Our Journey: God is moving!

Matt and I got married in 2004, 2 weeks after graduating from MVNU.  We moved to IL and Matt was a youth pastor at Ottawa First Church for 4 years.  What a great 4 years!  During our time there, Matt would attend conferences and learn about church planting and was beginning to feel called to plant a church.  One evening, we decided to meet with Dale and Steph Schaeffer and talk about church planting since they were doing just that!  In the midst of that discussion, we learned that they were wanting to hire an assistant pastor.  Long story short, Matt interviewed, got the job, and we moved to Morton, IL in 2008.  We put our house on the market, prayed like crazy and our house was sold in 7 days!!!  God was moving!   

While at BridgeWay, Matt and I were learning the ins and outs of church planting and began feeling called to the Fishers/Indianapolis area.  We prayed about it, but never told anyone that we were going to plant a church in IN.  That week, Matt had 2 families come to him and say that if he ever left to start a church, they were feeling called to be a part of it!  God was moving!    

Soon after, we put our house on the market and I remember telling people that God was going to sell our house in 6 days this time.  After a stressful 5 months of our house being on the market and after a of couple price-reductions, I began to wander what God was doing.  I was pregnant with Tynnley, Matt had already moved in with Dave and Lori Gama in Indiana and I was staying at our house in IL with our 2 year old son and continuing to work.  At the time, we didn't believe we could survive without my small income.  After about 6 weeks, Matt and I decided that God called our family to IN, not just him and we would have to take a leap of faith and I would quit my job and we would all move in with The Gama's.  God bless The Gama's!  There is no way we could ever repay them for their kindness!  After a couple of months, we found an apartment to move into in Noblesville.  

It's funny how my plans were soooo different than Gods.  I saw this move going VERY differently.  Matt had just completed his masters degree a year before and I was sure that he would find a great paying job in IN to utilize his Strategic Communication and Leadership degree.  God had a different plan for us.  Matt applied for many jobs and we decided that the first job that he was offered, he would take, no matter what the job was.  Not long after, Matt heard about a meter reading job, interviewed, was offered the job and took it.  

After doing some number crunching, we learned that it would take 3 weeks pay to make rent and health insurance.  We would have 1 weeks pay to pay everything else... utilities, car insurance, gas, food, etc.  And I was 6 months pregnant with Tynnley.  I applied for a couple of jobs and never heard anything back, but I think I would have been a hard sell.  I envisioned myself in an interview saying "Oh... and by the way, in 3 months I will need 6 weeks off for the baby."  Ha!  Plus, we didn't have child care for Warrick and when I looked into it, it was CRAZY expensive!!!!  We felt like me finding employment was not going to work for us at that point.

There were many months that I was stressed out and I remember one day Matt and I had a disagreement regarding tithe... he thought we should continue to tithe 10% to the church and I was convinced that we should keep track and "pay God back" when we were better off financially.   Which seems ridiculous to me now, but then it made all the sense in the world.  I've been so blessed to have married such an amazing man of God!  Because I know we would have missed out on a lot of blessings if he would have let me have my way!  We were constantly praying for God's provision and we were trusting that He would pay our bills... because we would not be able to.  Matt contacted our District Superintendent and said that he was available to do pulpit supply on Sunday mornings.  Soon after that, Matt had many lined up.  There was one sunday evening that I will never forget... Matt preached and the church took a love offering for us.  The day before, Matt  and I did our budget for the month and we were going to be $428.76 short for the month to pay our bills.  We didn't tell anyone this and prayed that God would provide.  After the service, a church member handed me an envelope from the love offering.  On the car ride home, I opened the envelop and counted the money as Matt drove.  There was $429 in the envelope and it was everything I could do not to bust out crying that very moment.  God was moving!  

This is just one example... God did this over and over and over again.  There were sooo many times that I would check the mail and there would be $1000 check in a card that would say "I feel God telling me to send you this".  People would send us gas cards and gift cards to grocery stores.  It was unbelievable.  Never in my life had I ever had to live with so much faith.  It was so exciting and left me speechless (which is hard to do).  

As I sit on the other side, I am constantly in awe of what all God did for us during this time.  It wasn't how I prayed or thought it was all going to happen, but God had a much much better plan that involved me growing in ways I wouldn't have otherwise.  And I want to thank all of you who prayed for us, encouraged us, sent us money, invited us to dinner, and everything else you may have thought was "little."  It meant and still means the world to us.  

So today, I am thankful:
I am so thankful for generous people who are sensitive and obedient to God's voice.

I am so thankful for BridgeWay having a Financial Peace University class where Matt and I learned to budget and were able to pay off our cars and credit cards, which helped us to live during the months when we would not be able to pay "non-essential" bills.

I am so thankful for the families that moved here from IL and the amazing ones in IN that have been a part of Second Chance Church

I am so thankful for my amazing husband who puts God above all else

I am so thankful that we tithed 10% in the midst of the hardest finanial time in our life.  Because God has ALWAYS allowed 90% to go further than 100%

God IS moving!