Raleigh/Durham, Here We Come!

As most of you know, my blog is not a “life update” blog. I don’t typically use this space as a diary of my family’s days, or my son’s latest milestones. Most of the time I stick to matters of faith, with personal anecdotes sprinkled throughout.

That’s why I feel a little funny sharing SO many life updates these last two months. In doing so, I’m not trying to change the purpose or content of my blog, but our family has experienced so much change in the last two months that I really can’t help myself. Plus, I want to share with y’all a little of what’s going on in our lives!

As I shared earlier this summer, Ike and I moved back to North Carolina in late June. It was a tough decision to come home because, for many reasons, it was a giant step of faith. We didn’t have all the details worked out yet, but we felt God say “yes”, so we took the leap. For the last 4 weeks, we’ve been staying with my parents in Charlotte while we discerned God’s leading.

Thankfully, God didn’t keep us waiting very long. Today I am excited to finally share that, beginning next month, Ike will be joining the staff of Crosspointe Church in Cary! Woohoo!

Before we moved to the Chicago area, I had been a 7-year member of The Summit Church in Durham, and that church has always been my heart’s home. However, Ike belonged to Crosspointe when we first began dating. As our relationship became serious, Ike left Crosspointe and joined The Summit with me, but Crosspointe has always remained a home for his heart the way Summit was a home for mine. Ike has missed Crosspointe a lot, so it is a dream come true to return.

We are additionally excited about this job because we love the Raleigh/Durham area. It’s a wonderful place to live, a terrific mix of Southern culture and hospitality, with the diversity and education of its three major universities. We feel like this is a region where our passions and our gifts intersect, so we are thrilled to do ministry there.

Although things have worked out just the way we hoped, I’m not going to lie and say this was a neat and tidy process. This has been an Abraham season of our lives–we followed God, though we did not know where we were going (Heb. 11:8). Ike and I have wrestled with a lot of uncertainty, not always knowing what was the right decision. At times, trusting God was a struggle. We experienced a lot of fear. We became irritable with one another under the stress. It’s been hard.

But amidst it all, we’ve been learning the hard lesson that sometimes following God does not mean walking a clear-cut path. Sometimes, following God simply means faithfulness to His character and obedience to His Word. Whether or not we have clarity about the next step, the “right decision” is to imitate Christ either way.

We’re still learning that. 🙂

Thanks for all the prayers and encouragement many of you have sent our way. We have been so blessed by the responses to this new, unfolding chapter. I am glad to finally share it with you, and we’ll keep you posted on anything new that comes our way!

Sharon

Sharon

Sharon