Jumping All In
We knew this would come eventually. Where you prepare and prepare… research and research (me)…and pray and reflect…and then you just have to do it! That was these past two months for us. To put it frankly, we came to the moment where we either believed God called us to move to Brazil or he didn’t. There was no more research to be done, no more professionals to consult (I can tell you lots about tax laws now), and no more personal reflection to do or timelines to play out. It was JUMP time.
It has felt crazy (ask our counselor) and insane, and oh so very right! We spent time in prayer, late night talks, and lining up the details of how we make our transition to full-time missions. We identified our stress points and how to look at them through a different lens. My favorite thing I learned to reflect on was “what thing is motivating me- comfort, safety, control, etc?” and am I putting it ahead of glorifying God? For example: Am I controlling the timeline and our transition so much that we will miss out on seeing God fill the gaps and giving Him the credit? Ouch! That hit close to home.
We are living in the space between our ability and God’s radical plan. We are that place where the math doesn’t always make sense but know we have done the due diligence to make wise choices. But ultimately we leave the rest up to Him.
We pray frequently that we don’t miss the little blessings along the way — like an encouraging conversation with a previous boss that I haven’t chatted with in 10 years. Or the bigger blessings you don’t see coming, like a new partnership couple who slapped an envelope on the table full of cash for our outgoing fund. Pray that we are continually being open to sharing with those we meet— no matter the occasion. P.S. Does anyone else struggle between wanting to be friendly and share how God’s working but also think “stranger danger”, and don’t want to be part of a Craigslist news story? This is me, and every time we share why we are selling things on marketplace or bringing items to donate, we have been given sweet stories and connections to Brazil, to missions, and to a huge network we never would know if we kept safe.
Are you stepping out in uncomfortable ways? Are you being stretched and refined? God calls us each in different ways and grows us differently, Things that may be hard for us may be a snap for you and vice versa. He doesn’t promise an easy way but it’ll be worth it, because He is worth it.
Ashley
