Lil update on us, Village Church and more
I just told Jay how much I love it here. I recently posted a blog about what the Lord has done in my heart here. I'm still not over it. My heart & mind feel as fresh as the mountain air. CHEESY but so very true and my heart is full.
God has blown us away with His faithfulness. He is everywhere. He amazes me daily, hourly.
He has helped Gabe's heart go from "I'm never leaving Columbus." back in May to "I hope we never leave Angel Fire, ever." I feel ya kid. I feel ya.
Here's a few stories I wish I could tell each of you over coffee...
One Friday night, a month ago or so, we made coffee and put out some snacks in preparation for our weekly service. (Still being held at our house for three more weeks!) We had a rather small group that night I think there may have been 10 of us. We began like any other night - in worship.
We began singing our last song and I kid you not it sounded like there were 200+ people singing with us. At first I thought it might be something playing on the computer I was holding. (I'm the tech girl. That should make EVERYONE laugh and fear for our church.)
Then I noticed Jay was weeping. Y'all know me. I'm the simplest Christian you will ever meet but...without a doubt I knew what was happening..... ANGELS.
We continued singing with what sounded like Christ Community on a Sunday morning instead of our living room with 10 people.
ANGELS y'all. I'll never forget it.
After we finished we just all just sat in awe. Then Jay said "do you realize we just sang with the Angels? That could mean one of two things, or both. Either they were coming to protect us from something the enemy was planning against us OR they wanted to join in with what we are doing tonight and in this village." I think BOTH! Come on Jesus.
It was truly an amazing moment that I hope everyone can experience this side of Heaven.
Another way He has been faithful is with opening up doors for us to reach out and love on people. We saw a waitress crying one day. She never came towards our table for us to pray over her but we prayed for her without her knowing. When we went back a week or so later she came over to speak and we told her we'd been praying for her. She wrote us a long note telling us what was going on in her life so now we get to pray for that specific need. (I did write her back too)
We've also been renovating the church building. Eww. One night in the POURING RAIN we all scrubbed bathrooms, pulled up carpet and did other cleaning jobs. The folks that came worked HARD. In the dark (we had very little light) doing grunt work. One friend who came is a leader in another church in town. He'd been up since 3:30am and he had to be up at 3:30am the next morning. He still came. What a guy.
We didn't finish all of the work that night because it was a lot. (sweet jay thought we would...) So Jay called the boys home in Eagle Nest to hire some guys to help. These guys have all had hard lives. They've been in jail/prison and this is their half-way house (more or less) before rejoining the real world.
The first day these two guys showed up. Jay befriended them fairly quickly and towards the end of the day got them talking/sharing about their lives. Neither had grown up in a healthy environment. Jay asked them at one point if they knew the last time they'd sat down and had dinner with a family, any family, not just their own. They both responded at least 5 years ago.
Jay said something in him broke hearing that. So he said "well, we'll have to have you guys over for dinner with our family some time."
We've since had 4 or more other guys come work with Jay. All sharing the same life story.
I went by one afternoon last week to pay the two guys that were finishing their work day. I talked to one for a while about skiing, how beautiful Angel Fire is and what the building was they were working on, etc. They weren't scary guys but you could tell they'd had a hard life and had done some "not so christian" things...
As I was getting in my car one of the guys yelled "hey, are you that wife that wants to have us over for dinner?" Y'all, he went from looking like a punk we might hide our purse from to a 5 year old little boy in that moment. He looked like a precious child asking to have a family, even for a night.
I smiled a BIG OLE smile and said, "Yes! Absolutely I want to and look forward to it."
Only God.
He has put some amazing friends in our lives who know and love the Lord. We are so thankful. My friend Kelly told me when we moved here that "to make it in a small town you have to throw yourself out there and get involved." So I have! I've hosted parties at my house and am in the middle of planning a Friendsgiving. I've joined PTA and started volunteering at G's school. I have met precious people at church and at work.
It's been so sweet.
One last story about God's fun ideas. When we were still praying/considering this move last fall Jay called a NM pastor in a nearby town Red River. Jay told him what we were thinking and asked about the culture here, etc. The pastor, Ed, explained all that and they probably talked 30-45 mins. Then Ed said, "I don't know how you'd feel about this but God works in mysterious ways...We'll be looking for a worship pastor next Fall. Maybe you can fill that role." (i'm paraphrasing b/c it's been a year.)
Well, in July Jay started helping with worship at Faith Mountain in Red River on Sundays and yesterday took the worship pastor role (at least for a year.) It is the sweetest, friendliest church! We love being involved over there and love how God has used that job to provide for our family.
He just thinks of everything.
He has given us friends who don't know him that we can pray for and hopefully show them Christ.
I could go on and on about how wonderful God has been to us. But you are probably tired of reading.
I shared this song on FB a while back (i'm not much for sharing songs) but this one has carried me through packing up my house in Georgia to putting myself out there in a tiny town in NM.
He is so good. And "not for a moment will He forsake me." Or you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjVLkmLL6DY
God has blown us away with His faithfulness. He is everywhere. He amazes me daily, hourly.
He has helped Gabe's heart go from "I'm never leaving Columbus." back in May to "I hope we never leave Angel Fire, ever." I feel ya kid. I feel ya.
Here's a few stories I wish I could tell each of you over coffee...
One Friday night, a month ago or so, we made coffee and put out some snacks in preparation for our weekly service. (Still being held at our house for three more weeks!) We had a rather small group that night I think there may have been 10 of us. We began like any other night - in worship.
We began singing our last song and I kid you not it sounded like there were 200+ people singing with us. At first I thought it might be something playing on the computer I was holding. (I'm the tech girl. That should make EVERYONE laugh and fear for our church.)
Then I noticed Jay was weeping. Y'all know me. I'm the simplest Christian you will ever meet but...without a doubt I knew what was happening..... ANGELS.
We continued singing with what sounded like Christ Community on a Sunday morning instead of our living room with 10 people.
ANGELS y'all. I'll never forget it.
After we finished we just all just sat in awe. Then Jay said "do you realize we just sang with the Angels? That could mean one of two things, or both. Either they were coming to protect us from something the enemy was planning against us OR they wanted to join in with what we are doing tonight and in this village." I think BOTH! Come on Jesus.
It was truly an amazing moment that I hope everyone can experience this side of Heaven.
Another way He has been faithful is with opening up doors for us to reach out and love on people. We saw a waitress crying one day. She never came towards our table for us to pray over her but we prayed for her without her knowing. When we went back a week or so later she came over to speak and we told her we'd been praying for her. She wrote us a long note telling us what was going on in her life so now we get to pray for that specific need. (I did write her back too)
We've also been renovating the church building. Eww. One night in the POURING RAIN we all scrubbed bathrooms, pulled up carpet and did other cleaning jobs. The folks that came worked HARD. In the dark (we had very little light) doing grunt work. One friend who came is a leader in another church in town. He'd been up since 3:30am and he had to be up at 3:30am the next morning. He still came. What a guy.
We didn't finish all of the work that night because it was a lot. (sweet jay thought we would...) So Jay called the boys home in Eagle Nest to hire some guys to help. These guys have all had hard lives. They've been in jail/prison and this is their half-way house (more or less) before rejoining the real world.
The first day these two guys showed up. Jay befriended them fairly quickly and towards the end of the day got them talking/sharing about their lives. Neither had grown up in a healthy environment. Jay asked them at one point if they knew the last time they'd sat down and had dinner with a family, any family, not just their own. They both responded at least 5 years ago.
Jay said something in him broke hearing that. So he said "well, we'll have to have you guys over for dinner with our family some time."
We've since had 4 or more other guys come work with Jay. All sharing the same life story.
I went by one afternoon last week to pay the two guys that were finishing their work day. I talked to one for a while about skiing, how beautiful Angel Fire is and what the building was they were working on, etc. They weren't scary guys but you could tell they'd had a hard life and had done some "not so christian" things...
As I was getting in my car one of the guys yelled "hey, are you that wife that wants to have us over for dinner?" Y'all, he went from looking like a punk we might hide our purse from to a 5 year old little boy in that moment. He looked like a precious child asking to have a family, even for a night.
I smiled a BIG OLE smile and said, "Yes! Absolutely I want to and look forward to it."
Only God.
He has put some amazing friends in our lives who know and love the Lord. We are so thankful. My friend Kelly told me when we moved here that "to make it in a small town you have to throw yourself out there and get involved." So I have! I've hosted parties at my house and am in the middle of planning a Friendsgiving. I've joined PTA and started volunteering at G's school. I have met precious people at church and at work.
It's been so sweet.
One last story about God's fun ideas. When we were still praying/considering this move last fall Jay called a NM pastor in a nearby town Red River. Jay told him what we were thinking and asked about the culture here, etc. The pastor, Ed, explained all that and they probably talked 30-45 mins. Then Ed said, "I don't know how you'd feel about this but God works in mysterious ways...We'll be looking for a worship pastor next Fall. Maybe you can fill that role." (i'm paraphrasing b/c it's been a year.)
Well, in July Jay started helping with worship at Faith Mountain in Red River on Sundays and yesterday took the worship pastor role (at least for a year.) It is the sweetest, friendliest church! We love being involved over there and love how God has used that job to provide for our family.
He just thinks of everything.
He has given us friends who don't know him that we can pray for and hopefully show them Christ.
I could go on and on about how wonderful God has been to us. But you are probably tired of reading.
I shared this song on FB a while back (i'm not much for sharing songs) but this one has carried me through packing up my house in Georgia to putting myself out there in a tiny town in NM.
He is so good. And "not for a moment will He forsake me." Or you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjVLkmLL6DY
Kaci this is so amazing! We are so happy and encouraged by what you guys are doing! We pray for you guys regularly and truly believe huge huge things are on the horizon and already happening in Angel Fire and the whole valley area. Blessings upon blessings to you :)
ReplyDeleteKursti
we covet your prayers!!! come see us :)
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