We have been home in Midland since Saturday evening and it feels a bit surreal. My brother-in-law and mother-in-law made the trip down to Austin to help us get packed up and tow the trailer back. Again we couldn’t have done it without their help. We have been staying with my mom and dad, which has been so great, but tomorrow we will begin staying at our new place. We were really concerned for a while that we might not find a place to live, but God provided the best place we could possibly think of and we are so thankful. I am a day late writing this because things have just been busy and hectic as we try to settle back in. I’m also pretty worn out because each day has been full to the brim so forgive me that this post may be lackluster.
It is hard to describe how we have been feeling. Leaving Community First was very hard. I told everyone there that they had done their job by bringing us into their family, which was evident by how hard the “see you laters” (not goodbyes) were. Over the course of four months living at CFV we developed incredible relationships with people we otherwise wouldn’t have—former drug addicts, former Mexican mafia gangsters, and all sorts of formerly hopeless people being restored in Christ centered community. We miss stepping outside of our trailer and spending time with our neighbors who genuinely loved us. We miss seeing our neighbors faces light up as Truma called them by name. There were countless neighbors, staff, and volunteers who made us feel so at home even though we knew it would eventually come to an end. I cannot begin to describe the gratitude we feel for being able to live at Community First. It is something that has affected us deeply and we can never be the same.
We got in to Midland Saturday evening and went to our church on Sunday morning. We experienced paradoxical emotions as we were so happy to see our friends and church family, while at the same time knowing that we had left a piece of our heart in Austin. Our pastor gave a wonderful sermon and one of the takeaways that hit home for us is that when we give our lives to Jesus, there is no going back; life as we know it is forever changed. Comforts that were holding us back are painfully and lovingly torn from our hearts so that we can pursue our calling. We feel that now while we are settling in to our familiar town in a completely different way than when we left.
As we are developing our plans for The Field’s Edge, we are driven even more by the sense of family we experienced at Community First. We think of our friends in Midland on the streets who have never known such love and we desperately want to welcome them home. We want to bring people into the family they never had and to know the love of Jesus like never before. We are chomping at the bit to see this through.
I could go on and on but I am completely spent. Please join us this week in praying for our adjustment into this new chapter. There are beautiful things ahead and we are expectant and trying our best to wait on the Lord. There are a million things to do and a million people to meet with. It is hard to wrap our brains around it but we know that if we just keep following God, He will help us to make sense of it all. Thank you all for understanding and for walking with us in this journey. It is so encouraging to have people that read each week and encourage us. We love you all very much!
Prayer Requests:
· The future neighbors of The Field’s Edge.
· Our friends and neighbors at Community First! Village.
· A fruitful and productive board meeting this week.
· That the Lord would bring about relationships and connections from our meetings.
· Land.
· Knowing how to love and serve each other in our family during this transition.
· Praise for the many incredible things that the Lord has done thus far.
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