Where We Are Now! (Part 1)

Well, it has been quit a while since I posted anything. All I can say is that life became more important to me than keeping up with the blog. But I have felt lately that I have wanted to get back into blogging so that we can keep our family and close friends up to date with what and where we are now. 

As most of you know, we have moved from Ohio to Harrisburg PA in June. This is a very long story so I will have to do it in parts.

Over 2 years ago, Nathan got an email from a minister from PA asking if he might be interested in being a Teaching Pastor at his church. He had gotten Nathan's name from our Youth Minter growing up. At that time, we were happy where we were and did not want to uproot our young family and move. We thought for sure we would be at our current church for many years to come. Nathan informed the minister of this but agreed that we would talk about it and pray about what God had in store. That is exactly what we did. We began to pray diligently about this and waited for God to provide answers. Nathan continued to stay in contact with the minister and even met with him at a conference they both were attending over the summer. The more that we prayed about it and talked about it, we felt that God was calling us to move on, but we were really not sure that it was to PA. We had several other doors open during this time, other churches calling Nathan about possibilities of him coming on as a part of their staff, but God seemed to quickly close those doors. 

We decided that we needed to make a trip out to PA in September of 2011 to see for ourselves if this is where God was leading our family to be. We took the trip with only our immediate family knowing and while they watched the kids for us, Nathan and I headed East!!! Nathan preached that Sunday, September 18th, and with tears in my eyes, I could see our future begin to align and make more sense. We met so many wonderful families and fell in love with the staff Nathan would be joining. All I can say about that weekend, was that I knew immediately that that is where God wanted us. However, I didn't want to admit it just yet out loud. 

On our long trip back to Cincinnati, we had long discussions between the two of us, we called and talked to family about it and prayed for several hours at a time. While Nathan was on the phone at one point, I was in complete tears and begging God for answers. I know that if I could have been on my face on the floor I would have. I just stared out at the beautiful mountains and begged and pleaded with God for a visual sign that this is what He wanted us to do. To pick up our family, leave our jobs at the church, sell our house, and move to PA and become a one income family. I asked Him to give me a sign in the sky that said "YES" or "NO" so that I knew for sure what we were supposed to do. I believe that I did this for over an hour, this begging and pleading that I would see something to let us know what we were supposed to do. Within that hour to hour in a half, shortly before we were supposed to reach the designated spot to meet up with family and get the kids, I looked over out my window up into the mountains and saw what I will never forget as long as I live. There in the side of the mountain was a house....a white house. Nothing else around this house....just God's beautiful creation. But it was what was on top of the house that gives me chills. There was a white billboard sign on top of the house. Now, who puts billboards on their house right. Well on this white rectangular billboard was one word all in caps and in black letters. That word.......was......YES!  

That was it, just those three letters...YES!  I looked over at Nathan, and back at the billboard and back at Nathan. I told him what I had just seen and what I was praying for. I said, "You may or may not believe me but I have been begging God for a sign up in the sky that would tell us if we are supposed to do this. I have been asking that He put the word YES or No so that I could see it. And I just saw the word YES on a billboard on the top of a house!!! What does that mean?"

Nathan just looked at me and then replied....."I think you got your answer." I began to cry and he said, "What's wrong?" I said back to him, "I should have asked for more details!!!"

From that moment, I knew that we would be headed back to Cincinnati and beginning the next process of moving forward, and I was scared to death. 

Part 2 Coming Soon!!! 

(For the recored, we have been back and forth from PA to OH multiple times now and I have never again seen that sign....I know that God gave me the answer I needed at the exact moment I needed it and it was for me to see just that one time. )