How it happened. (part 3 of 3)

If you haven’t already done so, read part 1 and part 2 of the story.

Andy started his new job in Destin the first week of April 2004. Taylor needed to finish first grade and I needed to pack the house, so I stayed in Saint Augustine with the kids. For the next two months, Andy would drive the five hours to see us every other weekend and we would drive to see him the other weekends. It was difficult, but we managed.

In late May, Taylor finished school. We packed up the U-Haul and left Saint Augustine. We signed a lease on a townhouse near Destin. Our house hadn’t sold yet, but since everything else had fallen into place, we believed that would take care of itself. And it did. We received an offer and closed on the house before our next payment was due.

By June 2004, we were settled into our townhouse. Unsure if we wanted to build or buy an existing house, we sat in limbo. Our church in Jacksonville mailed us videos of each week’s message. We bumped into people we knew from high school and invited them over. But honestly, no one really “got it.” Heck, WE didn’t even get it! All we knew was that God had led us back home to start a church. We didn’t know how, when, where… nothing. We were so clueless! And the small group thing in our house? “Not working out” is an understatement. Many people asked us why in the world we wanted to start a church, being in the Bible belt? Couldn’t we just find an existing church? Weren’t we wasting our time? But we knew what God had told us. We had a vision, but only on a large scale. We had no idea about the details.

As time passed, our frustration grew. Limbo is a terrible place to be. We still didn’t know what to do about our living situation. We were lonely. We missed our old church. Although everything had fallen into place so easily at the beginning of the year, nothing seemed to be working out now.

By Christmas, we were depressed. We started feeling like we had made a huge mistake by moving back home. We had left a church we loved and now had nothing. We had left a brand new house and were now renting a crammed townhouse with horribly rude neighbors. We had left awesome friends and now had no network.

By January 2005, our dream of moving back home had become a nightmare. We had made the decision to move back to Jacksonville, unless God intervened in a big way. We prayed. We asked God if we had misunderstood His direction. We prayed, “God, if we’re supposed to be here, if we’re supposed to be starting a church, give us a sign. Show us something!”

I kid you not, a postcard came in the mail the following day. It was for a new church in Destin. As I took the postcard out of the mailbox and read it, I started crying. I called Andy at work and told him God had answered our prayers in a very tangible way!

We met with the pastor (Eric) and his wife (Darlene) and loved them immediately. We started attending the church and were completely blown away! We knew this had been God’s plan for us the whole time. The church was everything we had envisioned, but so much better than we had imagined! We have been involved since the beginning and we absolutely love it. Sometimes one small word from God requires a giant leap of faith. But if you’ll trust Him, you’ll be amazed at what He has for you!

Happy birthday, Eric!

Pastor Eric and his H.O.T. wife Darlene