I have asked that question many times over the years. I have asked it while passing through the darkest days in our ministry when everyone was looking to me to lead them through the emptiness and I had no idea where we were going. I have asked it when things seemed to be moving forward so fast that we couldn't keep up with what God was doing.
Making the decision to move back to the states has been a long time in coming. I think we first started thinking about it 6 or 7 years ago. We were fighting to keep the ministry alive, our family was at the height of some very difficult struggles, and I was exhausted. We prayed about it long and hard.... I wanted to go home... but somehow I just didn't feel like the Lord was releasing us from overseas service yet. Oh, I could think of all kinds of reasons why returning would be better for me personally and for the family as a whole. But I couldn't shake the feeling that it was not time yet.
Then about 6 months ago, with a very rosy future for ministry on the horizon, the Lord said "Its time...". Where does that come from?? I wasn't ready... I wanted to stay... We prayed about it again. This time I was convinced that we needed to go even though we were creating some amazing new ministry opportunities and needed more people to help us make it a reality. My head was full of questions about the future.
Confirmation of God's leading often comes after we start obeying His call. One of the biggest concerns we had was how we were going to get rid of all the "stuff" we had collected over that last 20 years? Well, the first day we posted our "For Sale"list, a young Ecuadorian man, and long time family friend, ran up to Ruth's office and asked if he could buy most of our big furniture and appliances. He was planning to ask a young lady to marry him and needed to equip their apartment. People then started asking us if they could buy our vehicles. Our house is another amazing story... We now have the signature authority that we need to clear the title and we have a couple of people interested in buying it... and we have not advertised the house or the vehicles.
We are "hangin' on for the ride" as the Lord runs ahead of us. We don't have the future all figured out. But seeing the Lord orchestrate things for us now, gives us the confidence to trust Him with the things we don't have figured out yet. Thanks for your prayers for us. You are all a great blessing to us and we value your friendship and support immensely... Keep praying... There's lots to do still and only 2 short months to do them in...
Doug
