house in Jamestown, Rhode Island. It has been sitting empty for awhile now since his grandfather is no longer living there, and it is in need of a lot of fixing up. His aunt had talked of cleaning it up and renting it out so that it wouldn’t continue to drain money. She had mentioned how great it would be if someone could rent it that was handy and could do the maintenance and repairs as needed (do you see what’s coming here?). Nathan called me that night, casually mentioning the idea of us renting the house ourselves. My first reaction was, “Are you serious?! How could we leave all of our friends and family here in Denver?!” Yet something deeper inside of me was saying, “Yes!” It was like I could instantly picture us living there. Prior to this, Nathan and I have talked for the last several years of owning land that we could live on and have a small semi-sustainable farm. I had mentioned to him a week before about finding a place where we could have that farm, along with some other dreams that the Lord has been giving me for years that would come out of that. When Jamestown was mentioned, it felt like God had just opened a door. While we likely wouldn’t live there long term, it seems like a bridge towards what might be next. Did I mention the house is right on the bay on a beautiful ¼ acre of land? I prayed and talked with Jesus about it the next morning, and in the end I had tremendous peace and excitement about it. I spoke with Nathan that night, and he also felt good about it, but kept saying, “It just doesn’t make any sense.” The longer Nathan was up in Connecticut, the more he started to picture us living somewhere like that. Everything we have talked about for the last year with regard to what we want in a house and land seemed to fit up there. After a lot of talking and praying, God set our hearts in complete unity to consider moving to New England. (Since Nathan and I are so different in how we view things, it is always a testimony of God when our hearts are in complete agreement on things.) We have decided to start with living in Jamestown, RI this summer from June through August(ish). From there, we feel like God will direct our steps in what is next. That brought us to our next issue of what do we do with our house? We talked of renting it out for the summer; we talked of turning it into a vacation rental. In the end, we started to sense the Lord leading us to sell. The market is CRAZY in Denver, and if ever there was a time to sell, it is now! We love our tiny house, but it just feels like God is preparing us to move on. After sitting down and talking with our realtor, thinking we would maybe sell next year, it became very clear to us that its time to sell now. We are finishing up some renovations, and will be putting our little cottage on the market this June while we are away in Rhode Island. It seemed crazy because we really have no direction yet for what is next, but God has affirmed it several times over, and continues to give me clear affirmation every time I ask Him for one. He loves to comfort His children! This basically means we will be homeless after the summer, but we know God has something new for us. It’s just not time yet for us to know clearly what that is. Our hope is that we might end up finding a few acres of land with a home in Connecticut or Rhode Island or somewhere in New England where we can have a semi-sustainable farm and pursue the deeper dreams God has put in our hearts. God has started to establish Nathan’s business so that he will be able to manage it from a distance. For years Nathan has dreamed of his business becoming self sufficient so that we can pursue other things while it continued to run in capable hands. He has considered the possibility of getting back on a volunteer fire department in a small town. He has also put in an application to work with Samaritan’s Purse as a part of their Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART). Other than that, God knows what He is up to. We trust Him because we know He loves us. We also know He has called us to carry His glory to a world desperate to see it and know Him. Ultimately, that is the desire of our heart. We know we can do that anywhere, but we can do that more powerfully and fruitfully if we are willing to let God take us to the place He has prepared beforehand for us to go. So there you have it, in a big fat nutshell… Closing my business Ended our small group Left our church home for a new church where the Lord is growing us immensely Moving to Jamestown, Rhode Island for the summer Selling our house in June Waiting on God to show us what’s next… Stay tuned!! More to come...
4 Comments
Suzette
5/5/2016 09:39:40 am
So cool! God is good. Every time I see the DART job I think of Nate (my cousin is with Samaritan's Purse in Africa).
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Laura W
5/5/2016 09:45:22 am
Awesome! I wonder if he knew that. The application process is S L O W
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Babz. Austin
2/2/2017 02:14:10 am
Who knew the Lord would continue to weave our lives together but I trust it is Him that has💖
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Julia Williams
10/28/2016 10:40:03 pm
Wow. This is exciting. I didn't know how dedicated you are to the Lord. SO enjoyed reading this. Seek yeah first the kingdom of God. .. will be praying. Now I understand why you're in R.I.
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