I had never wanted to move to Chicago. In fact some have heard me say, “I would never move to Chicago.” Then in August of 2008 at the beginning of the housing crisis my husband Steve and I did the most unthinkable according to many friends and family. We moved to Chicago as our two youngest kids were entering their junior year of high school and we moved without having sold our home in Ohio.
Our move was purely for spiritual reasons. At that time the influence of the world had a horrible stronghold on our two youngest children. We knew only one couple in Chicago and in an attempt to break that stronghold and be part of a strong ministry with a dynamic teen ministry we moved to Chicago. We were uncertain how we were going to afford paying our house mortgage and rent (in Chicago no less), but we were desperate and willing to risk everything to rescue our children. Then our very first day in Chicago as we unpacked our belongings we got an offer on our house and in August 2009 our daughter Hannah made Jesus Lord and was baptized. I personally believe that God wanted to see our faith in action.
The two years in Chicago went by quickly. We had always known that our time in Chicago was temporary. Our plan had always been to live in Chicago until our children graduated from high school and then move south. My only request to Steve was that “he promise me he wouldn’t move us to Gainesville, Florida.” We had lived there twenty-seven years earlier (1987) during our first six months of marriage while Steve was finishing up his degree. The University of Florida was there as well as lots of barren fields. I couldn’t imagine us living there. In our attempt to figure out where we were going to live we prayed and visited different churches in the South including Gainesville. Then one day I told Steve, “I have absolutely no idea why I’m saying this, but I believe God is leading us to Gainesville.” So we moved to Gainesville in July 2010.
Moving is always difficult and perhaps more so in our circumstances. We were in our early fifties, knew absolutely no one in the church and had no children to tie us to the community. Building relationships was our primary focus and it was difficult and very lonely. Perhaps it was my age or my gender, but I cried and prayed a lot. In one of my prayers I told God that “I needed to see the manifestation of Him working in my life and asked that He put influential women of the community in my life for His glory.” For some reason I also asked him to “put me on a Board of Directors of some non-profit organization.”
During those days of crying and praying I once again felt the prodding of the Spirit telling me to go knock on doors and reach out to my neighbors. I’m sad to report that once again, I told God “no, I hate doing that.” Then one day towards the end of October I had had it. I could no longer tolerate my misery of being lonely and at the same time have that constant prodding from the Spirit. I told Steve “even though I totally hate doing this, I am going to do what God has been telling me, and I have to do this on my own.”
I knew just knocking on doors and introducing myself wouldn’t be enough so I came up with a five week bible study on, “Surviving the Holidays, Do You Want A Peace of Mind or A Piece of Pie?” I made invitations, got up my nerve, told the Lord, “let’s go” and went out to knock on doors. My neighborhood consists of smaller neighborhoods within one big neighborhood. In my small neighborhood there are thirty homes and as I walked up each and every driveway I literally felt nauseated. Fear and faith were right there with me. The first doorbells I rang no one was home and I was beginning to feel more at ease, and became hopeful that others wouldn’t be home as well. Then I rebuked myself for my fear as well as wasting my efforts and the Lord’s.
That first day I met and invited two of my neighbors who surprisingly were friendly and open to the invitation. I was excited. On the second day I met a retired couple from New York who invited me into their home and shared about themselves. As I was getting ready to leave, I told the wife about the bible study I was going to have the following week and asked if she was interested in coming. The husband in the most austere tone of voice said to me, “we are NOT interested in the bible, NOW OR EVER!” I literally froze, not sure what I should say or do next. Should I just leave without a word? Should I say, “thank you” and walk out? In the meantime during my silent and frozen moment, the husband asked his wife, “who do we know who would want to come to her bible study?” The husband literally took me by my wrist and led me out of his home, down his driveway, down the street and across a main street into another small neighborhood and pointed saying, “see that fourth house on the left? That woman will want to come to your Bible study.”
· November 2010 I and one other disciple had nine women come for five months to the bible talk. Not only did we do the original five-week series, but in January 2012 we did the “studies” with the women.
· February 2011 I was asked to be on TWO Boards of Directors of non-profit organizations. One was a religious organization called “Young Life” (a ministry that reaches out to high school students) and the other was “Women’s Resource Medical Clinic” a non-profit devoted to helping pregnant women choose life for their unborn baby. This facility is literally right next-door to “Planned Parenthood” here in Gainesville.
· April 2011 the Director of Young Life told me after the first board meeting I attended he had heard I love to study the Bible with women. He asked if I would like to be on the Board of Directors OR be willing to mentor and study the Bible with the women leaders and help them be more grounded in the Word. Naturally I chose the latter.
· May 2011 I began to study with 6-10 women leaders and continued throughout the school year.
· July 30, 2011 Courtney got baptized in our pool.
· October 30, 2011 Alex (Courtney’s roommate) got baptized. Alex continues to lead Bible studies for Campus Crusade. She was engaged at the time to Kenton.
· Alex’s friend Jessica who is the director of Campus Crusade wants to study the Bible.
· February 2012 Nikki (Courtney’s best friend from childhood) got baptized.
· March 2012 Kenton (Alex’s fiancé, now husband) got baptized. He too leads Bible studies and mentors men leaders in Young Life.
· July 2012 Nikki’s best friend’s sister is studying the Bible in Tampa.
· July 2012 Nikki’s former college roommate is studying the Bible in South Florida.
· July 2012 Chelsey, another one of Courtney’s best friends from childhood is studying the Bible in Atlanta.
The Spirit continues to prod us and we are listening. Steve and I believe we are being led to have more “hands on” experience with the poor and live out James 1:27. Through the scriptures we have seen a lack of personal involvement with serving the poor and we are determined to repent. After much prayer and doing our “homework,” on August 15, 2012 Steve and I will be moving to Nicaragua for at least one year (we will reassess after one year). Nicaragua is the 2nd poorest country in the western hemisphere after Haiti. Our thought is since we are young healthy empty nesters who presently have no grandchildren this would be the perfect time to step out of our comfort zone. Like every disciple, we are in the full-time ministry, just unpaid and hopefully we will inspire others that they too can do this. We are not financially supported by anyone, we have not been asked to go, and we don’t have lots of money. Steve is not retired and though he has made a huge change in career, we hope to pay our expenses by teaching English. In truth we have absolutely no idea what the Lord has in store for us but we are willing and excited to step up to the call. We know for us this is right.
As you can see, the Lord has done amazing things and has answered my prayers far beyond what I had ever imagined. The Lord made things happen that would have otherwise been impossible for me to ever do. How often do you know of someone who is not known or worked in the community be invited to be on two boards of directors? How often does a director of a religious organization ask a disciple to study the bible with his women leaders? This is totally God and I feel as though He is telling me, “this is just a taste of greater things to come!”
I wonder at times who was the person(s) I was suppose to have met in Chicago and because I said, “no” to the Spirit’s prompting, I will never know.