From Indoors to Pike's Peak

So here we are! After lots of prayer, stress, boxes, 14 ½ hours on the road, a little more stress and more boxes, we’re finally…home. Sitting here, at our dining room table (because we now have a dining room), I’m still having a hard time really believing we’re here.

On February 2^nd, we were sitting in my parent’s hardware store and I was getting ready to fax my resumes to some doctor’s offices here in Colorado Springs (just to get a head start. We still hadn’t decided WHEN we were actually going to move. I’m just a planner.) and I was telling my Mom that I should probably just call her cousin and his wife to see if just I could move up there (without Bryan) and stay with them for a little bit just in case I got a call back. I mean, you really can’t blame us for having thought this plan up. It’s scary considering moving 800 miles away and not having a job or home. But I’m so thankful for my to-the-point, “let’s-not-waste-time,” Dad (which is who I got my personality from). I really believe God was using my Dad to get a point across to us. He came in and sat down and simply said, “I just don’t think it’s a good idea for you two to live separately. It’s not supposed to be that way. If you know this is where God called you both, and it’s where you guys want to go, then why are you staying here? You’ve got nothing holding you back. Just do it!” He was right! The only thing we had holding us back was fear, and we know that’s not from God. I kept having thoughts come in my head that we were only going to be able to eat rice and beans, and if we got an apartment, we would probably lose it because we wouldn’t have any jobs, and we could possibly end up in a homeless shelter (I tend to lean more towards the dramatic side. Ha!). Oh ME of little faith! But, you know, once my Dad told us that, it lit the fire underneath us! Within two days of our “pep-talk,” we had an apartment ready for us by March 1st, tons of applications filled out and resumes sent out, and within two weeks, Bryan had two call backs from jobs he had applied for! Everything was falling into place! My Husband (who I am SO very thankful for) sent me a text that kept us going through the whole process, and continues to do so:

“God will provide…up until now, I’ve known He can provide…but that’s

not faith. At best, that is hope. Faith is knowing He WILL provide. Faith

is not the absence of doubt, but it is the presence of belief. I know and

believe that God is bigger than any circumstance, and He is our Provider.

That is His nature. He can’t help it. J Get on the internet or find a Bible

and look up Psalm 37:25 (“Once I was young, and now I am old. Yet I

have never seen the godly abandoned or their children begging for

bread.”) and Matthew 6:24-34 ("No one can serve two masters. For

 you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and

despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. That is why

I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough

food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn't life more than food, and

your body more than clothing? Look at the birds. They don't plant or

harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them.

And aren't you far more valuable to Him than they are? Can all your

worries add a single moment to your life? And why worry about your

clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don't

work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed

as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers

that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, He will certainly

care for you. Why do you have so little faith? So don't worry about these

things, saying, 'What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?'

These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly

Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all

else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. So

don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries.

Today's trouble is enough for today.”). I LOVE YOU.”

Bryan had been praying that we would have jobs within a week once we moved up here. Not long after praying this, Bryan came across a teaching from Bill Johnson, where Bill was praying over the people he was preaching to (who had lost jobs and been struggling financially). Bill was praying that they would get jobs within a week and so Bryan began to just accept that for us.

Well, the day came for us to move (February 29^th, Leap Day, taking our “leap of faith”) and we couldn’t have been more excited…and nervous! Here I was leaving EVERYTHING I had ever known. Even when I went away to college, I always knew I could come back to Nueces Canyon, where my parents were, where my childhood home was, where every street and person was familiar to me, and I left it all behind (because in three months my parents will be here too, so we probably won’t be going back anytime soon). It was a very weird/uncomfortable/exciting/nervous feeling…all in one. So, we loaded up our vehicles (with only half of our belongings) and headed north, 14 ½ hours away. We traveled on the most beautiful day possible, thanks to God. Once we came into New Mexico, we could already begin to see mountains and snow and we could not stop calling each other (since we were in two separate vehicles)! We were so amazed at the beauty around us! I think that if you have never seen mountains, and I mean REAL mountains, you are really missing out! We were in such awe of God and what He had done!

We ended up getting into Colorado Springs at about 7:30 and it was obviously dark, and again, I began to get nervous, wondering if we had made a wrong decision (everything’s more scary in the dark). But thanks to my God, as I lay in bed that night, I rested in Him and awoke with excitement for the new day in our new world! We got moved into our apartment on March 1^st and 45 minutes after moving our belongings into our tiny 500 sq. ft. apartment, Bryan had his first of three interviews at Wells Fargo, where he is now hired to work (one week and 1 day from the day we moved in)!!!  One week and three days after moving here I was hired on part-time at TJ Maxx!! GOD. IS. FAITHFUL.

We also got snow our first two days here!! J

Our home is now unpacked, with half of our belongings (the other half, including our bed, is coming with my parents when they come up here in April) and none of our décor or a couch…yet. I can’t wait to get all my decorations here! I am beyond thrilled that we have a well-sized kitchen IN our home, a bathtub and WINDOWS!!!!  In the two weeks we have been here, I have had our windows and patio door open most days! The weather has been beautiful!

We are so excited to pick a church for our own family and finally settle down somewhere. We thank you all so much for your prayers and your love and support! We are even more thankful to our God who has and IS taking care of us, loving us and just blessing us because we are His. This has been one of the best experiences of our life together and we’re looking forward to many more because we serve a wonderful God!

Be blessed today! We are!