Treadmill Christianity Part 4-This is Home

My final thoughts on "Treadmill Christianity" surround an event that happened in my family almost one year ago. On the first Sunday in January 2011, I went to church as I normally did...but I could feel God doing something in my heart. Through the worship practice time I felt the voice of God speaking to me...telling me that He was calling us away from Refuge A/G.

The moment I heard that, I felt thrown into a state of panic. Fear flooded me. Fear because I didn't want to leave my home. I immediately thought of our children, who we had adopted several years earlier. I couldn't imagine the thought of taking them from the home they knew...from the school they knew....from the friends they had. It just didn't make sense to me. Why would God do this?

Then I thought about our church. My husband and I had spent 9 1/2 years at that church. It was our "baby". We had friends there...it was our church family. Why would God have us leave?

I also thought about the worship team. When we first came to Refuge, I had never led worship. I was scared to death of the prospects of doing so! But God grew me in ways I would have never imagined......giving me the courage and strength lead worship. Over those 9+ years, God grew our worship team by leaps and bounds! I loved leading worship! I mean, think about it....I had the same drummer for the entire 9 1/2 years. He basically could read my mind and knew exactly where I was going with a song without me even signaling anything to him! Why would God have us leave?

Nothing made sense to me. Nothing made sense....in my OWN mind. I was comfortable with our church. I was comfortable leading worship. It was comfortable not rocking the boat and uprooting our children from their home and school. It was downright scary to think of leaving.

So because of these fears and "comforts" I had, I basically dismissed what I felt God telling me. It didn't make sense to me. Maybe I just heard God wrong.

What I didn't account for was what happened after the church service. I really had almost forgotten about what happened earlier that morning. As we were getting ready to leave, my husband called me into his office. He had a weird look on his face as he said, "I have to tell you something...." I could tell he had something major to tell me.

Then he said it. "Today during service I felt God telling me that it's time for us to leave Refuge A/G."

If that isn't comfirmation, I don't know what is! (Now as a sidenote, I had not said a single word to him about what I had felt earlier that morning.)

At that moment, it was like all the pieces in the puzzle came together. I immediately told Kirk what God spoke to me and we both hugged each other and just knew what this meant. God was calling us to something new.

Yes, it would have been easy to stay. We were use to it there. We wouldn't have to go through sending out resumes, finding a new house, moving our children to a new place, etc....etc... We wouldn't have to go through leaving the people of our church. We wouldn't have to leave everything we knew.

That would have been the easy route. That would have been comfortable. That would have kept us on the treadmill.....spinning our wheels around and around....getting nowhere....because that was not what God wanted for us.

The next months for us consisted of a lot of "faith" moments....trusting God as we prayed about where to send resumes to. We earnestly prayed that God would lead us to the place that He wanted us to. God worked on our hearts and gave us a passion and excitement in our hearts for our new church family...even though we didn't know where that was yet.

We started the resume process in January and it took several months before hearing much from anywhere. But once God opened the door, it was simply AMAZING how everything came together. As doors closed all around us, God pointed us to one OPEN door--Lighthouse A/G in Tomah, Wisconsin. It was truly astonishing how God ordered our paths and brought us to this church.

Kirk and I traveled up to Tomah in April to interview for the position. I cannot even describe to you how we felt once arriving in Tomah...and once meeting some of the people of the church.

Home. We were home.

We felt at home immediately. All the fears and questions about our future were quieted as we had a sudden peace. God had us in the palm of His hands. He knew. He was bringing us home.

In May we came back to candidate for the position of pastor. I remember sitting in the sanctuary while the members of the church voted. My youngest daughter came and sat by me and leaned over and whispered to me, "I think we got it, Mom!" When I asked her if she was excited about this, she just grinned......"Yes, I like it here!"

Ahhhh....just what a mom's heart needed to hear!

I was overcome with emotion when the church welcomed us in as the newly voted in pastors. I tried to hold back tears of joy, but was unable to when my husband became choked up with emotion while he spoke to the congregation.

We were home. We truly have a family here. Yes, we had to leave the familiar....we had to step out in faith...we had to leave our comfort zone...we had to leave everything we knew...we had to leave our church family and friends. But we gained so very much.

First off, we knew we are in God's will. What better place is there to be than right in the center of His will????

Secondly, we gained a true family. It's amazing how God just placed us into such a loving spot, full of everything we needed. In the 6 months we have been here in Tomah, I have truly come to love our church and the people in it. Our whole family has....It's more than a church. It's more than a job. It's our home. It's our family.

I thank God for getting us off the treadmill and into the change He wanted for our lives.

God knew every step of this giant LEAP of faith. Now, I'm not saying this was all easy. But what I mean is that God was there for us. When He calls us, He WILL provide...and He WILL lead.

Whatever God is calling you to, walk in it boldly. You have nothing to fear about getting off the treadmill...or getting out of the boat.

I am going to close this "blog series" with the words from a favorite song of mine...."Never Once" by Matt Redman

Standing on this mountaintop
Looking just how far we’ve come
Knowing that for every step
You were with us
Kneeling on this battle ground
Seeing just how much You’ve done
Knowing every victory
Was Your power in us
Scars and struggles on the way
But with joy our hearts can say
Yes, our hearts can say

Never once did we ever walk alone
Never once did You leave us on our own
You are faithful, God, You are faithful

Kneeling on this battle ground
Seeing just how much You’ve done
Knowing every victory was Your power in us
Scars and struggles on the way
But with joy our hearts can say
Yes, our hearts can say

Never once did we ever walk alone
Never once did You leave us on our own
You are faithful, God, You are faithful
You are faithful, God, You are faithful

Scars and struggles on the way
But with joy our hearts can say
Never once did we ever walk alone
Carried by Your constant grace
Held within Your perfect peace
Never once, no, we never walk alone

Never once did we ever walk alone
Never once did You leave us on our own
You are faithful, God, You are faithful
Every step we are breathing in Your grace
Evermore we’ll be breathing out Your praise
You are faithful, God, You are faithful