10 days to accomplish something

"In my mind I'm going to Carolina...can't you see the sunshine can't you just feel the moonshine, aint it just like a friend of mine, it hit me from behind. Yes I'm going to Carolina in my mind"--James Taylor

Scott and I spent many a day playing this song on repeat over the passed few months. Amping each other up for our big move, and trying to encourage one another and help us keep our focus on what we felt like God's vision, our vision was for this next season. So when we pulled into Charlotte a couple weeks ago for out mini vacation/scouting out the land trip, it came as no surprise to us to hear James Taylor singing this song on the radio the moment we crossed into Charlotte. We turned it up really loud, sang the parts of the song we actually know, and could not wipe these ridiculously cheesy grins off our faces. God is so fun. He does such awesome things for us to comfort us, especially in times when you have no idea if you're actually following His voice or not.

Well, we had no idea, until we spent 10 days in Fort Mill South Carolina just outside of Charlotte. God was pretty clear with us on this trip. He gave us confidence to go back home and tell everyone whole heartedly that we know we are supposed to move there.

When we got into town we grabbed some coffee, found a hotel, and then took a ride to our friends home for some fellowship and much needed encouragement. The Norbergs moved to Fort Mill about 3 years ago from the D.C. area with a journey/story similar to ours. Without wanting to share the details of their lives to publicly, they just felt God telling them to move there, and so they did! They didn't have jobs, but they had a home and they had a word from God and just followed it. We got to spend a lot of time with then while we were down there. And we are just so grateful for them! We really feel like we are getting an awesome taste of the fullness of God's love through these people. They don't reach out to us or encourage us out of obligation, but out of the sincerity of Christ working on and in their hearts. They hardly know us, but they love us, and that is Jesus:) We also met another couple that same evening, whom we soon came to find that we would actually be moving in with! But I'll get there later:)

The next day we went to MorningStar for church, I was expecting to have this overwhelming feeling when I stepped onto the grounds of the MorningStar campus. Feelings like: this place is famous, or these people are so different, or God is so present here! ...and I guess in a sense I did, but without all the glam only because I just felt like... it was normal. People dancing in the isles, and people up at the front of the church painting during worship, the thickness of God's presence on everyone I encountered. It just felt like, our niche, like we belonged there.

The days after were not so comfortable. There was a lot of frustration, a lot of toil, I woke up every morning with the need to have an agenda, and Scott had a need to just rest and listen to God. We just kept fighting each other on this for a couple days, trying to make things happen and go a certain way. Maybe there is a place for this in Christ, and maybe not. I've heard many debates. Some say, well you can't literally just sit back and do nothing because that's irresponsible, however I feel like Scott and I often argue the point that what if you don't hear God tell you to do anything? Does that mean you should just do whatever you come up with?  Or what if you feel at peace with what you are doing, and it just doesn't look like a good idea to the outside world around you? Should you start producing works that please your human flesh or please man, just to feel valuable, or responsible?

"Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord." Psalm 27:14

"Lord I wait for you; you will answer, Lord my God." Psalm 38:15

"On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command, Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about." Acts 1:4

"And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised." Hebrews 6:15

I guess something we came into contact with once again while we were in Charlotte was the concept of waiting. And when we shared this with mature people of the faith that we looked up to, they seemed to have this intense assurance, as they would just sit there and say to us "just wait" "just wait on God, He'll show you" , "seek God and wait on Him for the answers" why do we justify the not waiting? instead of the waiting which we find so evident written throughout the scriptures which we call our bible...our law.

So while we were in Charlotte/Fort Mill, we waited. We enjoyed ourselves, God put a lot of people in our path to confirm our moving down there. And He put confidence in us. We thought we would come home with jobs and a place to live, but we came home with more confidence in God and His design than we had when we left.

We prayed to God to give us a sign, to give us one physical thing we could bring home with us to show. Something we could have and say look, this is good, there is harvest and fruit in what we are doing!

On our way home from Charlotte we stopped in D.C. to visit our best friends Mitch and Katie where they presented to us a beautiful blooming yellow lily. Katie told us that while she was grocery shopping she felt Holy Spirit prompt her to purchase this plant for us, and she heard Him say "New life". She felt like God was saying we are going into a season of New Life, a life we had never experienced before. A life completely different from the ways of life than we have ever lived before.

That statement held much more weight than we knew of. We had faced so much opposition the first couple of days in Charlotte. It seemed like everywhere we turned people were steaming at us "THE ECONOMY THE ECONOMY!" constantly letting us know and wishing us luck on finding jobs...or belittling us because we didn't already have jobs, but we were planning to move there soon.

Yes this definitely is a new life. It should be normal, but it hasn't been to us. This intense faith. We want it to be normal. We don't want to say "having your ducks in a row=godliness" just because that is what makes us comfortable. We want to be blown like the wind, and by the wind of the spirit. And this is the new life, we have finally submitted to.

"The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the spirit." John 3:8

We did get to look at some apartments, dream about owning a house someday, visit a couple dance studios, and I got to take a ballet class:) We had fun, we enjoyed each other while Selah stayed back in NY with her grandparents. We sought God and we rested, and it seemed as though that was all we needed to do in order for things to start looking like we had some sort of a plan.