Sitting here tonight it still seems unreal that in three
weeks we will be celebrating a new year and Dave and my 18th wedding
anniversary in Iowa. To most people, Iowa
wouldn’t be the first place that comes to mind as a celebration
destination. I have to admit it is a
little less exotic than the overseas destinations we thought we might be headed
to when God started us on this journey 18 years ago. The last 12 of which have been spent in the
wonderful community of Rochester, Washington not to mention the past 4 years
with our family at Rochester Life. To
all of our friends here, please believe me when I say it has taken an act of
God to get us to leave all of you.
So, why
Iowa? I could list a bunch of reasons
why we believe God has spoken to us about the city and the church we are headed
to, but the biggest reason is we need to change. We need to change our hearts and minds as we
grow in the knowledge of Him. You would
be right to say that God can do that anywhere.
Sometimes, it takes moving us out of our comfort zone away from the
people and things we have come to depend on to a place where we have to be
totally dependent on Him to motivate that change. Dear friends, you have all made Rochester
very comfortable for us. When we moved
here twelve years ago, we wanted to find a place where our sons could start
preschool with kids they would eventually graduate with. They have found those life-long friends here
and it is the hardest part of leaving knowing they will miss out on that. We are thankful for technology that will keep
them in touch. We are thankful that so
many of them know the love of God and will be continuing to walk out this faith
journey with them.
We are
also thankful to all of you who prayed for us, supported us and loved us when
we walked away from God and each other six years ago. We are so thankful to God for His pursuing
love which brought us back to Himself and each other. In the past couple of years, a lot of you
have heard Dave and I talk about the desire of our hearts to work with kids
overseas. This is still the desire of
our hearts and we believe the things God has to teach us in Iowa are the next
step in that journey. We don’t know
exactly how or when that will happen, but we will continue to follow His lead
to Iowa and beyond. So, to answer the
question “What’s in Iowa?” to be honest
we aren’t completely sure but we trust God to make it clear as we follow
Him.
