"I Will Follow"

As I write this, I am appropriately listening to Chris Tomlin singing "Where You go, I'll go/Where You stay, I'll stay/When You move, I'll move/I will follow You/Who You love, I'll love/How You serve, I'll serve/If this life I lose, I will follow You". And so it is---He has moved, so we are moving.

For about a year and a half, we have been praying (some times more faithfully than others) for Casey (and me) to have a new position with a change of pace and more "normal" hours. We have learned much along the way about serving God faithfully where we are, even when it is the last thing we want to do. Oh the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! Would we have learned as much if our prayers had been answered immediately? I'd venture a "no" on that one. We've poured into relationships for over a year with our co-workers. We've learned how to serve the Lord, and not just our earthly masters. We've learned how to apologize when we screw up at work. We've learned we have to depend on God for everything, including answering phones and sweeping floors. We've learned how to budget, and how to streeeeeeeetch a dollar each month. And we've also learned that our Father faithfully provides for His children, when we don't see a way. We've learned to make the most of the days that we both have off, and that we must be intentional about spending time together. We have learned how important a day of rest is, even if it doesn't come until Tuesday or Wednesday or Thursday, instead of Sunday. There is so much more that I can't think of now, and even more that I probably won't ever know we learned here. And now comes another a season.

For some time we had talked amongst ourselves about someday being a part of Roxboro life. We'd make pros and cons lists, we'd pray, we'd get caught up in everyday life, and then we'd cycle back through those. Mid-May, Roxboro was heavy on our hearts and minds. We were talking a lot about it. On a whim, Casey applied for a position in Raleigh, got an immediate callback and interview, and confused the junk out of our Roxboro-thoughts. We both freaked out and prayed a lot more---'What does this mean God? We thought you were leading us to the 'Boro?' Casey interviewed, it went really well, and we were pretty sure he was gonna get it. 'Okay God...whatever You want...' He was called for a second interview with another manager, and that interview didn't go as well as the first. Looked like nothing was gonna come of this after all. More confusion...That afternoon he got called into Big Boss' office. Big Boss broke the news---Raleigh job: no-go. But, he also inquired about Casey's life goals and, in passing, Case mentioned the desire to one day be in Roxboro. Long story short, as my mom would say (love you Mom!), Big Boss called Roxboro, where someone had "just happened" to put in retirement notice the day before, Casey got an interview, he "just happened" to be the perfect fit for the job, and we "just happen" to be moving in approximately 2 weeks.

My favorite part of this so far is the affirmation we've had from several people who don't really care much for God, or how He would work things out. The general consensus is that "there sure are a lot of coincidences." Yes, if I believed in coincidence, there sure a lot of them in this story. But then, I don't believe in coincidence. I believe in God's sovereign and loving hand working out all things for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose. So we are off to Roxboro, currently without a place to live or a job for me, yet trusting that our Father who has provided thus far, most certainly has provided those things too. So we wait patiently for what we do not yet see. Updates to follow.