End of the Wilderness

When God laid it upon my heart that my time working at New Hope was finished - that I had completed my assignment for Him there - I was sure it would just be a short while until he showed me where I was to serve Him.

About that same time God began laying on my heart and my husband's that we were to sell our home. This home was what we had worked our whole lives for. We were sure we would retire there. We put it on the market and it sold so quickly that we didn't know where we would go. We were busy packing up all we owned to move into my grandmother's home believing that we would only live here a few weeks until God showed us where He wanted us. It's been over a year now.

At first I cried and cried. How could God ask us to give up things we loved and enjoyed and not give us any direction of what we were to do next. My husband and I LOVE being in ministry - discipling new believers and reaching out to the lost. It seemed God had brought us out into the wilderness and then He stopped talking and stopped giving us directions.

So we slowly began to do what we knew. I started a bible study for women at a local campground. My husband leads a bible study for men out of our home. I joined together with Penny Swindall to do a ladies retreat. My husband joined together with a friend to do some men's retreats. As God blessed those ministries, the Swindalls and my husband and I felt that maybe God was calling us to something more. So we prayed and sought his direction. In that process, "Called to Belong: A Worship Event" was born.

We have been praying and planning for six months for this event. We have watched the most wonderful group of volunteers give their all for this. Our lives have been changed in this process and I believe their's have too! We would practice every Monday night - but it wasn't practice. It was worship, TRUE WORSHIP. The people who are a part of this aren't singers - they are worshipers in every sense. It has been an absolute thrill to watch this all unfold.

Tonight is the night that Called to Belong takes place. With the exception of some significant family moments, this is without a doubt, the most exciting night of my life. It is my prayer, our prayer, that God radically changes lives tonight; that restoration and healing takes place in marriages, in families, in individuals. It is my prayer that God is glorified in every aspect of this and that He is pleased with what we offer Him.

May tonight be the night we take our first steps out of the wilderness and into the Promised Land.