A leap of faith – but we’re not going anywhere

I already wrote about learning to trust here, but I shared a snippet of it with my newspaper readers this week. 

I'm looking forward to letting you all know what the next step is for us, but right now we're waiting. Waiting and praying and living in the moment. It helps to have an adorable toddler at home to focus on:

Until then, we sincerely appreciate your prayers and words of support and encouragement. I'm storing them in my heart as the treasures they are.

If you ever meet someone who looks a lot like me, let me know: You might have found my long-lost twin sister.

When I was born, the scuttlebutt around Waco (current population 236) was that I had been delivered via C-section and that I had a twin sister named Alice who somehow hadn’t made it home from the hospital with the rest of us.

The only true part of that news was that I had, indeed, been born (breech — and yes, that means posterior-first; let the “pain in the rear” jokes begin).

So ever since day one, I’ve been familiar with how news spreads in small towns.

I bring up this anecdote to let readers know that, despite what you may have heard, we’re not moving. It’s true that Jim won’t be teaching at Zion St. John Lutheran School next year, but our intention is to remain in the community that has become our home over the past four years.

Zion St. John has provided quality education for Cuming County students for the past 50-plus years, and we’ve been honored to be part of that tradition.

But it’s time to see what’s next — and that is in God’s hands.

When we moved here in July 2008, it was abundantly clear that this is where we were meant to be.

In the space of a month, we went from living in a flooded apartment in Oklahoma where only one of us was employed, somewhat miserably, to living in a cozy home in my beautiful Nebraska, where we both could pursue careers in our chosen fields.

Even before moving to Wisner, it’s apparent that our lives have been guided by Someone wiser.

Jim and I met on my first day of college, a brief encounter that led to friendship, then flirtation, and finally to a soul-deep understanding that we had met the person with whom we would spend the rest of our lives. (I can hear my sisters gagging right now, but it’s true.)

Getting married at 21 is not the norm these days, but there is no doubt in my mind that it was the right decision.

And while it hasn’t been champagne and roses all the time, each year that passes affirms my belief that the work a solid marriage takes is completely worth it.

In other words, taking a leap of faith is not new to my family. I won’t say that it’s easy; the uncertainty is difficult to handle and I have my moments of doubt.

But God has provided for us in the past, and I have no reason to believe that He will not continue to do so in the future.

On the Lighter Side

Published April 25, 2012