Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Plans.....

I've been contemplating this post for a while, now, and wanted to share some things.  Many, who know us personally, know the journey we have been on in the past few months, and know some of this already.  I share this to ask you to pray for us. 

These past few months have been some of the most difficult that we have encountered thus far.  We moved up here to the Pacific Northwest in July, 2008, VERY excited, as we felt led by the Lord to come up here to plant a church here in our town.  We left everything we knew, in Oklahoma, including many dear friends, and a strong network of pastor friends for my husband.  We came here knowing that it would be hard, but determined to follow where He lead us.  Fast forward three very wonderful years to where we are at now.  Our church plant was blessed with so many wonderful families who love the Lord, and loved serving in this community to get something going here.  Unfortunately, we didn't grow to a point where we could be self supporting, and much of our funding was running out.  As we began to see the bigger picture in it all, God brought my husband in contact with another pastor, who was here doing the same thing we were doing.  Through much prayer (and many tears), we came to the conclusion that it was time for us to relinquish OUR plans to the Lord, and we ended up merging with the other church here in town.  It has been wonderful to see the two come together to become a stronger base to start from, but in this process, it left us having to come to terms that our service here in this town that we love was coming to an end.  This is the part that has been so very painful for us.  We want to see this town have a very strong church, and in our selfishness, we really wanted to be able to be a part of that plan. 

The past three years, Brad has been serving part time at a church on Sunday mornings, to help support our family (in this hugely expensive economy!).  This church has been a huge blessing to us and been so supportive, to allow my husband to serve on Sunday mornings, and office there during the week.  Through this time, they have allowed us to stay on, part time, and for that we are so grateful.  We are coming to a time, now, though, where we are desperately seeking where God would have us to serve full time.  We have Brad's resume out to every possible place we hear about.  We have asked the Lord to show us where He wants us, and so far, every door, every possiblity, has been shut.  This process has been very painful as well.  We know that He has a perfect plan for us, and we are trying to remain patient as we wait.  I have to admit that there are times of sheer panic for me.... we have FOUR kids that God has entrusted to us (I know He doesn't need to be reminded of that, it's just an overwhelming thought).  I go to bed at night, and my heart is pounding SO hard, from the stress.  I find myself constantly having to re-lay this at the feet of the ONE who is in control of all things!  Not an easy task for this control freak!

We would ask that you keep us in your prayers.  Please pray that we would be open to where He wants us to go.  Our hearts desire is to stay here, close to family, but we have lived far from family, and we know that He will be with us, if we have to leave them.  Please pray that we would continue to grow and lean not on our own understanding, in all of this.  Also, please pray that the pain of loss would heal.  Relinquishing this church has been one of the hardest things we have ever had to do.  We seriously LOVE these people, and would give anything to be able to pastor them.  They have been so very supportive of our family through this hard transition, and continue to encourage and pray for us.  We love them so MUCH!

Obviously, through this process, God brought the sweetest blessing into our life.... in the form of Ella Grace.  While these months have been, at times, so painful, He has brought us so  much joy through this little girl, and we couldn't be more thankful at the timing of this gift to us.  Getting her home was a huge distraction to us, and I'm so glad we had that to focus on!  I am overwhelmed with gratefulness at the way God is blessing through all of this.  He continues to show our family that He will be our provider, and continues to shower us with His unfailing love. 

10 comments:

  1. Change is hard for all of us. I think it's human nature :) But just as you were probably nervous about moving to the northwest, you ultimately were so overjoyed at the way the Lord brought things together. He will do that again.

    If we knew the outcome why would we need faith? Faith is trusting the Lord for what we can't see and through that, He draws us closer to Him. We will uplift your family in prayer as you trust the Lord to guide your way.

    "Call unto Me and I WILL answer thee and show thee GREAT and mighty things which thou knowest not." Jeremiah 33:3

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  2. I love you guys! :-)

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  3. we have been praying for your family and will continue to do so!!!

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  4. My heart hurts for you. Indeed, we are praying. We love you with the love of the Lord.

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  5. Praying for you guys! I know this transition time has to be so difficult. Just remember "The heart of man plans his way,but the LORD establishes his steps" -Proverbs 16:9

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  6. I'm reading your post and I can't believe it...we are also going through much of the same. My husbands business is pretty much done. We haven't gotten work in since we got back from China. We keep praying and praying for direction of knowing where He wants us to go and what to do. Luckily same as you, we have our sweet blessing that has helped us get throught these trying times. I read somewhere recently that sometimes you are blessed with something good right before you go through trials to help you get through it. It helped me so much because I kept wondering why would He allow us to bring her home to us and then we lose everything?? Now I know why and I continue to have faith that it will all work out.

    We are praying for your family and it will all work keep trusting in the Lord!

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  7. I will add you as I have added Christian to my prayer list. What a difficult time and yet you and I both know that God will reveal His faithful plan to you in His time.

    I can so relate to the going to bed and having my heart pound moments. It is no fun and for this I will pray for peace to surround you and your beautiful family!!!

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  8. Sigh. So hard. Praying for all six of you. And, like you, I can't wait to see the amazing stories of the journey you'll emerge with on the other side.

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  9. Thank you for sharing your heart with us. When the title of your blog post said "plans" ...I held my breath reading the first few lines....hoping that you were not announcing a move. I am selfish like that...wanting you guys to stay so I can see you. I know the Lord has a PERFECT plan for the McCain 6...looking forward to seeing it unfold. Thank you for being a part of our lives and for shepherding our family the first two years we lived here!!! Love you all!

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  10. Thank you so much for sharing Shelly...I feel as if I know you so much better by you openly sharing what is on your heart like this.

    Indeed I will pray for you and for your family. Aren't we lucky to know that God always has the perfect plans for us...better than we can ever imagine!! It's just the waiting part that is oh so difficult...I will pray for your peace in knowing HE is in control and that He knows exactly where he wants your family to be...also praying that he will make it abundantly clear to you so that you will have no doubt in your minds as to where He is calling you.

    Blessings to you my new friend...
    gayle :)

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