Hello All!!
Lessons learned...
We learned something oh so valuable that may be obvious to many ;) When God gives you a word...sometimes it is just for a season. Also, when we live this life of faith and that life leads us to "color outside the lines" at times, it is also important to color inside the lines at times. God does occasionally guide and lead in ways that do not seem logical to our finite minds, but He often leads in ways that are logical. Discerning exactly what He is doing is where seeking wisdom is very key :)
We have been praying for direction and moving forward knowing that it is easier to guide a moving ship than one that has the anchor down. We have been trying to step out in faith and go in a direction that is in keeping with the vision God has given us for Cambodia and human trafficking...knowing that God can redirect at any time. Well, He has.
So what's up??
Through prayer and council, we have decided to stay in the Alexandria area for a minimum of two years. Jake will be getting more hours at his job, and we are working to get our debts paid off. Another big change is that I (Rachael) will be homeschooling our oldest daughter, Alyssa, for 8th grade. Our other three girls will still be attending public school. It is a big change, but one Jake and I are pretty excited about. If you would pray for Alyssa, she is okay with the decision and understands, but she is not excited about missing her friends. So prayer for peace for her and wisdom for us as parents would be appreciated.
What about the trip Cambodia in August and Cosmetology school??
The Cambodia trip is not a go for us at this time. It's just not the right time. It is also not the right time to move to the cities because of our current goals and the decision to homeschool.
The joy(?) of being transparent :)
This has been a very humbling time for us...hence the delay in posting on our website :) It is difficult when your family decisions are posted online and then they change a lot. We don't like appearing "flaky". Sometimes life is tough to figure out, but it keeps us pressing in to God and more fully dependent on Him...so THAT is good :) We want to follow God wherever, whenever, and however He leads. What it looks like may change, and our perception of His leading will at times need His redirection.
"He sees the master plan
And He holds our future in His hands
So don't live as those who have no hope
All our hope is found in Him
We see the present clearly
But He sees the first and the last
And like a tapestry He's weaving you and me to someday be just like Him" (Babbie Mason)
So what was the plan with Mexico anyway? And Cambodia?
I'd would like to take a moment to clear up a couple of misconceptions that some people have had (probably due to my wording on the blog!). Several people have thought we felt called to Mexico specifically-which we did, but as a step on our journey. The door was definitely open to staying but we really had no idea what God had in store. The actual word we heard from God was to sell our things and move to Mexico. We also felt God impressing on our hearts that we would be in full-time missions. When I blogged, I lumped those two together. We didn't know if Mexico was was our life-long destination, but we did know it was the next step we were to take. We may even end up going back for more training in the future.
In hearing about Cambodia, some thought we meant we were going there immediately. That was definitely not the case. There really isn't any doubt in our minds that we will be in Cambodia and work in the fight against human trafficking. However, we know that we need a LOT of training and more focus as in "exactly what we will be doing there" before we actually go there as a family. As for the timing-we really don't know. It could be years. We believe God is developing in us a heart for the issue of human trafficking and has given us this vision of Cambodia specifically as a filter as we make decisions. It is keeping us focused about where we put our time and money. We are working hard not to accumulate "stuff" and are being very intentional about the way we live life and the training we pursue.
In summary...
We are focusing on paying off debt and zeroing quite a bit more on our family and building that foundation. We are in the Dave Ramsey "Financial Peace University" course right now (LOVE IT), and we both have been doing quite a bit of studying. I have been learning so much about being a better manager of our home and our time as a family. Jake has been learning a lot about the value of that father-daughter relationship. He's been working hard at being intentional in his parenting and the way he shows love to our family. (I love this man!!) We recently came up with a family purpose statement through which major (and minor) decisions will be filtered. Jake and I are really excited to be more intentional about living our lives.Thanks so very much for taking the time to read this long post. It means so much that people care about our family. We are immensely blessed with amazing and supportive friends and family. Words can't even begin to express our gratitude. Thank you.
Love,The Christensen Family
