Goodbye Seattle

I moved to Seattle 10 years ago, almost to the date. In 10 years I have experienced several dramatic life changes: I came to know my Lord and Savior, got married, graduated from college, started my first job as a pediatric nurse, and had two wonderful baby girls! It's been a crazy time with tons of life lessons, but it has truly been a blessed time.

So here's the story for all who don't know. In February 2007, Greg and I planned to move to Charlotte, North Carolina so that he could receive his masters from Reformed Theological Seminary. We found out we were pregnant with Josie, and after much time in prayer, decided it was the Lord's will to have us wait. Over the past two years we thought that Mars Hill was home, but over the past six months, he made it clear to us that we were to finally make our trek to Charlotte. He has also refined his calling in Greg, and now we know that Greg is to church plant in a city filled with the "churched-unsaved" (those with a knowledge of the Bible, but not of a saving faith in Christ and the Gospel). And so after months of preparation (and organizing closets!), we now have a Budget truck in our apartment parking lot, ready to be loaded in the morning by some helpful men from the church. Greg leaves on Thursday morning for a cross-country journey of a lifetime! I leave via plane on August 19th with my 4 week old daughter strapped to me and a lively toddler holding my hand (thankfully, Grandma will be sharing the journey to offer another pair of hands).

We feel excited, scared, energized, overwhelmed...and any other emotion you can tie to the situation. We are experiencing several marriage stressors all at the same time: moving across country, adjusting to a second child, starting graduate school, finding a new church home and community, possibly buying a home by the end of the year, and starting new jobs. We'll be able to check quite a few boxes on our taxes in April : )

The Lord has shown himself to be faithful through this all. He has taught me what it means to have complete confidence in his sovereignty. I have numerous examples, but not enough time to list them all. I'll have to talk about them in a later post that describes this crazy adventure!

One of the major lessons Greg and I have learned in recent weeks is that of the love that is manifested in the body of Christ. Mars Hill Church has been our church home for 5 years, and we have definitely had our ups and downs, as with any relationship. However, a new side of the church has been revealed to us. We have had complete strangers reach out to us asking if they could provide a meal or childcare to help us pack. We have had an entire community group bless us with a generous and astonishing financial gift. We have seen people sacrifice their time and money to bless our family and to affirm our calling to church plant in one of the most churched areas of our country to reach those who are unsaved. I can't fully explain how overwhelmed we are at the kindness that has been extended to our family. We are convicted over how we have missed opportunities to grow closer in relationship to those around us, I especially, have distanced myself by choosing not to take advantage of the opportunities of friendship that have been given to me. We also would not naturally reach out to strangers unless it was conveniently placed in front of us. As future church planters, these are crucial lessons the Lord needed to teach us, and he chose to do so through a cross-country move that placed our family in an overwhelming situation. We are truly thankful for his blessings upon our family, and how he revealed himself through his church on numerous occasions. I could write forever describing these recent experiences, and I know I am not truly giving justice to the way I feel right now. I hope to expound later, but for now we must go to bed to prepare for a long and exciting day ahead! Please continue to pray for our family as we venture out, that we would be looking to Christ for guidance, that we would let his glory be the motivating factor for all we do, and that we would take this experience and spread the Gospel through it. We love you all and will miss Seattle dearly. Thank you.