Sunday, June 29, 2014

Finishing the Race

Have you ever been in a place where God was telling you the same message through many sources? There has been a theme that God has brought to my mind these past few weeks. “Finish Strong.” From the teenager at football telling me to run through the pass, even if I miss it (or the tackle), to David telling the Mustangs to fight strong next season, even to the very end, to the feeling that my time in Portugal is almost complete; God has been sending me a resounding message to Finish Strong.

At the time, I did not realize that my time in Portugal was not only coming to a close, but it was coming to a close at a very rapid rate. Our plan was to spend two years, including training, as missionaries. Our return date was all set: October 14. We had begun to speak with travel agents about return tickets. Then, last Thursday, we spoke with David’s friend about a possibility of coming to coach (American) football in the fall at a high school. Before we knew it, we had two job offers that both started in August! A week after we asked our friend about a job, we resigned from our current job and signed the contract to work at a high school in Oklahoma. (Ok, David will work in the high school as a math teacher and coach, and I will be a stay at home mom.)

We really prayed hard about this decision, and feel like this is a major gift from God. A lot of our ministries were coming to a close here in Portugal, and we really feel like this is the path God wants us to take.

We are sad to leave so many friends who are here, and we will always treasure Portugal. We have so many memories here: Gideon’s first steps and first words, David’s last hoorah at football, and the birth of Ruth, just to name a few.

We still have another four weeks or so before we move to Oklahoma, which will be filled with packing and cleaning and saying goodbye. Pray for us that we will finish our time in Portugal strong, and that we have impacted the Portuguese people for the Kingdom in some way. (Also, please be in prayer for Ruth’s passport to come in on time.)