Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Our Vision...

My husband and I have been seeking the Lord's will in our lives and how He would have us use our gifts, talents and interests for His glory.

I believe that God wishes us to use our gifts for His purposes, and that the things we go through in life are there for a reason.

Last year, as I was working in the garden, I heard the still, small voice of God saying "Feed the people.". Ok, it wasn't an audible voice, but I got this distinct feeling, for lack of a better word, that this is the direction we should be going.

I believe that all of the issues I have learned about and the things I have gone through in my allergy journey are for a reason. I want to incorporate Real Food into whatever ministry the Lord wants us serving in.  I want to take care of the earth God gave us and model/teach that to others.

My  husband, Randy, has had the long dream of having a "Pastor's/Minister's Retreat", or something along those lines, a place where those in ministry can come to get away from the trappings of life and have a time of quiet and reflection.

We both have a desire to share the Gospel (Randy is an ordained preacher and currently teaches Adult Sunday School, I teach Truth & Training in Awana, and we both lead the Children's Church ministry in our church), especially in a small-group setting (House church, possibly?).

At any rate, we have had these thoughts and leanings for years now.  We have toyed with the idea of overseas ministry (Bhutan?).  Ever so often, we stick out our feelers and look in certain areas of the US to see if there is any need or interest in what we have to offer.  Most times, we hit a wall and then step back and look for where we can serve in the here and now and tune out the pull we both feel to some other sort of ministry. But the pull is still there in the undercurrent....

In the last month, Randy emailed the man in charge of mission work in our hometown region of CO to see if there would be any interest in starting a new church/some sort of ministry as described above in the area. There did not seem to be any interest on their part. So we broadened our search and Randy emailed the man in charge of mission work in a different area of Colorado. We have gotten a much more positive response from him, and found him to be very receptive of our Organic growing ideals (very sought-after in that area) and there seems to be interest in starting a new church in the area as well.

At the present time, we are still seeking the Lord's will in this matter. My body wants to get away from the center of GMO farmland.  My heart wants to--longs to--return to what I consider my homeland(and my entire side of the family), but I do not want to make this decision based on those feelings.  I also don't want to block those yearnings and somehow miss or ignore the voice of God.

From what we know presently, we would need a second source of income in addition to any ministry income, and these towns are fairly small with limited options, so that is something to consider.  We want to be able to fully minister, and not be severely limited in what we can do if we are tied to a work schedule.  We are exploring ideas on the bringing-in-income front.

Another thing for us to consider is our children.  Their ages are nearly 11, nearly 9 and 6.5 years old. In the little bit of conversation we've had around them and with them on the topic of moving and ministry, the eldest has the strongest feelings about moving. Understandable.


So, would you please consider praying for us?

  • God's clear leading in whether to pursue this most recent opportunity
  • Working in ALL of our hearts--Randy's and my own, as well as in the hearts of our children
  • Funding to purchase land suitable for growing and a place to live...with a good location accessible to the people....or some miraculous provision of the above 
  • If this is not the Lord's will, that He would point us in another direction and show us where to serve

2 comments:

  1. Tanya & Randy, I am praying for you, that He will give you direction, clarity, and peace as you seek His perfect will.

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