Tuesday, April 10, 2012

TIME TO MOVE ON

Over the last five years, God has had our family on our spiritual journey. He's over and over again been showing us that it was time to let go of the comfortable, safe known and move into the often uncomfortable, sometimes dangerous, unknown for the sake of His call --- that of serving His beloved "least and lost" in more intentional and sacrificial ways.

P4080364 Our house resized

Part of this journey means selling our home. We have lived here for thirteen years. I can honestly say that it has been an idyllic place to raise children. Our little farm is nestled in a very safe community where our children have had the freedom to splash in a nearby creek, explore the adjacent woods, ride their bikes to the neighborhood salon for haircuts, and even draw chalk murals in the middle of the road.

They've hunted for eggs so I could cook them up for breakfast, watched numerous litters of kittens be born, and flown their kites in our pasture. They've played their version of softball using feed bags as bases, camped out under the starry sky, and picked blueberries and blackberries out of our own yard.

God is making it very clear that it is now time to take a step further on this journey He is calling us on. In just over a year and a half we'll be leaving America behind and moving to Swaziland. We're not leaving with plans to retire one day and move back Stateside. We're not signing up for just a short-term stint. We're moving to stay. We're burning our bridges and letting go.

Part of that letting go and preparing for Swaziland is moving into a new area of ministry that will require us to leave our rural community and move into an inner-city neighborhood about 30 minutes away from here. To say that this is going to be an easy step to take would be a lie.

It is going to be very hard.

Almost every area of our life will be changed. From our morning routine to how we spend our Saturdays. Our kids won't be allowed to wander the neighborhood on their own and their pets have to find other homes. I'm going to have to discipline myself to keep a much cleaner house and get rid of a lot of stuff as we'll be often hosting people while living in a much smaller dwelling.

That said, I wouldn't have it any other way.

I know I'm going to cry when we close the door on our farm house for the very last time.

I'm probably going to cry when my kids cry over saying goodbye to their pets.

I might even cry when I have to let go of some of our possessions. We lost so much in our housefire that I really treasure the few things we had left.

But again, I wouldn't have it any other way.

Jesus is worth it. The amazing changes I'm seeing in my family are worth it. And the lives that He is allowing us to impact are worth it.

We've got challenges ahead. It is going to take a lot of dying to self. But He who has called us will be faithful to complete this good work in us.

So please keep praying for us. Pray as we prepare spiritually, emotionally, and mentally for what lies ahead. Pray for God to provide good homes for our cats and chickens and horses and dog. Pray that He'll send us a family who will buy our home and be blessed by it as much as we have. And pray that through it all, we'll fall deeper and deeper in love with Jesus.

Thank you sincerely,
Elysa

5 comments:

Leslie said...

Praying for you precious friend. Praying that God would bless you in ways deeper than you can even imagine as you give it all up for Him!

Love you!
Leslie

us5 said...

i'm praying, friend. and i can tell you from experience, God will go with you all the way...giving grace for the moment and joy in the journey! ♥

Dee said...

This made me cry........praying and expecting comfort, excitement, joy unspeakable as you step out in Him.

Robin said...

I'm proud of you and praying for you. You have an amazing family and I feel blessed to call you a friend.
Robin

Elysa said...

Thank you all for your support and prayers! Those of you local will definitely have to come for our housewarming party. Those of you NOT local should pray and consider about coming and doing a short-term mission trip with us. Lots of teams come to do prayer walks, work in the clothing ministry, help with light construction, work in the community "free" garden, etc.