First Post in the Middle of Much Movement

I don’t even know where to start. I don’t even know how to put to words everything that has been going on. I’m so overwhelmed….

I truly feel that God is telling me to journal what is going on in my life right now, at least for the time being. Who knows how long this will last. Anyone who knows me knows that I hate journaling. I’m not good at it. Truth is, I stink at it! I’ll put in one entry with all the intentions of actually doing it “for real this time” and that poor little first entry is left quite lonely and forlorn. Will this happen now too? It could. I really don’t care really. I will give it my best, and if this one entry is left alone in the vast cyber world, oh well. But I will give it my best.

But I’m still left overwhelmed and not knowing where to start. And my little rant about how poor of a journal writer I am didn’t help any. LOL! Did I mention that I’m a procrastinator, too? Quite obvious now, I’m sure…..

*sigh* Where do I start? I suppose this whole turn of events that will be disclosed shortly began with finally getting together with a couple my husband, Paul, and I felt a strong connection to. We’ve known them for 2 years now, but no matter how many times we tried to get together it just didn’t happen. Yet we still felt a connection that we couldn’t explain with them. Finally we were able to mesh our schedules. Instantly we truly did connect to them. We very quickly became best friends. It is hard to explain, it is hard to comprehend….It was so fast! It was as if it was just meant to be.

One day soon after first meeting, we were at Joe and Hope’s house for supper. They had just recently bought their home in Clearwater. Paul and I have always had such a strong feeling of attachment to the Clearwater/Largo area but we thought it was only because we felt called to work a home group there from the church we were at. We had no other thoughts whatsoever. Out of the clear blue Hope says: “I wouldn’t normally say this, but are you going to plant a church in Clearwater?”

I instantly balked. “No! No, no, no, no!” I didn’t want any part of that. I was happy just helping my husband with the home group.  Plus, after the hurt we went through in Vermont, I was in no mind of trying that process again. Then Paul made the shock even more striking. He said,  “Honestly, I think I’d like that, but not right now.”

I stared at him. “What??? No! We were going to go back home to Michigan after you finished your schooling….we were going to go back home!”

“Well, I don’t know, April…..” he said. Hope saw how scared I was by this and said how sorry she was for scaring me. She truly didn’t mean to frighten me. I stuttered some answer I don’t recall now. I was just taken aback. But then I completely put it out of my head. While I knew deep down inside that I wasn’t going to be able to go back home to Michigan, I didn’t want to let that go at that time. It wasn’t mentioned again for a while.

Then God began moving in Paul’s life like I’ve never seen before. I watched the painful process of God yanking out every belief my husband thought he believed and slowly rebuilding my husband. I remember him sitting on the edge of the bed, crying. (Paul doesn’t cry.) He said he felt so empty, like God took everything out. He said it felt as if someone had tore much like a stump out of the dirt, tearing the roots. He felt so broken. He said, “I don’t know what I believe anymore. It’s all gone! All I know is that God is God and Jesus died and raised from the dead for us. That’s all I know anymore.” It was so painful for him because he has always seen himself as a strong Christian.

I watched as God began to change Paul. Paul has always been a wonderful man, a very kind husband, a very good person. Compared to now, though, I don’t know….it’s unbelievable! He’s truly a completely different man! He is so passionate about Christ now, passionate about his love for me and the kids, passionate for his friends, and even passionate for those who don’t like him. I always thought I saw him love…..but this kind of love transcends everything…..I can’t explain it. This love is perfect love…..

Things have been happening so much! How do I write everything down? It’s all so overwhelming. God’s presence, God’s love, His majesty, His absolute immensity! There is so much to this story……So much! But I just don’t know what to say…..

Right now I need to cut to the chase and explain the rest later…..With all of this immense change God has been moving in ways I have never seen before and with such speed it gives you whiplash. God has called Paul to plant a church, one that he has always dreamed of, and for the first time ever he actually has a passion for it, for people, for Jesus! God has set up this whole thing so smoothly and perfectly, even while we were completely unaware! He moved Joe and Hope to Clearwater, another couple (also in the homegroup) were moved to Largo, Paul’s work as a teacher is in Clearwater, and we have always felt drawn to Clearwater, wanting to buy a house there. He waited for us to meet with Hope and Joe because it wasn’t the right time yet. Everything is on the timing! It has and continues to be fully orchestrated by something much bigger than we are. God has His hand on this and we can’t even fully grasp it! Other friends of ours are also going through a complete life change right now with God, much like how Paul did…..We’ve been meeting with them, encouraging them to follow God wherever He tells them to go, no matter where that is. They long for that passion….

Today was a rough day, though…..We met with the pastor of the church we have been going to. We asked for his blessing and friendship in our moving out with God. It didn’t go well at all. He said what we were doing was unbiblical and unstable, which isn’t the case. What a blow it was for me! It isn’t going to stop us from following God, but I was so saddened by it. Lord, no matter what, please love him and protect him. Have him do what is right for his life, grow the church he is pastoring, bless him, Lord! Truly, truly bless him. I mean that with my whole heart.

We need to trust in You, Lord Jesus. You are in control. You know what will come and You will lead us. You have led us so far and we didn’t even know it. How perfectly it has been done too! How can we doubt You? I surrender everything to You, Lord. Like that song: If you say go, we will go. If you say stay, we will stay. If you say step out on the water, and they say it can’t be done, we’ll fix our eyes on You and we will come. I mean that with my whole heart. Even if it sounds crazy, I will do it! I trust You will lead us, Lord, all of us. I trust that You are in control.