Answered Prayers

Last week, we received an amazing email. A dedicated prayer warrior on our prayer team sent us a message that really blew us away, reminding us of all of the prayers that God has answered for us over these last 6 months. Reading over the list and being reminded of God's faithfulness was so encouraging! She pointed out that God has answered so many of our prayer requests and in such a timely fashion. Wow - what a blessing to be reminded of this and encouraged by it.

Some of the things on the list were...

• Finding a buyer for our car in the States & getting everything ready to leave
• Finding an apartment in Vienna in the fall
• Adjustments to our new life & team in Vienna
• Finding Nate's language partner
• Passing our A1 language exam
• Leading us to a "home" church
• Leading us to our England internship
• Getting an R&R place right near the visa office and having a GREAT place in line
• The details for our stay in Litchfield
• A GREAT language instructor in England
• And now...the obvious favor from the Austrian gov't in the visa applications---even the "surprise of receiving them early"

And I'm sure there are many more that we are not remembering. Praise God! I write out this list not to boast, like we have some "special favor" with God. We don't. We give God all of the glory, and we feel very humbled and blessed that He has answered so many prayers. This is not our doing.

In the future, when ministry is challenging and we are especially prone to discouragement, I want to go back to this list. I want to remember that God has very clearly opened the door for us to be in Austria. When the enemy wants us to back out and run away, we will cling to God's provision and confirmation. This is where He wants us!

What memories of God's faithfulness and provision do you turn to when times are hard?

Photo credit: jdurham from morguefile.com 

Cleared for Departure!

Photo credit: hotblack from morguefile.com

It is official... we have been approved to depart for Austria! This last week has really been a whirlwind, as we witnessed God answering prayer and bringing in support from many unexpected places. Yesterday, we reached 100% in verbal commitments of support and the last few supporters are slowly becoming "official" with WorldVenture. And within hours of reaching our goal, we were given clearance to purchase tickets!

Today has been a flurry of calling travel agencies, talking to the shipping company, and jumping up and down with giddiness. We're very excited to be at this stage. We're also a little freaked out, but I assume that is normal.

Thank you! So many of you have walked with us along this journey, praying for us, committing financial support, encouraging us, helping to meet our needs, and so many other things. You are all an amazing support, and we couldn't be where we are right now without you. THANK YOU!

We praise God for providing for us in such abundant ways and for bringing us from 0% support in February of 2011 to 100% in August of 2012. It is all God's doing...we are just along for the ride.

“With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” - Matthew 19:26

The First Half

Wow! It is hard to believe that we are halfway into our 30 Days of Prayer. It has been so good to see God already on the move in our lives and in this process of preparation. Right now we have 89 people that have committed to taking the journey with us! That is so amazing! What a blessing it is to have so many people walking with us in prayer.

We have also seen God move as He has brought so many new people into our lives. We have had quite a few "Out of Nowhere" moments as we have seen God provide.

So here is the update: After 15 days, God has brought us to 96.6% of our funding goal! We started at 92%, so we are blown away with how God has provided already.

The other wonderful thing about this is we aren't finished yet. We still have 15 more days of prayer to go. So if you want to join in and pray with us for the remainder of these 30 days, we'd love to have you! Just fill out this form and we'll send you the last half our 30 Days of Prayer emails!

Oh, The Places We'll Go

I had the opportunity to speak at my high school graduation ceremony (just before everyone ran up to the high school gym screaming because of an impending lightning cloud...but that's a whole other story...) Because I had journeyed from kindergarten through adolescence with so many of my classmates, I chose childhood as my theme. I highlighted ideas from All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten and then I read from the book Oh, the Places You'll Go! for a portion of my speech. Little did I know the adventure that God would lead me on and the places I would go!

Thinking about that book takes on new significance for me now. We have gone to many special places since we began our journey to Austria, places that have been exciting, challenging, invigorating and exhausting. In November of 2010, we flew to WorldVenture for the first time and were appointed as missionaries. The WorldVenture headquarters became a special place for us. One year ago this week, Nate and I flew to Austria for our vision trip, and God confirmed in our hearts where He was leading us. Last July, we gave up our apartment and began our nomadic lifestyle, and Oh, the Places We've Been since then! We've visited Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Texas, Virginia, Washington DC, Colorado, Vermont, Massachusetts, and so many places in between. And next month, our journey continues.

We are keeping two running totals for our nomadic journey that are significant - the miles we've driven and the beds we've slept in since July 2011. As each number grows, we marvel at the Places we've been and the journey God has us on. Here's our total as of now:

Miles on the Car: 24,521
Beds Slept in: 33

For us, these numbers represent not only the sheer craziness of our lifestyle right now, but also God's provision for us. God has provided places to stay, generous hospitality, the funds for travel expenses, the endurance through challenging times, and His constancy as we lack stability. It is all by His grace that we have endured and will continue to endure as we approach a season of travel in the next few months. Praise God!

If you're curious about our travel schedule, click here for a summary.

Surviving the Shelling

I just read an interview on Leadership Journal with Tullian Tchividjian about the very public challenges he faced when he took over Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church.  He faced something that I hope most pastors won't ever have to face: open and personal opposition to his pastoral ministry.  What resulted from this intense period of time is a wonderful closeness with his savior and a renewed passion for the gospel of Jesus Christ!  Here is one of my favorite sections.

"There is only one thing that will enable you to survive, and that's the gospel. It's not whether your church grows or not. It's not having the right leadership principle. All of those things might be helpful, but the gospel is the only thing that will save you in ministry." You inevitably face crises, slander, unfair criticism, pressure to perform in your professional and personal life.

While this quote is directed at pastors, we can just as easily say that the only thing that will keep you alive in ministry, in marriage, in your profession or in family is the gospel.  


Most of us will never encounter someone sending out slanderous mass emails about us or anonymous blogs decrying our professional abilities.  But we will be given things we can't handle.  God uses the things we lose sleep over to pry our idols out of our hand and sets our focus on Himself.


Here is the link to the full interview "War and Peace" LeadershipJournal.net

Your Turn: How is God prying idols out of your hand? Pop your answer into the comments below.

Avoiding Suffering and Loss

This last Sunday, we attended the Shakopee Campus of Friendship Church, which is the church that I grew up in.  Pastor Mike spoke about the story of Joseph (staring in Genesis 37) and all of the challenges that he faced leading up to his ultimate reign over all of Egypt.  It is a pretty great story.  Towards the end of the sermon, Mike made an observation about the story of Joseph that stuck with me.

He said, "If you take away the suffering in Joseph's life, you have to take away the blessings, as well."  If you go through the long list of horrible things that happened to Joseph and all the injustice he experienced and take it all away, if you spare him of all that pain and hurt, then you must also take away God's provision for His people and the family of promise.  You can not have one and not the other.  Joseph would never have ended up in a position of power at the end if he hadn't first been sold as a slave by his brothers. These realities are two sides of the same coin and inextricably linked.

Our American culture often tells us that suffering is something to be avoided, something to flee from. We work very very hard to avoid difficulty and keep ourselves safe and secure. But if we avoid suffering, we also give up the blessings of that suffering. So many times as I look back at my life, I say to God, "If that had not happened, life would not be so hard" or "God, if you would only shield me, if you would only take these hard things away, my life would be more full."

But if God takes away these hard times, if all we get are the good times, then we also have to give up those moments of release where we hand our life over to God and say, "I can't do this. Please help."  We also give up the meaningful relationships that are formed in the fieriest furnaces.  We give up the deep communion we get with God as our heart becomes more and more dependent on Him and holds less and less to our emotional anesthetics. And finally, we give up God's miraculous provision that is seldom early and always on time.

Photo credit: clarita from morguefile.com