New Address, New Hope

An Interstate Move, and Renewed Hope

We have successfully made our move from Florida to Kentucky. Already we’re perceiving the Lord’s wisdom in orchestrating this change for us. At first, we wondered why the Lord would have us do an interstate move before we deploy to Germany. It didn’t make sense to us that two major moves in a short span of time would be a good idea. However, almost as soon as we arrived, we began to experience the goodness of the Lord in this transition.

Our family is enjoying a period of rest after our ten-year sojourn in Florida. Many of those years were marked with difficulty and pain. This new home provides a needed reset for our family. The pace of life here is much slower and calmer than where we lived in Florida. Our souls needed this slowdown. We needed to catch our collective breaths.

Another immediate benefit to us moving is that our support-raising efforts have seen greater fruit. There was a period where we hit a wall, so to speak. We were not getting responses to our contacts to try to set appointments for presentations, and we weren’t gaining any new ministry partners. This was very discouraging for us. We cried out to God for His help, but none seemed to come. All of that changed once we discerned that we were being led to move to Kentucky. Almost immediately new pledges of support and opportunities to present our mission to individuals and churches started to come in. We think that God knew that, if these opportunities were coming in before we decided to move, we would have stayed in Florida.

Finally, and most importantly, this move has enabled us to quickly adapt our plans for our future mission in ways we could not have if we still lived in Florida. We received some unexpected and disappointing news earlier this week (see our prayer requests below for those details), but this move and the related changes to our family’s future plans meant that the unexpected developments could be addressed with relative ease and greater hope. The Lord is so good!

In many ways we’re still in the dark about what lies ahead for us. We’re still figuring out how long it will take before we can deploy for Germany. We’re still figuring out our financial situation (we have sufficient means to last us a while, but we need to make sure we don’t exhaust those too quickly). But we’re resolved to trust the Lord every step of the way. He has been faithful and will ever be faithful. He loves the people of Berlin and has called us to be His agents of heralding that love. We will be totally secure under His watchful care over us.

I waited patiently for the LORD; he inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the LORD. (Psalm 40:1-3)

Prayer Requests

• As mentioned above, we received some unexpected and disappointing news this week. The Black Forrest Academy informed us that they do not have sufficient staffing to be able to receive Graeme and Christian as students for the 2023/2024 academic year. Enrolling our children in the BFA was a significant part of our plans and so this is a major adjustment. Thankfully, we have been able to think through potential solutions and know that we have very workable options. Pray that the Lord provides more staff for BFA. Pray that we would be able to have our children enrolled in a school/schools that could accommodate their needs. Pray that we don’t panic and continue to trust that the Lord does not give His children stones when they ask for bread.
• Pray that our two oldest children can find part-time work here in Kentucky.
• Pray that God will cause our family’s resources to stretch and that I (Tim) can find a source of income that also allows us to commit ourselves to our support-raising efforts.
• Finally, give praise to the Lord that our first great nephew was born on Wednesday, February 15, 2023! We’re so proud of our nephew, Marquel, and his wife, Allyssa!