Friday, November 29, 2024

The Next Chapter

We are moving to Vanuatu in the Spring of 2025! I put my short blurb below, but our entire newsletter update explaining the details is here :)

Why am I moving overseas? Soon after I had a dramatic conversion when I was almost 15, I felt God’s call to foreign missions. My destiny lies in other nations, living out the dream God has given me—to spread the Kingdom of God to the uttermost.

Why not just stay in the U.S., where life is easier and more comfortable? What if it’s too hard? Simply put, I live by faith and not by sight (2 Cor 5:7). Faith over fear. It’s not just a cute saying. It’s a real choice, and I choose faith to rule and dominate. Faith is to determine my decisions. Plus, any fears or doubts or questions or logic or human reasoning does not change God’s call.

Why now? While we knew that moving abroad was on the horizon for us, we thought that I’d be walking restored first. During the springtime of last year, Holy Spirit showed me that I was staying in the States ultimately because of fear. Fear must be driven out by love and overcome by faith and obedience. The lies behind all fears must be exposed and crushed. We have been making plans ever since then.

Let me state: I am not trying to twist God’s arm and “force" Him to heal me by going (I believe healing has already been accomplished by Jesus). I am not trying to do some holy thing in order to get something from God. In that regard, it doesn’t matter whether I walk or not, because it doesn’t change my need to be obedient.

Why Vanuatu? While Ricky has had more of a specific calling, mine has been more of a knowing. (Even when we first heard of Vanuatu seven years ago, it stood out to me for some unknown reason. Ever since then, I just knew.)

How long? I don’t know how long we’ll be in Vanuatu… It may be many years. We feel like it could be the starting point of our international journey. We are planning to go overseas long-term.

[God's] perfect love casts out all [my] fears (1 John 4:18).

"Fear will never conquer me, because You already have” (from the song “More Than Enough” by Kim Walker-Smith).

God tells us to not be afraid 365 times in the written Word—one for every day.