So, to start off the detailed updates, I will start with our decision to move to Hilda. For a long time, Steven had been looking at job postings at churches all over the place. We felt very strongly that we didn't want to go to a place that had no family close by so we started looking in our area. We loved where we lived and didn't want to move so that is where he started looking. After many applications sent, he got a few calls from local churches for interviews. None of them worked out so he started looking a little further away. Most times when he asked if he could send his resume to a specific church, I hesitated and then when he finally wore me down, I said, "yes" because then I knew he would stop asking for a while. Eventually he came to Hilda. Right away he thought it would be a good fit for us because it was so close to Gem. I still drug my feet for a long time and then finally said the obligatory, "yes."
We got a response right away and within a week, his references told us that they had been contacted. One of those references said that they had seemed quite serious and that we should start thinking that this could happen. I started getting really nervous. I did not think anything would have come from me saying that one tiny word. We soon got a phone call saying that they wanted to have an interview with us over the phone. Now I was REALLY nervous. Steven just kept saying that we were taking this whole thing one step at a time and we couldn't just assume that things would go to the point of us moving. After all, this is where we had been many times before. The interview came and went and it all went well and soon we heard that they wanted us to candidate there.
Our weekend to candidate was at the end of July. That was the longest trip I had ever taken. I was still positive that God didn't want this to happen (and looking back maybe at that point I was still in denial) but I went. Hesitantly. When we were there, it felt so good to be with people in a church who enjoyed serving God together and it felt like a big family. We both felt comfortable with the people there but still had specific reservations.
Our time there candidating obviously went well because within a day of leaving, we got the word that they were officially inviting us to be their new Pastor family. Whew. We had two weeks to give our answer and I felt like the world was sitting on my shoulders. I know that Steven felt the same only because he felt a strong calling to go and I did not.
Those two weeks were the darkest two weeks of my spiritual walk. I know now that it was God bringing me through the fire but man, was I stubborn. I so desperately wanted someone to say that it was ok to not go and it was ok to stay where we were. Steven had told me that it would be my decision. He wanted to go but knew I had reservations and doubts and that if I didn't feel right about going, we wouldn't. That seemed to put even more pressure on me but I know that if I hadn't had that pressure, I probably would not have said we could go. On the last morning that we had to give our answer, God finally got through my thick head and I realized we just HAD to go. I called Steven and told him. Man, he reacted as though he had won the lottery.
Right after I made that decision official, I sat down and thought, "Oh man, what have I done?" Not even 5 minutes later, I heard a sound outside and when I looked out the window, there were my parents! I had no idea they were coming and they were bringing us breakfast. The first thought that entered my mind is that God is SO good. He sent an immediate reward and it felt really good.
I didn't have a long time to sit though. We left just over a month later. Packed up everything, said a ton of goodbyes (some that were too excruciating for words) and left. We had planned that we would leave Chilliwack as soon as the movers did because after packing up the house, it would be easier just to continue on with our goodbyes and leave right away. I can't tell you how good it felt to drive away knowing that we had just finished something that was undoubtedly one of the hardest things we have ever had to do in our married lives together. I still cried a lot of that trip just going over those last few hours in my mind and the further we got, the harder it seemed to be to let go but then soon, there was the promise of a new start. A fresh start. A start that landed us right smack dab in the center of God's will. THAT felt amazing.
Since arriving here, we have seen evidence of God's hand leading the way over and over again. Even some of the things that made me hesitate the most, God has changed and shown me that anything is possible if we believe and walk in faith.
I know this post has turned into a long rambling session but I wanted you to know a bit about our journey to get where we are today.
