Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Pieces that FIT!

What a great opportunity to sit and reflect on all that God has done in our lives. Ordinarily I would preface that with a time frame, especially being that in the past month we've seen God at work in really big ways, but it has occurred to me and Eric multiple times that the movement we've seen recently really began a long time ago. As far back as the beginning of college... for both of us, which, if you know us, you know that there are 7 years between us. Never did our college years collide. However, we can both look back and link many of the things that are continuing to happen now to the time that we were in college (respectively).

For Eric, he began his college days at Bowling Green State in OH back in '89/'90, graduating in 1994 after studying abroad in Japan for a year. His studies in Japan and his knowledge of the language and culture landed him his first job out of college in Lafayette, IN at Subaru.

It's easy to see why God led him here... ME! Just kidding, although not entirely! Eric's spiritual journey is a true testimony to God's passionate pursuant of His children. The short of it is that Eric finally realized and took ownership of his faith while at BG going to a Great Commission Ministries church. Getting transplanted to begin his first job in Lafayette led him to seek out the GCM church at Purdue Univ.

For me, my journey through college was not nearly as traditional. I spent the first year out of high school at Johnson Bible College in Knoxville, TN. I went all alone, no friends tagged along. God was so good when he blessed me with my first roommate, Kristen Henkle. You'll read more about her later. While at JBC, I developed tremendous friendships and grew in many ways. The thing that was lacking for me was the true college experience. When I look back, my decision to leave was both for academic purposes and social purposes. I will say the later was a poor reason to leave an amazing environment. But leave I did. Back to Purdue where I goofed around and pretended to study along the way. After a year, I took a semester off and then chose a small, private nursing school where I finally got serious about being an adult. During that time, I also got serious about my relationship with God. Through circumstances truly divine, I began attending the GCM church at Purdue called Grace Campus church.

You can easily see the connection that I'm about to make. Here are a few sidenotes worth noting however. During my time at Purdue, my two most steadfast friends from JBC were Kristen and a guy named Patrick... they ended up married!!! In the time that Eric was at GCM long before I was ever around, he developed a friendship with Todd, who, as the story goes, Eric's mom thanked for being friends with Eric. Todd was the person who, with all his personality, truly befriended Eric from the start.

Eric and I met, fell in love and married all within a few years. After a year or so of marriage, it became clear that Eric just wasn't happy at work. He began pursuing his MBA at Purdue and that was a time that opened many doors and caused Eric to realize that there's a lot more out there than this. So he began the job search, landing us in the Chicago Suburbs. All the while, we had our son and had our daughter on the way. And of course promptly one year after her, came our third and final baby!

Ah the burbs! This was a great carreer move for Eric and a real character and faith builder for all of us. I was tested to my core on what seemed like all levels. As a real extaverted person, I was really lacking for friendships. We were challenged in our beliefs and our concept of the institution of church. Our marriage was tested and grown as we added children to our family and found ourselves in a rather small living space and the reality of HAVING to live by a budget. All good things I will admit. The children especially. Our three kids have added to our lives in ways unimaginable. Yea God! But the suburbs was not the ideal place for us. Neither of us really wanted to raise our family there forever, but we were prepared to do so if God had that in store.

There was a particular weekend that we had gone to Fort Wayne to visit our friends Todd and his family as well as Kristen and her family. I now mark that as a life changing weekend because of the inspiration that I was left with. When I returned home, I picked up my Beth Moore book "Believing God" and began to read and accept the challenges therein. And I began to pray for God to move in a very specific area of our lives. I was actually asking God to move us. I was desperate to be surrounded by people who loved me and spurred me on in my faith. And not just me, but my whole family. Finally, my motive was completely God centered. I was and am certain that we are more effective for God's Kingdom when we are in like company.

In her book, Beth challenges us to set a time that we would pray specifically and to then see and record the activity that we see God doing. And I kid you not, it was within weeks that Eric was made aware of the open position in Fort wayne with the same company. Of course my immediate response was an awesome wonder of an awesome God. In life, there are very few moments where God shows up so clear. The short of that piece of the puzzle is that Eric posted for the position, interviewed for it and then accepted an incredible offer to relocate.

Though that's the short of it, there are smaller pieces that fit in there that make the evidence of God clearer than the light of day. If it weren't enough that two of our dearest friends both in life and in faith were Fort Wayne locals, Eric, during his interview learned that his new boss was also a Bowling Green graduate. And what's more is that she is a Christ follower. I don't know a single Christian who is serious about their faith that wouldn't love to be in an environment where it's okay to talk about it. What a blessing and further evidence of God moving us in this direction.

Many more pieces seem to fit perfectly into this puzzle that was being revealed before us. And I am convinced that if we had resisted this move, God would have quite literally picked us up and moved us himself. In many ways, it feels like that's what happened. Life is good when we are embraced by the Spirit, but even better when it's so obvious that the pieces are fitting correctly.

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