God had gotten our attention. He had worked out circumstances favorable towards a career change as well as a change in scenery, in churches, and in friends. But the logistics for this to work out still seemed too impossible to actually become a reality. There were yet some looming obstacles which threatened to stop all activity of God. But we soon learned that God cannot be hindered by our limitations.
The news of our possible move was not at first well received from my in-laws. Our son, then 3 years, and daughter, 2, were their only grandchildren. We lived 5 minutes away and if this move came about, we would be a mountain range and 5 hours away. Could we not find a pastorate somewhere on the front range they asked? Why Grand Junction? We did not know why, except that we were sure God was leading us in some very specific ways. Over the next few months God changed their hearts, causing them to later send us off with their blessing. (Those of you who are grandparents probably understand the magnitude of this obstacle more than others.)
We had just purchased our first house two years before and worked hard to make ends meet. My husband worked two jobs running our own upholstery shop and being the custodian for our church. On top of this he was full time volunteer staff for the high school youth group. We would often put our children to bed for the night and then work in the garage until the wee hours of the morning to finish a bid. One weekend we were asked to come visit the church in Grand Junction. It happened to fall at a time when we were very short on finances. We did not agree with debt and therefore held no credit cards. All we had was just enough money to travel out to Junction, but not enough to get back.
We thought about not coming, or asking to come a different weekend, but did not want to miss what God might be doing. We finally agreed to come and figured if this really was of God He would somehow provide a way for us to get home again. We stayed with people from the church who graciously fed and housed us all weekend. When it was time to come home, the senior pastor treated us to frozen yogurt. As we were getting ready to leave he offered to fill up our gas tank. At first my husband refused, but I jabbed him in the ribs whispering, "Say yes! This is God's answer! This is the provision!" And so our pastor filled our car full of gasoline, paying for all of it. We made it home that night, hearts full of wonder over the faithfulness of God.
Later, after receiving the youth pastor position, we had the problem of our house. We could not get it sold before we left, and we did not yet have renters. Meanwhile, we were trying to rent a house in Junction which involved a deposit as well. With three major payments to make at one time, we didn't know how we could possibly move. We didn't have the means to meet all the requirements. We had also just lost a sizable upholstery bid that we thought was secured. We prayed about it, but quite frankly, didn't really see a way around this one. But the next day we received a check in the mail for $1,000. sent anonymously. We still do not know who sent it, but it was the exact amount needed to make the move. Again, we were blown away by God's provision.
"Give us this day, our daily bread", from Matt. 6:11 became a reality in our lives as we took some steps of faith into obedience towards the movement of God in our lives. In the midst of the transition our faith was stretched to great lengths. How easy now to look back on that time and see God's answers, but going through it we could not see. We simply had to trust and believe without seeing.
God was on the move and nothing could stop Him. The time was right. But to get us from there to here were still a few more obstacles to overcome, only of a different sort . . . trials of the soul and spirit which sought to hurl us into defeat. These set backs threatened to destroy our hope. Hang in there for part 3, the final chapter of this story, soon to come.
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