our new life... in Utah!

the girls enjoying the snow!... there is a sled under there somwhere

 We made it!!!!  We live in Utah, although it has been over a month, it's still hard to believe.  Well, in some ways, it seems crazy, but then again there's the feeling that we are settling into life for the first time in a long while.  We love the life/adventure/mission the Lord is setting out before us here. 
Almost 2 months ago we drove to Utah with our life packed into a moving truck with no place to stay, no job and just the Lord's leading to hold onto.  
We were about 30 minutes from our destination (Salt Lake City) when the Lord provided a place for us to stay for the first few weeks.  An awesome couple lent us their basement until we found another place to stay.  

Adri Ann (she staged the pic haha)

In that first few weeks we got used to the snow, lived out of our backpacks, and waited for the Lord to provide.  

our new place!

Just like He always does (in His timing, not ours) the Lord provides.  I (cory) got a job at a local nursery called Cactus & Tropicals working with plants ;)  But we still needed a place to live. After searching and searching in vain for a house to rent, we thought our only option would have to be to rent an apartment (not fun for a family with six kids!).  But the Lord had something else for us!  Out of the blue, a house for rent popped up that we could qualify for!  Not only that, but it was walking distance from work!

walking to work... in the snow

So, as we are adjusting to life here, we are starting to connect with a few families from a few different churches and groups.  But most importantly, we are waiting on the Lord to guide us into His purpose for us here.  After everything that He has been doing on this journey so far... I think we can trust Him for that

;)

this is the view from our front yard

the Nursery

i can't believe i get to do this for work! 

The In-Between Times

It's in these times when Faith is tested. When The Lord has made the destination clear, but the means to arrive are still shrouded in the glorious mystery of His Ways.
There's a desert, a Red Sea, or a Jordan River to cross and still there is no way.
Knowing how He's worked in times past does not make it any easier in these moments... only knowing Him does. That's the only thing that matters! Really, that's all we have.
In these times of desperately waiting for Him to move we see it so clearly. But I think this utter dependence on Him is the foundation of the relationship we were made to have with our Creator!

A lifestyle of faith that is constantly put to the test. A life of saying, Lord, "If You don't reach out Your Hand, we are lost"!

Utah!

Well, with so much going on in our home these days it has been hard to reconnect with everyone we’ve wanted to, but we’re wanting to share what the Lord is doing with us. So, to the best of my ability I’ll fill you in here.

Minus a lot of the details, when we were called out of the Garden Fellowship (our church and my job at the time) in August 2010, we kind of knew it would end up costing us our home. So we weren’t surprised when in June of 2012 we had to leave our place in La Quinta to move on the property with my parents in Yucca Valley. But what did surprise us was how much refining work the Lord wanted to do in us through the process. The Lord had provided a job at the Vintage Nursery not long after leaving the Garden Fellowship, which was a blessing and a great environment to work in (who wouldn’t love to spend all day working with plants!). But, upon moving to Yucca Valley and becoming a commuter (almost 100 miles a day), having our 6th beautiful little girl, moving in with family, sharing a room with our six children, and being an hour away from most of our community, we found ourselves in quite a difficult season to say the least!

Through this process I’ve learned that there are the difficult natural circumstances we find ourselves in and there are places the Lord ordains for us to go and die. The difference is only perspective, for it is in the process of dying that the Lord wants to do His most beautiful work in us. The choice is ours, do we submit to His hand, see Him working in us, and be changed? Or refuse recognize Him?

We often think of the Lord’s preparing process as equipping/building; or putting new things into us for us to use as we do His Work. But what we now know is that the Lord’s preparation work is always to strip us down to something useable FIRST. How often we are unwilling to let go of ourselves, but isn’t that how He has always worked? (i.e. Abraham... leave everything you know and go; Moses... forget trying to save your people, go be a shepherd in the wilderness until you’re someone new; disciples... follow me with cross in hand!)

So, in this season, as much as we’ve moaned and groaned to Him about it, and as ugly as it has sometimes been, He’s been allowing us to die in the wilderness, so that we will be a people that are totally His, down to our very core... until that is all that’s left!

Just as sure as this process has a beginning it is meant to have and end. God does not leave His people in the wilderness!... unless they choose to stay. But sometimes leaving can be just as hard as staying. It is a process that requires much faith. Faith to believe when it feels as though you have nothing left to believe with. Faith to overcome the fear that will try and keep you where you are. But we were (re)created for this beautiful journey; this exodus! This is, I believe, one of the most defining moments of our life! What will we believe God is capable of doing in the wilderness season? Who is He now that everything else is gone? This is where we find ourselves now. And it is from this place that the Lord has begun to stir our hearts to step out at His Word.

The Lord has, through circumstances, His Word, and much prayer, revealed that He is calling us and others in our Community to relocate to Utah and continue following Him together there. It has been over a number of months that He has been making it clearer and clearer until what had begun as a whisper has turned into what feels like the current of a mighty river taking us along for the ride of our lives!

There is still much we are waiting on the Lord for, but He has already provided a way for one family in our group (Chad, Meg & McKinley) to get up to Utah. We are preparing now to move up and are expecting to be heading up mid January, but are waiting on the Lord for housing and a job that will allow for us to be about the Lord’s business.

It is exciting to be following the Lord into the unknown and allowing His Spirit to lead and guide us as we step out into what He has created us for!... a life of faith, not pragmatism.

Playing Bible Study

This Sunday before our community came over for "church", Adri(5) and KJ(4) were missing for a while.  This is where I found them.  They were "playing Bible study"... neither can read yet, but they were studying for a while! 
It's neat to be giving them such a pure picture of what being a Christian is... following Jesus, and what a church is... following Jesus together.

By the way, that is where we meet and worship on Sunday's.  Simple, but that's how it should be.

Change is coming!

Too bad we don't know what it's going to look like.  Here's what's been going on lately...

Our fifth daughter (Kalee Nissi) is going to be 3 months old in a couple days, and is coming into her own.  She has such a pleasant... even comforting nature about her.  And such a great smile!  Even as life seems at times to be completely overwhelming, her sweet little smile can melt away all of the stress and chaos.

Seems to be almost a picture of the work the Lord is doing in our community. 

As the community the Lord has been calling us to matures, it seems to be developing a sort of personality, or life, of its own. There's such a refreshing whole hearted desire in everyone to be pleasing to and lead by our Father... the kind of desire that makes me expect the Lord to meet us every time we gather together.  It's the only thing I've ever experienced that has reminded me of the believers in the Book of Acts.  Not that we have it figured out by any means, but it seems like we are finally a part an environment that allows for the community that the Bible speaks of to be practiced. We are so blessed by what the Lord is doing in our midst.

We have recently been connected to a group that works with kids and hurting communities in Zambia, and have been led to partner with them to see the Lord touch the lives of people in need across the world.  So, we are sponsoring as many kids as possible and trying to get others on board also!  (its through Father's Heart Africa if you're interested... www.fhafrica.com).  It feels like a big step of faith for a bunch of people who are struggling with our own bills, but, seriously, even in our "financial struggles" we are so rich!  Even if we loose our houses and have to rent, we are still more wealthy than what, 98 or 99% of the world.

Maybe its just the times we live in, or maybe it's Lord speaking to His church, or maybe it's both, but we are being stirred to give up our claims on the "american dream" and embrace the lifestyle that Jesus called His followers to.  Where living as a Christ follower really does look a lot different than the world lives!  Where sacrifice is embraced and the a empowered life is expected. 

on that note...

We've been receiving partial support from the Garden Fellowship (the church where I (cory) was a pastor before) since we were sent out to pursue what the Lord was leading us to six months ago.  Now that season of support is coming to a close.  And we're now... still waiting to see what the Lord would have us do, and how He'll provide.  We're in the process of deciding how to balance Cory's hourly job (at a local nursery), the work that the Lord has called us to (developing the community/teaching/music), and raising up our children (home educating/investing).

We're confident that the Lord will provide what's needed, when its needed to accomplish what He wants... and we're learning that that is often a lot different that our comfort would like!  But really, aren't there a lot of things that are much more important than our comfort... like community... like the gospel... like kids in Zambia.

Anyway, that's what's going on with us!

A prayer

Please take us forward into Your kingdom, we want to see Your will unfold as we walk with You.

Help us to lay aside our desire for gain and comfort, and take up sacrifice as our new lifestyle... Your life in exchange for ours.

This what we truly want, even though our flesh says "no", we say "yes" to You. 

This I believe is the essence of the lifestyle the Lord is calling us, our family, and our community to embrace. 

Gift

How would I define the perfect gift? I

It would have to be something that was, well, perfect… for me.

An example would be a dress that fits just right, feels wonderful, hides the places you don’t want to draw attention to and exploits the places that are admirable.  The style, color and cut would parallel my personality in a way that I had to know I was truly loved because I was given this dress.  Not that it was better than dresses that other girls wore; but that it was absolutely perfect… for me.

The other day I came the epiphany that the children God has given me are gifts from Him.  It’s not that they are better than other children, though you may have an argument there if you said that to Gramma.  But they are perfect… for me.

When I began to evaluate each of my girls this way I was really overwhelmed with the love of my Father. 

He gave me little people as gifts that would suit my likes.  He knew I grew up wishing I lived in musical.  He knew Katie Jo would just start singing while walking together on the path and while sitting at the dinner table. 

Gifts that would be able to make me laugh.  He knew that Anna Mae’s little voice would speak more words than a kid her age ought to and we would feel we never needed a tv again with the entertainment of a one-year-old in the house. 

Gifts that would comfort me.  He knew that Adri Ann would play with my hair whenever we were still and near each other and that her touch would soothe me.

Gifts that would affirm me.  He knew that Cora Lee would praise my mothering and cooking.

Gifts that would test and refine me.  He knew that they would become the most effective tool in my life to make me more like His son. 

Not only did God make them unique individuals with an eternal destiny to live out, but He tailored each of them as a gift that is perfect… for me.
-Becky Jo