Our True North

Often, we get the question as to why we are willing to serve in Zambia. Is it because of Every Orphan's Hope or the relations we've built with the kids in the My Father's House homes? Or maybe it's just that we're going through some sort of mid-life crisis. (I'm actually saying that politely. I think most people look at us like we are nuts!) And that could be the case. When we had our next set of kids (Alyson and Brittan), everyone thought we were nuts too because as they said, "Danielle is 16 and you're almost free!" But our response was that we didn't have anything else to do and we were too young to have an empty nest; so why not?

So why are we doing this? Our dear friend and founder of Every Orphan's Hope, Gary Schneider, visited us a few days ago as he had returned from Zambia and he asked the same question. It was a simple question, why are you going to Zambia? Now, we could have come up with a whole array of different responses: We love the organization; we can see ourselves doing this; we love the kids; we get to further the kingdom, et cetera and so forth. But in the end as we sat there for a moment and tried to come up with one reason, Peter and I found the one that was at its core: We're being obedient. God has asked us to serve there so we are going. It's that simple. Gary calls that our true north, what we always need to point to when we get off center with the storms that will come as we transition to become full-time missionaries.

Obedience is an interesting process; it's like peeling layers. As Shrek said, "Ogres are like onions, they have layers." The peeling of each layer brings a new sting, some sweet and others sharp. Our newest layer of obedience is the sale of our house. Whoa!

Sorry, I couldn't resist putting him in here explaining how Ogres are like onions to Donkey!

One would think that this was a huge layer, but we actually found that this was one layer of many that has been occurring over the last few years. Ever since we had our first mission trip to Zambia we've simplified each year, not realizing how easy it would make things precisely for this moment.

Now, the actual putting the house on the market was a huge step because it is truly the first step of faith and what a step it has been. It comes with a sweet and sharp sting. The sharp one is obvious, there are memories in each room.

Alyson with Grandma just a few weeks old

I walked through Alyson's room today and remembered the hours Peter and I spent at Barnes and Nobles looking through room décor. I remembered sitting in the rocker in her room after it was complete admiring his handiwork. Then the picture of his mom holding Alyson in the same room rocking her to sleep. It was also in that same rocker that I watched her sleeping peacefully in my arms and realized Peter was right and we needed to have siblings. Hence Brittan came along.

We had to go in to touch up paint in Brittan's room the other day. She's our spirited one! God really has a sense of humor; I think He loves to laugh because she is comedic. If we had stayed in this house much longer, we would have had to repaint the whole room as she may have colored on all the walls or hit something up against them as she is known as "rough and tumble."

Danielle, our oldest, is quick to remind everyone that outside of the master bedroom, she was the first to occupy each room as her own in the house before we had the other two girls. We just kept moving her into the bigger ones. It was a good trade off.

What's interesting though is that it's sweet, too. We were placed in that house through a blessing. When we found the empty lot, the builders didn't even know they owned it. They had already moved out of the neighborhood and we wanted that particular builder. This home happened to be just down the street from our church, Preston Ridge Baptist Church, which is where we started our true obedience to the Lord. His fingerprints are all over that house. It reflects how He has grown throughout our lives for precisely this moment.

The sweetness of selling the house is how freeing it feels. We are able to serve the Lord with complete abandonment. Whether He says right, left or straight ahead, now we can say, "Yes, Lord." We don't have anything holding us down. We are truly portable to be His hands and feet. So Amazing!

Each step in obedience has actually not held us back but opened up a whole new world of opportunities. We are both finding that as we say "yes" there has been something on the other side of that response that is sweeter than ever imagined.

Is there anything you are holding back from saying, "Yes, Lord! Whatever you ask, it's yours"? It may sting a little or a lot, but ultimately it's freeing to give it all to Him. After all, it was all His to begin with and in the end it will be His again.

Please pray for us that we are able to continue to say YES each day as He continues to lead us to serve in Zambia and follow our true north of being obedient to Him.

In addition, please pray for how you can see yourself along with us in this journey. Our house received 4 offers in less than 24 hours, so we will officially be ready to leave in less than 2 months. As our layers continue to peel, do you have a layer in this too? We are still in need of committed partners like you to send us for God's work in Zambia. Can you see yourself peeling a layer and saying, "Yes, Lord, I will send."