Dear friends and family,
As many of you already know, we both became unemployed over
the last half a year and have been asking God what the next step is for us as
the months have gone on and on. We have been unable to find positions for
employment here and have been really wondering what God had in mind for us.
About two months ago, a man at our church prayed a simple
prayer for guidance and provision over us. Upon arriving back at our townhome,
Chris looked at me and asked me if I had sensed or heard anything in my heart
as the man was praying. I had not. I asked him what he heard and he looked at
me and said, “Uganda. Uganda. Uganda.”
Chris said when he said the word Uganda 3 times my eyes got
as big as saucers. Let me tell you why. A couple weeks prior to that, I had met
with one of my dear friends that I had not spent time with in quite awhile. We
were excited to catch up and during that time she asked if Chris and I had ever
thought about going to the Institute for Childcare and Family in Uganda. Now
just to remind you, Chris has been to Uganda twice on missions trips with our
church and I have been once. I briefly explained that yes, Chris had mentioned
the last time we were there that he knew God would bring him back someday to
attend the Institute. She continued to
say she thought it’d be a great idea for us both to attend the school because
we both have many giftings that the staff there could help draw out and
therefore equip us to be released into full-time ministry somewhere. She
encouraged me to mention it to Chris. Well, I didn’t.
I partially forgot, I was mostly afraid, and thirdly I
didn’t want to plant that idea myself. I kind of wanted God to tell Chris
because that would be a huge change for us to move to Uganda for 5 months or
more and leave everything and everyone behind.
Plus, Uganda was not even anywhere on our radar of what to do next. So,
I didn’t tell him. About a week passed, and I was in the shower and I heard a
whisper in my head saying, “You didn’t tell Chris about the Institute in
Uganda.” I sighed and looked at my husband outside standing in our bedroom
getting ready for the day and then continued to wash my hair. Then another week
passed and that is when the man I mentioned earlier prayed for us at church.
God is so good to us in our weakness. I think God knew I
wouldn’t tell Chris and then when Chris told me that he heard Uganda 3 times, I
heard God tell me, “Don’t worry, I told him myself and now you know that this
is from me.” In that moment, I knew we
were going back to Uganda. Just to make myself sure, I asked Chris, “Ok, you
heard Uganda 3 times, what exactly did you hear about Uganda?” He said, “I think we are supposed to go to
the Institute for Childcare and Family.”
Yes, ok, I heard that God! Thank
you very much.
That evening we decided to set our hearts to pray about when
and how we would go as well as asking God for further confirmation because of
the huge life change this would be for us and our families. We decided not to
tell anyone about this until God confirmed it again.
A few days later we went to dinner with one of our Pastors
and his wife. This dinner was planned well before we had heard Uganda. They
asked us if we had gotten any direction from the Lord and Chris began to share
that as someone was praying for us he heard a word 3 times. Chris had not said
what word, and wasn’t going to, when our Pastor said, “Uganda. Uganda.
Uganda.” I almost spit my soda in his
wife’s face. They laughed and then realized that we both were looking shocked
across the table and they said, “What? That was the word?!” So yes, that was crazy and so awesome. They were thrilled and thought it the
perfectly normal next step for us.
Another set of friends came to our home a few nights later
for dinner and as they sat down, we mentioned that we had something to tell
them so they could pray. The woman said, “What, are you going back to Africa or
something?!” She was joking but again,
we heard God and they too were thrilled for us when we shared.
The next weekend, we saw a man twice in one day that we had never met before. Once at a meeting in the morning and the second time in the evening at church. At the evening meeting, a Pastor’s wife asked us where we felt God
was leading and if they could all be praying for anything for us. At this point
we felt we had our confirmation so Chris shared that we felt we were going back
to Uganda. The man Chris had been talking to earlier looked surprised and asked
Chris if he was wearing the same shirt he had been wearing earlier in the day
and Chris said yes. Chris had a blank blue t-shirt on but the man said that
earlier that morning he had seen Uganda in bold letters across Chris’ chest and
thought Chris must be pretty proud of Uganda for some reason to wear a shirt
like that. That was a little weird, but maybe it was thrown in for extra
measure from God saying, “Yes, it’s me and you heard me.”
So, we thought we were going to go to Uganda in January and
I had enrolled in and EMT course here for the summer, but this weekend that all
changed when we received an email from Uganda saying that if we can get there,
we can come in July. After speaking with our Pastors and asking their opinion, they
said we should go for it. At the moment we have no jobs and no children and
this is an opportunity not to be passed up. We are very excited but at the same time it is
hard to know we will be leaving family and friends for such an extended period
of time. But, we know that we are stepping into the next thing God has asked of
us and following the path He lays out in front of you is always worth it and the best choice in our opinion!
We had our plans, but God then added some of His own, so we
thank God for the provision and adventure that is to come. I’ll write as often as I can…love you all! I'll leave you with Proverbs 16:9.
The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.
