Faith in Transition- Part 5

I dreaded telling our church family.  I trusted they would be sustained by their love for us and their passion for Kingdom work but I dreaded the part I had to play.  We accepted the job offer on Wednesday, met with session on Thursday and the phone message went out to the congregation Friday afternoon at 5:00 followed by an email a few hours later.  I sent an email to the Tuesday night bible study ladies about 4:00 so hopefully they’d hear it from me.  Then Andy and I went for a run.  We didn’t talk.  We just ran and prayed.  Our hearts were hurting for our church family.  When faced with transition this is the moment when all you can do is rest in the Lord.  This precise moment when all has been decided, the ball has been pushed down the hill and you have to watch those you love jump out of the way.  I remember being so thankful that God had been visibly evident throughout our journey so we could simply rest.  We put this body of believers we loved and cherished into our Father’s faithful hands and rested. 

On Sunday morning Andy and I stood before the congregation and he read his resignation letter.  At first, I scanned the faces in the pew.  I saw many we had walked through fire with.  Those whose children we had helped bury or whose marriages we stood beside and helped fight for.  My eye would land on any one of the ladies from Bible Study and it made me want to back up.  Start over.  Reconsider.  Tell everyone, “just kidding…haha.”  I put on my big girl pants and just looked at the paper.  Everyone was pretty shocked but supportive, encouraging, happy for us, and sad.

After two grueling weeks of “house beautiful” our house hit the market.  I didn’t pray for our house to sell.  I prayed that God would orchestrate the logistics of our move in such a way that everyone would see what we’d been experiencing since last October.  We were answering a direct call.  God was pulling us elsewhere and we either obeyed His divine will or fear He’d have to give Peace a reason to kick us out (sounds miserable).  Our house sold in 4 days.  That same day, we made an offer on a beautiful GA hillside home.  Daniel still fears we will topple off but hopefully there won’t be too much psychological damage. 

Words can’t describe how we have been loved or the depth of friendships that have been made.  We plan to carry it all with us.  I can’t wait to see how God continues His work in the Jones family and in the Peace family.  Turns out I kinda dig this whole blogging thing so keep in touch!