separated from God and living in darkness. Our Lord used that period of crisis in our lives to show us that not only did we need Him as a Shepherd in this life, but more importantly, we needed Him as our Savior. The seeds that had been planted, through the testimony of others in our lives, God now caused to take root and grow. We praise God for granting us repentance and leading us to the knowledge of the truth. (2 Timothy 2:25)The next several years were spent growing and serving in the local church. We lived in various places around the world as Jim served in the United States Marine Corps. There he was trained and excelled in the field of communications. He moved quickly through the ranks. God gave us two beautiful children, Grace who is now 12, and Joshua, age 9. Eventually Jim left the USMC and we returned to our home state of Washington. During this time we grew in our love for the Lord, He had changed our lives. But we were still living for ourselves, striving after the American dream.
After years of hard work, God in His wisdom blessed us with the achievement of that dream. He knew that we would eventually come to realize that there is no satisfaction in worldly things. Jim had a prosperous job in the information technology field. He was quickly climbing the corporate ladder as he enjoyed his window office on the Seattle waterfront. We had a beautiful home in the country and two cars in the driveway. Tania was working from home to develop a flourishing portrait photography business. There was only one problem. There was no fulfillment.
The Lord brought us to the realization that true fulfillment and purpose can only be found in Him. It was then that we made a complete turn around. God was calling us out of that worldly lifestyle. Determined to no longer pursue the plans we had for our own life we fully submitted ourselves to God’s will, wherever He would lead.
This new direction the Lord gave us took us to eastern Montana where we felt He was leading us to build a small family farm. We bought remote land, and began to research off-grid living (solar power, water system development, etc). Jim already had experience in construction and mechanics. Tania would get to put to use the skills she has been learning such as gardening, canning, and animal husbandry. It was also around this time that we began to home school the children.
Time passed, all our ducks were in a row, so to speak. The research was done. We had the construction loans, the plans, everything we needed to move forward on building our new home, except for God’s peace. And all of a sudden, we felt God was giving us a red light. He was telling us to wait. But wait for what?
There was a period of time where all we did was wait. What did God have for us? Of course we had been praying all along, but we came to the point where we began to earnestly entreat the Lord to reveal what He would have us do. We were willing to follow, but we needed direction.
Through the years the Lord of the harvest had been cultivating within our family a burden for foreign missions. We began supporting missions efforts around the world with our time, prayer, and finances. Our daughter, 10 at the time, had a desire to get involved in short-term missions projects. We were praying for ways to join in missions through our local church.
And we were waiting.
Then one Sunday a missionary couple visited our local church. They shared with us the need for the Gospel among the islands of Vanuatu. They also shared that they were still in need of teammates with a certain set of skills. They had the need for someone with knowledge of alternative energy development, water development, construction, “off-grid”/primitive living, communications, home education, and so on. It was a perfect fit. The Lord had been equipping us throughout the years with not only these skills and experiences but also many others that may prove indispensable in the remote areas of Vanuatu.
“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”
~Ephesians 2:10
The Lord had been preparing us spiritually as well. He had been teaching us to seek first the kingdom of God, to walk by faith, to trust in Him fully for all of our needs, to delight ourselves in Him, and many, many other important lessons. He was preparing in us hearts that would be willing to follow wherever He would lead, hearts fully abandoned to God’s will.
It is such a privilege to serve an all-powerful, unstoppable, sovereign God. We look forward to the day we will worship Him alongside all the rest whom He purchased with His precious blood, from every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation.
