The Confirmation

In my previous post, I mentioned we felt God calling us back to our hometown.  A big question often asked is how does one know God's Will.  Men and women with WAY MORE education and theological knowledge than me have tackled this issue.  In this particular instance for us, it went a bit like this -  First, we had the idea (which was something WE would have never considered).  Second, we prayed and prayed and prayed on it.  Third, it seemed all the doors opened in that particular direction (please don't misunderstand this as "suddenly moving our family to another state and way of life was a breeze").  Fourth, we felt a peace about it, which meant I didn't break into a cold sweat at the mere thought of it all.  Also, the Bible did not state it was against God's will.  We don't believe God's Will will contradict His Word.  For instance, since the Bible states "Do Not Steal," we do not believe God will guide you to knock over a liquor store.

As soon as we made the decision - THE VERY DAY we made the decision - a lady came to view our house.  She made an offer about 24 hours later.  To us, that just felt like God's hand on the matter. Our house had been on the market for six months as we planned to move from the city to the suburbs.  We had constant viewings, and everyone seemed shocked (including the showing realtors) that our house had not been snapped up quickly.  We had experienced great disappointment in this process when the house in the burbs we had fallen in love with sold to someone else while we waited on ours to sell. So, to have our house be viewed by the person who would buy it on THE DAY we made the decision did not feel like "coincidence."

The house selling was a major affirmation we were moving in the right direction.  Then everything seemed to started falling into place rapidly in a way my mom described as "freaky."  We truly believe God was confirming that our step of faith was in the right direction.

The Calling

We grew up in the country, and we spent that time dreaming of leaving the country one day and never looking back.  The exotic lure of Sesame Street with kids who had neighbors, zoos, and - gasp!- public transportation seemed to beckon us to life much more thrilling with more opportunity.  So we went to college, got married, and made our best efforts to get away.  So get away we did for about 12 years, and then, one day, as we were prepared to buy a house in the suburbs of a large metropolis, it happened - God called us back to our hometown.  That's right, not just any rural setting, but all the way back to where we started.  This is a tale of faith, family, getting back to our roots, and trading our urban ways for country life.