Monday, June 1, 2015

Moving

As many of you may know, Kyle and I are planning to move from our home in Tennessee to Groton, Connecticut. We have been praying a long time about this. We knew that Tennessee would be a temporary place for us. Right after we got married, we were well established with our college jobs and just felt the Lord wanted us to stay in Tennessee after I (Kristy) graduated from college. Kyle still had to finish up his Masters degree so it was the perfect place to stay. Through the last two years there have been some change in jobs and circumstances here and there, but it was good for us to lay a foundation for our marriage. It was a familiar place to get to know one another. We loved our church, our little home, our life.

But .....

we've known it would not last forever and we would probably not plant our roots here. The goal had always been to move to New England. Two years ago, we had no idea when or where it would be exactly. As God has moved and worked on our hearts, we believe he's leading us to Connecticut to work with a pastor there. After we've had a chance to get established, we are hoping in a few years to start a church close to that area.

After our first year of marriage, we really had no idea what to do. Do we stay here? If not, where do we go? It was really unsettling. So many questions and no answers. The only thing we knew to do was to pray and wait. In the meantime, we were very involved with our church's ministries. We are the 10th grade Sunday School teachers and a church sponsor at a Bible club at Austen East High School. Kyle is in the choir and I am in the orchestra. Kyle has worked as the Assistant Director of Admissions at Crown College and I have taught piano lessons at home and at the Crown Conservatory while working another part time job. We were set. We were comfortable. God has been working on our hearts in the meantime. 

After a long time praying and considering, we believe this is what God wants us to do, as hard as it may be to let go. This is the first move we'll be making as a young married couple. We've been preparing for it mentally since we've been married. It's hard to believe it's actually going to happen. All we've known is this peaceful, wonderful place called home. We are sad to leave it but looking forward to what's in store for the future. 

Many people ask me why we are going to New England where there are freezing winters and rude people. The first is true but the second not entirley. People are people no matter where you go. (There are rude people in the south too! Ha!) And there are a lot of great people up north. I love the south and I will probably always be a southerner at heart but there is a church on every corner down here. Not to say those churches are full, because they certainly are not. However, up north, churches are far and few between. Churches that are gospel believing and preaching are even more scarce. True, in every part of the world, there is a need for people to be reached with the Gospel of Jesus Christ yet we have grown calloused to the spiritual darkness in this part of our country. A lot of our Christian heritage comes from the New England area but sadly cities are full of hundreds of thousands of people with no local gospel preaching church. Can you imagine? This is why we have a burden to go there. We're trusting the Lord will use us to bring more people to Christ and learn more about church ministry. 

Tennessee has been the most wonderful time of our lives. (so far) God has used it to prepare us and teach us many things. Our church, our jobs, our friends, our family, our home. We will miss it. Probably more later than now. Oh, how we will miss it. 

Please pray for us. We don't have any details of where exactly we will live. We don't even have a set job. We'll be making a trip there this weekend for Kyle to have some interviews. This is probably one of our biggest concerns right now. It is going to be quite a transition. We will just have to exercise our faith and trust the Lord will provide for us. We believe He is in this! So we trust He will take care of us!

Thank you everyone for your prayers and support. We love you all!

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