This last weekend we attended a Power and Love conference in Fort Worth Texas. But even before we attended this conference, Dave and I have hearts that have begun to burn with the moving of the Holy Spirit. We feel the Lord talking to us about new adventures and dreams that have always been, but that has yet been realized until very recently. Here is some of the back story:
When Dave and I were dating, He would often tell me he wanted to do marriage ministry. Not having a lot of experience in the matter, we waited.
We enjoyed learning from other couples and books what to do and what not to do in marriage. Then we got married and things were super less than perfect in a few areas of our marriage. We still longed to teach others about what a gift God has for them in marriage, but God allowed Dave to get laid off, and we moved to the state of Texas from Bartlesville, OK. So, in the matter of ministry, we waited.
After moving to Houston, I was super frustrated, hurt and angry with the Lord. Dave was gone for 13-14 hours a day with his commute. Houston was the one place I prayed not to move to. I didn't feel like a big city kind of a girl, and I wanted my two adorable and toddling girls to know and have thriving relationships with their grandparents. I fell into a depression for a few months. Coming out of that time was a journey in itself. God showed His LOVE to me again, and I slowly emerged from the cocoon of anger and tried to spread my wings again. How on earth would God use this hurt I'd experienced? How can he use this move for our good? For these answers, I waited.
We lived in Houston for five years, loved and attended Houston's First Baptist church, had many moves within Houston, had many job changes, had another baby girl, continued to hear the promise God gave us for a son, and still desired to teach. After 4 years at Houston's First, Dave and I got the opportunity to teach a Newlywed or Close class. We were so excited, and taught with all we had. However, with my new career as a real estate agent, our new daughter still an infant, and spiritual warfare, our relationship suffered during that time. And then God made it abundantly clear that we were supposed to move to ND. After a year of teaching, and feeling beat up by the enemy, we had to let the directors of our class know that we were moving on. Moving to North Dakota, a new church, and learning the customs of a new state had us reeling. It was a blessed opportunity for sure! We met wonderful people, but knew that we were too new to come and start a class about marriage right away. We got the huge blessing, though, of planning and delivering a marriage retreat for the town of Dickinson, ND. We had a wonderful committee of people backing us, and the retreat was inspiring to us. Another sweet baby girl entered our family in ND. And then, while visiting Houston for Dave's job one cold January, we heard God's call on our lives to be back in Houston. Plans of having another retreat slipped away, and again, we waited.
Having a sense of familiarity in returning to Houston was refreshing. We came back to Houston's first looking for a spot to land. We had the blessing of reuniting with friends from before. We had the blessing of seeing family members more often than we had the opportunity of in North Dakota. We had promises fulfilled, we had a son. We felt the father's love like never before. Dave decided to press in to Jesus in a new way. He fasted, he prayed. And God revealed to us that his will for us is to work towards opening a (marriage) retreat center in Bartlesville OK. What does that look like? We aren't entirely sure. We are taking steps in obedience. But, what we do know is it's exactly what all of this journey has been pointing to. God igniting our hearts in thinking, dreaming, envisioning and praying for this (marriage) retreat is what we've been waiting for.
