As I write this, we are six days away from the trip of a lifetime, spanning an ocean and a continent, we are flying to Ghana, West Africa on January 25. This trip has been over four years in the making. As I ponder back over the last years, I realize that God's timing is never wrong. We had planned to come two years ago, but God had another plan.
Working a good job in downtown Minneapolis, I thought I had life under control. But it started to slip away from my tightly clenched plans as life moved along, we were still separated from our husband/daddy, and it was getting more difficult to keep everything in my control. God told me that He had a better plan for me. In early 2009, as I was driving to Bible study, I had a tough conversation with God about the circumstances we were facing. Financially, we were overwhelmed with daycare, housing, car, amongst other things. I asked God how I was going to get through this and what was going to happen to us. I should say the conversation was more like a hysterical weeping session between God and me. As I pulled up to Bible study, I brought myself under control and told God it was in His hands. I didn't want to control this anymore.
At Bible study that night, I was leading, Afterwards, we had a time of prayer. One of the ladies in my Bible study shared that they were losing their rental property, which was in fact their first home. She was requesting prayer for someone to live in the home rent-free, paying the utilities until the foreclosure went through. I couldn't believe my ears. I had been pleading with God about our financial issues and was I hearing this right, this opportunity was immediately available???? Was this the answer? I responded that I'd been praying about our extremely tight financial condition. We talked it through over the next few weeks, I prayed a lot and had others praying...I went to visit the house. It was in a challenged area of Minneapolis, called "North Minneapolis." That was the "hitch." I would be giving up my beautiful, new built apartment in a lovely area of Coon Rapids, a nice suburb, to go and live in "the hood." I was not a stranger to this area, as my church ministered there. I had prayed about potentially going to live there someday...but now? But God told me "yes" - and we moved there in April of 2009. Here were Martin and I courageously living where God had literally made a place for us to recover financially.
Then in June of 2009 another change came. I lost my job downtown Minneapolis. Not only had God known the pleas of my heart, he knew that soon we would be unable to afford the pricey apartment in the 'burbs. He had a perfect and holy plan for us. I was humbled by the experience of total obedience.
As 2009 thundered on, we still wanted to go to Ghana. It felt like it would never happen. But at the end of 2009, after four years of separation, we were finally able to purchase tickets to Ghana. This was not my ideal timing! But God had "released" me from so many things while I followed him in obedience, it was apparent that I could now travel to Ghana in relative peace, without the binds that would have existed just two years prior.
2009 was my year of "change." I had chosen this mantra before the year began. The amount of changes that we experienced were amazing and some were difficult. 2010 is a year of "moving forward" and of "new beginnings" for our little family. As I finish my grad school paper, pack all of our earthly belongings and get ready for this next chapter in our lives, I'm following God to Ghana in obedience. I've learned that obedience is not always easy and fun. It's challenging. It requires the ability to be flexible and to understand that God's will isn't always tangible. It's fluid. But it's obedience. It's listening to God's voice and understanding that many times, it's just a mystery. It's being able to allow for mystery and ambiguity along the way. It's letting go of your own will and your own way, and allowing God to lead. And while I get in God's way a lot, it's reminding yourself that God's way has been best.
We're looking forward to this new year and new adventures. Ghana, here we come.
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