Missions...

My husband has felt he is called to missions.  So, we packed up the family moved to Washington and are preparing... (that is our llllloooooonnnnngggggg story short!) 

We are taking the Perspectives on the World Christian Movement course through our new church to prepare for this missions thing.  Boy is it exhausting!  But it is AMAZING!  We are only on week 4 in class, and week 2 for the homework (OK Greg and I are a little behind) but it is so encouraging to what God had intended for missions. 

Did you know that we are all called to missions?  So I have been thinking when we tell people we moved across the nation to pursue missions because we were called, we sound pretty silly!  We are all called to share the Gospel with "all the nations".  This class basically breaks down where missions comes from (all the way back to God's promise to Abram!) and what we are to do with it!

So, my exciting revelation that I have had recently is helping me with the fact that I honestly haven't felt that calling to go out and reach another nation or anything like that.  (Which at one point had me really worried!)  See, I have always been a very local minded person.  Why go help people around the world when there are people down the street that are going through the same thing?  It just never made sense to me.  I have really never gone on a mission trip and honestly don't feel the need to!  There is so much to do right here in my own town not to mention even our street!  Don't get me wrong, I think it is amazing the people that go around the world, give up hot water, running water for that case, fresh food, houses, the list goes on, but I don't feel that need for me to do that! 

You can imagine when Greg had a little chat with God about missions, and I am left in the dust, it was a little scary!  And then to top it off, Greg has a heart for the Native Americans/First Tribes~ and the only ones he has come in contact with are way up in northern Canada!  Even more scary.  But my revelation the other day is that we can both fulfil what God has placed on our hearts.  It just happens we live about 10 miles for a Reservation of a very lost people!  Talk about local and reaching our neighbors!  This is a group that I visited as a kid, delivered food to, etc. 

Oh and did I mention our new church is starting to form some that want to start up a ministry for these people?  :)  God's timing is GREAT!  We just need to have our eyes open to see where He is working then join Him! (From the Experiencing God study)

The point of this is to let you know that God isn't going to call only 1/2 of a marriage.  You are 1 in God's eyes, and He isn't going to call 1 person and not the other.  It just may be that His calling comes across different for each person, but He will still have you go together.  For me it is a local outreach, these are people I grew up with.  For Greg it is reaching out to the unknown.  God calls us each to what He has crafted us for, and we are all unique. His calling will be to both, but He just may use a land line for one spouse and a cell phone for the other, but in His eyes He is calling the same number. 



{Links for 2/9/12}
Enter to win a copy of Mornings with Jesus 2012

The Generous Wife ~ One of my favorite sites!

The Generous Husband ~Companion site!

BookSneeze ~Book review site

Blessings from Above

Recently I have been thinking about how much God has blessed me!  Before last week, I was starting to get down about being back in WA, asking myself if we really did do the right thing by moving here, leaving a church that really pushed us to be more Christ-like, to mature in our walk, and was home for us.  Then we move out here and try a couple churches that just don't fit.  So I start to doubt, did we make the right choice?  Then as always, God comes through! :) 

We attend a church two weeks ago that was recommended by a friend.  We usually go to the church service one week, and if we like it, we try out the Sunday School program the next.  Well, I was pretty tired of waiting for the right church, so I skipped a week and we went to Sunday School the first week...  Wouldn't you know, we show up, drop the kids off, and then are told that instead of Sunday School there will be a budget meeting...  But it was great to see how the church was run, where their priorities were (by the way it is a very missions minded church!) and how involved everyone was in their church. 

Then we went to the service and usually it takes Greg a while to let me know about what he feels about a church...  To my complete surprise he had us going to a small group the next Friday and attending the 101 class for new members!  (We weren't able to make the class as my mom's car broke on her way home from church, so Greg had to work on that, but we did go to small group!) 

The two times that we have really searched for a church home, God has made it so very clear where Home is for us!  We are excited about this new church home God has for us, they have an amazing Sunday School for our kids, AWANA, an amazing women's and men's ministry (they go on fishing trips so Greg is psyched!) they are mission minded, and even have the Perspectives class that we were looking to take back east!

This is just one place where I am feeling very blessed!  Although things are not easy right now, I know that God has great things planned for us here, and in the future. 

During this time of Thanksgiving, just remember to look at the small things that God has done for you.  I saw a quote today on Facebook that said "What if you woke up tomorrow with what you thanked God for today?"  What would you have?  Your family?  Your house?  Your church? Your life?  Your salvation?

To A Different Drum...

I recently read an amazing autobiography about Dr. Pauline G. Hamilton, a missionary to China and Taiwan from 1947 to 1978, called To A Different Drum.

What an amazing story of trusting God, going where called, and sharing the love of Jesus no matter what.

I loved how Hamilton wrote her life story, there were times I was laughing at her situation, crying with her, and finding myself fearing for her as well.

This story really hit close to home for me, as right now we are on our way to start preparing for a life in missions.  This is something that kinda hit out of nowhere, as the hubby and I never really felt called until last year!  We have no idea where or when God will send us, we were just told to prepare!  So, upon reading "Grandma Han's" story I really started to see what life would be like... 

You can get this book for as little as $0.01 + shipping right now on Amazon.com (used of course)

http://www.amazon.com/Different-Drum-Autobiography-Pauline-Hamilton/dp/9971838397/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1316919507&sr=8-1

Summer update

Well... I know it has been a long long time since I actually posted something about our family!  So much has happened.  Greg lost his job about a month ago, we are expecting a baby boy in December and are moving from Maine to Washington (yes across the country!).  We have been feeling called to missions for quite a while and with Greg loosing his job, it was the last push we needed to take the step to pursue it!  We are moving back into my mom's house and we will both be going back to school for a more formal Biblical education, and some training in missions/leadership.  With moving back home, we can downsize our living costs and possessions and really focus on what God has for us. 

We left our home in New England after much help from some great friends (we couldn't have packed our trailer without them!) and then weighed our trailer and we were 3000 lbs over the Axel weight... So with it being about 2am, we had to wait until U-Haul opened in the morning so we could unpack a lot of things and pack up a U-Box and ship a ton of our things (we don't have much left... everything had fit in a 16 ft utility trailer!).

We did celebrate our baby girl's first birthday in New Hampshire and then another party in Colorado!

We are now in Wyoming after spending a few weeks in Eastern Colorado/Wyoming with family and friends, and are slowly making our way to Washington, spending time with family along the way.  We are now at Greg's Aunt's house and probably spending a little more time then planned, just to help her out with some of the little things that need fixing around her house!

The Iron Women of the Word will be taking up our regular posts again this fall, we all were crazy busy this summer with kids, moving, husbands, church and well just life in general! 

I thank you for continuing your following and will be posting this fall on our journey into missions, parenthood of 3!, being a stay at home mom who is homeschooling preschool one more year, living with my mom on a farm (yes we will be getting animals!!! WOO HOO!) and so much other things that we will be going through!