New Beginnings

"Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground." Psalm 143:10

New beginnings are tough. First of all, they're tough because a new beginning means the end of something else. When I was working, I always hated both endings and beginnings. I hated quitting a job to move on to something else, because I usually always enjoyed my jobs. I also really hated that first day of work someplace new. Being the new person... I soooo hated that, each and every time. In fact, as I recall, there was even one time where I was so nervous and sick to my stomach about a new job that I called them up and told them it wasn't going to work out, and I never went to work there.

And now here we are, at another new beginning. Yesterday was our last Sunday with our church family here in town. It was bittersweet for us, we're very excited to be moving on to what God has for us, and to see where He is going to take us. But at the same time, we have friendships and connections with the people in this church that simply aren't going to be the same now that we won't be seeing them every Sunday morning. It will be so exciting for the church though... Andy and I have left a few holes in service that will need to be filled, and it will be so wonderful to see the people who may have wanted to do such things step up and fill in where needed, and that will be fantastic for the church body as a whole.

So what does that mean for us? I sure wish I knew! What we do know is that God told us it is time to move on, and yesterday it became clear to Andy and I what our goal for the future is, but in the meantime... we have some things to learn and we need to find a church to belong to for that purpose. It will be exciting to check out some churches that we've always talked about checking out, but never had the opportunity to do so. We also know that we are going to be stretched, and we keep mentioning- when people ask- that we're going to be going out of our comfort zone to see what God has for us. Yesterday it occurred to me though that I'd rather just expand my comfort zone, that idea is more palatable in my mind. We honestly don't know exactly what God wants us to do, but we've had glimmers of ideas. We have a host of talents that we can take to a body of believers, but we also need to explore some new skill sets to equip us for future service. Prayer and music are two areas that God keeps putting in my mind, and I pray that he gives me the courage and the talent to do what I may be asked to do.

The verse above today is our prayer as we move ahead. We've taken the right first step, and while we can be optimistic about finding the right church at the first one we go to, we also realize that the process of finding a church could take longer than we'd like. As we are in a time of "wandering" though, we look to God to teach us what we need to be taught, and we look to the Holy Spirit to keep us on the right path and to keep us from straying from the path that God has planned for us.