Where do we start? How does one even begin to explain everything when the past few months have been a whirl wind of stuff? I guess we will just go ahead and try a stab at this thing we like to call "updating". So...here we go!
Since you last read, Jared and I were just in the midst of quitting our jobs and going into full time support raising for being out in Salt Lake City in order be with the team who was involved in campus ministry. So. We quit our jobs, and then just a few days later received some word about an opportunity to pursue church plant training for a year. This was a program that was going to be started up by a professor and friend we know very well, and Jared was asked to be one of the first students to pilot the program. Linked with this training was also schooling for learning about Ancient Near Eastern and Old Testament studies. So we prayed pretty heavily about this opportunity and saw it as a way to just add another quality to our team in Salt Lake City. So we decided to tell our boss' with Impact Campus Ministries that we wanted to pursue this opportunity and just push SLC back a year in order to receive this training. In the process of informing our authorities, we both came to a mutual agreement that we needed to resign from Impact in order to fully pursue this opportunity. And resign we did, peacefully and in support of each other on both sides.
After resigning Jared and myself were still jobless but waiting to hear about this opportunity for this program, which would have been based in Chicago. So we were preparing to possibly move to Chicago, Illinois...and quite honestly, we were pretty excited about moving to a different place! So we waited...and waited...and waited...and guess what...we WAITED! I can tell you (Anna) that I have never experienced such anxiety, pain, anger, excitement, and pure frustration all at one time ever in my life. I literally thought I might burst at the seams! And yet, God was transforming me in ways that I did not realize until after all this waiting was done and we received word on whether or not this school/program was going to happen. And the answer was...a kind of no/yes? What?! We were told that the people who were going to underwrite the program wanted to change things up, and it was not in the way we were originally pursuing. So to us, basically God had told us, "nope, not here either guys". We quickly had to decide whether or not we were going to pursue this anymore and just tough it out, or to let go and focus on what the heck we were going to do. So after much prayer, meditation, fasting...repeat...we decided to stay in Omaha. Here we were, jobless, soon having to move out our apartment and having no place to move into yet, and in pursuit of...well, nothing at that point.
I cried. And cried. As a kid who has grown up with family who is always on the move, I looked forward to finally moving to a different place for a while. Finally being away from school and making new friends...living more on the edge than Nebraska! But then God said, "No" and I became angry and hurt. I was angry with God for a good month...but was then quickly hit in the face with the realization that God knows what is best for us. He knows us better then we know ourselves. Why should I continue this anger towards him? God has provided for me thus far...why would I doubt that He wouldn't for the rest of my life?
So this leads me to Jared and I currently:
We are about to move out of our apartment and into a house in Omaha for the next 5 months. We will be living in an area of Omaha that is a bit poorer and quite a bit different than what we are both use to...but the exciting thing for us is that we are getting to chance to live in society (outside of our gravel road apartment now) and live out our lives as followers of Jesus Christ! God has given us this incredible opportunity to live among other Christians in a neighborhood where Christ is not fully known. We will be living in community together, doing life together, and living out the ministry of Jesus together...and all in hopes that those who do not know Him will see our love for God and each other that it becomes contagious! How exciting is that?! To live a life that is so incandescently in love with Jesus Christ that the only way to show it that is simply live!
GAH! What a rollercoaster, but we've finally come to a pit stop. And here we are. Updated to the current day, and getting excited for what the next day and days after that hold. At this point, Jared and I are kind of going a week at a time and yet remaining prayerful about the future. Our priority right now is to do what we can with the time that is given to us right here and now, and God has blessed us more than we deserve. So...what now? ; )
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