Hello Friends!
Welcome. We hope you are blessed and encouraged by our new blog site. Our goal is to keep this blog real, not sugar coated christianity, but the real hurts and lessons and triumphs and failures we experience as believers. We will share scripture, because there is nothing as worthy of putting in writing as His Word. There are potentially 5 of us in the family band that will work on this blog, so it will have different styles and emphasis as the Lord leads. May the Lord be glorified and the brethren edified!
Well... We have made it through another desert place, and are hoping we have entered a land of harvest. There is a song by "Third Day", that says "I must go through the valley to stand upon the mountain of God..." that has reminded us our Shepherd has been leading us right through that valley of desert. In God's wisdom it is what it took to get us up here in the Ragged Mountains of New Hampshire.
Our desert may be different than yours, some are suffering loss, health issues, addictions, or even painful relationships, but if your born again, He promises He will never leave you. We saw Him completely take care of us in providing daily bread, and giving verses to feed us and to mend our broken hearts. We had just come off a trying seven years of pastoral ministry. After a very painful batch of rejections by some sheep we loved most, we resigned from that ministry even though we had no where to go. We packed in a week, left the parsonage, packed our stuff in storage, and stayed with relatives.
We were taught to have a ministry lined up before leaving one, and so we did this wrong. Emotions and exhaustion can lead a person to act rashly, but in our times of greatest weakness, the Lord is faithful. "For He knoweth our frame, he remembers that we are dust." Psalm 103:14.
So, we spent 6 months, pretty much homeless. The kids called us the "Hobo Pastor's Family." During this time we felt lost, we had no idea where to go. We felt fearful, we had no idea how to pay the bills. And we felt like failures. We cried, fought, searched scripture, sought counsel, prayed, and looked for cheap apartment to squeeze our family of six into. "Count it all joy when ye fall into diverse temptations (or various trials)." James 1:2
In this desert of no home, income or even christian friends to cling to, we found Christ to be that Rock we could stand on. It was here in the worst of times we saw miracles. Doors open to live at a Christian camp in another state and serve there for the summer months, part time jobs landed to pay some bills, camp food and day old bread given to feed us, and various love gifts, some through Merritt Music Concerts. Even then we would often say, "Oh why did we ever leave that church, at least there we had a house, salary and friends." But then we would get that sick feeling of remembering why we left that slavery and abuse.
Our family will have stories to tell, and we will be able to proclaim what we have learned. We know to stay alert for those tares among the wheat, and to cling to the shepherd so hard that we don't need to see the path to feel safe. Today, we are serving at new church, and although currently a peaceful, giving, loving place, we know it can change.
" Thank You, Father, for showing us the land of harvest is right here. It is this daily tucking under your wings, so safe in Christ Jesus. Our longings to see fruit in ministry are secondary to this... as are all the cares of this world. This trusting You, will be our struggle over and over, but we pray we will learn it well. Teach us the crucified life, so you will be glorified, as we 'bear about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal body.' In Jesus name, Amen
"For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." 2 Cor. 4:17
Lord Bless...
