Brethren, Pray For Us

     I haven't the time for writing today.  School clothes need picked out, laundry needs put away, lesson plans need reviewed, and on and on and on.  As much as I would like to say some deep life lesson has placed me at the laptop this evening, I'm sitting here wondering how on earth some people could be so cruel - how others could be so clueless - and how the enemy knows just how to send them to kick you when you're down.  I simply had to stop and ask for your prayer.

      Let's be honest.  There are times when God, Who is "our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble" doesn't feel very present...and strength is the very last thing we seem to possess.  Refuge seems like a thing of the past in these times.  Everything feels exposed and vulnerable, and we're left feeling like outsiders looking in.  I hate those times.  I hate this time that I'm in.   

     People keep telling me I'll look back and realize some great victory came of it all.  As much as I appreciate their words of encouragement, I'm just not sure they're right.  Sometimes, there's only loss and pain.  It's just the world we live in.  If you're staring down your nose at this critically, you just haven't been where I am.  I won't hold that against you.  I hope you're never here, friend.  I really mean that. 

     Several weeks ago, Clark and I made the most difficult decision we have ever had to make.  Instead of feeling like a death, it has felt like a hundred deaths…none so grievous as the ministry we loved and cherished.  I have never been more proud of my husband for his integrity and spiritual leading in the matter. The grief of it all hasn't made us doubt God's command in the matter.   But, no matter how sure I am that it was the right decision, the grief simply seems unbearable right now.  I am thankful to know He is leading, but we're still searching the valley for green pastures and still waters.  I am asking you as friends to pray for us.  We have no axe to grind.  We just want to heal.  Our love for our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ has only grown in the absence, and now, more than ever, we pray they are blessed.

"I'm not driven down this path I trod. 
I follow Him by choice.

I don't need to see the way ahead. 
I only need to hear the Shepherd's voice."

"Brethren, pray for us."  I Thessalonians 5:25