I am not sure how to start this, hummmm God is awesome....of course. God always knows what road we are on..........DUH! God has plans we never could imagine............WOW!
My story starts about 7 1/2 years ago. We had moved to Vacaville, Ca. to be near our daughter Charity, sil Bill & grandson Aslan. They were youth pastors there. While we were living there Charity became pregant with Miss Selah. About 2 months before Selah was born they moved to the Concord area to help another ministry. This move was not a planned move for them & needless to say there were some hurt feelings in our family & many questions to God asking honestly "What The HECK?????" But my wonderful children just did what God told them to do & without a backwards glance or if it had been me a snear. They followed the journey God set before them, and boy what a journey.
From Concord they went to Vallejo to help assist Bill's uncle Trace with his church. This indeed looked like the place to start a youth ministry that had been in their hearts forever. But God had other plans........just after getting to Vallejo Trace had a heart attack & died. This left Bill & Charity as pastors of the church in Vallejo. Not youth pastors but Senior Pastors of a small group of lovely people. Having never been Senior Pastors this was a growing time for them.
One night they were invited to Roseville to speak at a youth group. They left Aslan & Selah with us. Heather my other dd & her 2 kids were there & all the kids were watching movies & having fun when we see Selah who is about 2 come into the kitchen, take my bible & start turning pages. She is intently running her fingers up & down the print like she is reading the scripture. Heather & I watched her for about 10 minutes. Now this is a child that seldom sat still, after all she was 2. She was not usually so intense. So.............. We did what comes naturally to 2 scrappers, we took pictures. Then we looked to see where she was reading in the bible.
She was reading Psalms 78: 4 We will not hide them from their children; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD, his power, and the wonders he has done.
5 He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel, which he commanded our forefathers to teach their children, 6 so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children.
We left these pictures & the scripture verse for them when they picked up the kids. When we talked to them the next day, they told us that about the time Selah picked up the bible they had been praying at the service & felt the Lord call them back into Youth Ministry.
So off they journey to the land of Youth Ministry AGAIN. They let the district know they were looking to find a church for youth ministry. Up pops this Pastor in Gridley, Ca offering a job & house to a youth pastor. "Gridley" we all say?? Where in the world is that? After deciding that Gridley was in the middle of the Rice Farming area & a bit in the sticks, they assured us that they were just going for the interview with Pastor Deaton to be nice. They really felt that the Sacramento area was where they would end up. As usual God has other plans........ they came back so excited having fallen in love with the Pastors in Gridley & the area. They packed up & wandered off to Gridley.
We on the other hand during all this traveling they have done from Concord to Vallejo to Gridley, started attending a Non-denominational Church The Fathers House in Vacaville. After Selah was born Charity came to a weekend ladies retreat with me. At this retreat the speaker had us write on rocks our dreams & visions of what God had for us & put them in a mesh sack. About 2 month ago during a time Charity was having a hard time she found them. She posted about them on her blog. It brought tears to my eyes. You can read it here:
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
God's promises on pebbles
So today I had an actual day off where I didn't have to go anywhere, So I cleaned under my bed, my closet and cleaned out my drawer, boy was it fun!!! In the meantime I was listening to Joyce Meyer, Ed YOung and Hillsong in the background. First Joyce talking about our attitude toward change, then Ed talking about change and then Hillsong talking about how we deal with the seasons in our lives, like when it feels like things are stacking up against you etc. Very interesting how the 'theme thing' always happens to me, God loves to talk to me like that. So in the midst of all of this, and the drawer cleaning I came across a little mesh back with some smooth stones in it. I remember very well what those were but haven't looked at them in years. At a womens retreat shortly after Selah was born a speaker handed out the stones and asked us to ask God what dreams and visions he may have for us, and then write them down. I remember thinking at the time that the things I wrote on the stones were pretty out there, maybe even fleshlly, because 3 out of 5 were a stretch. But today looking at them, it was definetly a 'God-moment'1. Aslan-the prophecy over him that he would have a "moses spirit" ( that's a story for another time if you have not heard it, but in brief it came from 4 totally unrelated sources, from the time I was pregnant to when he was born ill, that he would have a moses spirit- and Moses is the only one who spoke face to face with God) anyway 2. Selah would be a woman of God- So these were the two softballs, what every mother desires for their children, no surprise there. then comes #3 That I would speak to women/girls someday- weird thing was at the time, I had never preached a sermon , (except once in high school) and that seemed like a huge stretch for me, but in case you guys don't know I have now been speaking at camps and conferences for almost 3 years, wow how God knows when we have no clue.4.That we would have a youth ministry that people would pattern theres after- This actually happened when we first moved to Gridley- 3 seperate youth pastors that came and started using the ideas to bring back to their church. So odd5. (Now this one confused me, it wasn't neccessarily a dream or vision so I'm not sure why I wrote it) but the weirdest thing is that today it was exactly what I needed to hear, it so amazes me how God works , I shouldn't be surprised but it surprises me everytime. I know you want to know what it said but Im not going to tell you! :pOk ok just kidding 5. Though the vision tarry wait for it....This may mean nothing to you, but the life and times Bill and I are in it means everything so in case you are questioning, or wondering maybe this will encourage you too or maybe try to put something on paper and see what God may do with it in a few years or maybe try some stones in a little mesh bag with a sharpie, it worked for me ....
Though the vision tarries wait for it.......... WOW. This makes us think something is in the breeze you know that God breeze? I figure it is a big break out at church. But as usual I am only partly right. Charity & Bill had been feeling that it was time to move on, that God was saying their time here in Gridley was wonderful but He had more up his sleeve. About the time they make the decission to branch out....step out in Faith......move to another house.......wham God shows up. You know those camps Charity said she started speaking at in her blog entry above? Well thoses camps are Donnie Moore Radicial Reality Camps. Charity was a student at one of those camps as a teen. Now she & Bill are featured speakers at the camps workshops. Well it seems Donnie Moore & Joey Steelman just love Bill & Charity & have been watching their ministry & intregity since Vacaville. I am guessing they liked what they saw because Joey is becoming a pastor in Stockton at an AOG church & asked them to come help. Then Donnie who lost his adminstrator a few months ago interviewed Charity for the position. Can you say WOW!
Well you probley have guessed it.... Bill, Charity, Alsan & Selah are moving to Stockton, Ca. Am I Mom excited? Well????? yes in my spirit I KNOW this is God. I know God has exciting things for them there. I know they have been good stewards over little & now much is being given to them. In the face of crisis in Vacaville in 2001 they had a choice to turn the God direction or the human, "this is so wrong" direction and become bitter. Have they always made the correct choices on this journey? No, I know they have had stumbles, falls, scratches on the knees along the way. But I do know along the way they always turned to God when the darkness threatened to overwhelm them and God in his mercy, seeing their hearts for His young people picked them up, bandaged their injuries & gave then pebbles in mesh bags to strenghten them when the journey seemed overwhelming. Though the vision tarry wait...............
As a mom I am very sad. I will miss them, it is hard to see them go. I am batteling the mom/spirit thing. Mom is sad/Spirit is happy. Silly spirit. ;) I wrote this to say to Charity & Bill that I am proud of you for what you have done & what you are going to do. But I will be sad a bit.
love you mom
PS you can read about the exciting adventure on Charity's blog http://hartmans1996.blogspot.com/
