WHY???

A friend asked me recently, "why are you moving to South Africa?  Good question.

WHY is it that we're leaving our safe, comfortable, home and community here in Ellensburg, including a well-paying job, selling most of our belongings, uprooting our family, and launching out into the great unknown?  We know no-one in Worcester, and as volunteers we will be relying  entirely on others' financial support to meet all of our daily needs.  On the face of it, this does not seem like a very wise move.

I could say that we are going where the need is.  There is plenty of need in the continent of Africa and also among the students - many of them from developing nations - that we will be working with on the base.

Or, perhaps we are going because of our experiences: Kevin and I have both been through the counseling school that we will be staffing, and we know first-hand how powerful of a tool it can be when used in conjunction with the Holy Spirit's leading and power.  It is life-changing and immensely freeing.  We are so looking forward to see God at work in the lives of the students.

Or maybe the reason has to do with our giftings?  God has used Kevin and me together in the past, especially while counseling and teaching people.  We make a good team, filling in for each other's weaknesses.  Working as staff with YWAM Worcester does seem a good fit for us and our specific strengths.

If not that, are we going because of our kids?  We love the idea of bringing them up in an international and missional community.  This is a step of faith for them as well as us - and I have been amazed at how the boys' relationships with God have grown through this decision-making process.  He has been so faithful in speaking to them and encouraging them. (I will share more of those stories next time!)

All of these reasons are great bonuses, but none of them  truly hold water.  There's need everywhere, and being need-driven would only lead to burnout.  God can use anyone in any situation to do what He wants to do - it doesn't have to be us in a YWAM school.
Anyway, not a single one of these reasons is enough to get us through the really tough, what-on-earth-were-we-thinking!! times - and they will surely come - when we wonder why on earth we came in the first place.

Honestly, the only valid reason we're going is that we know that we know, deep in that place where you KNOW things - that this is right. God has asked us to go, so we're going.  Because we love Him, we want to bring joy to His heart, and we want to be right in the center of His will for our family.  That's it.  That 's what we're clinging to.

Does it feel a bit like we're about to step off a cliff?  Um, yes.  It really does, on so many levels.  But you know what? I'd rather be stepping off a cliff with God than staying on the clifftop without Him.  Jesus said "Come, follow me".  That looks different for everyone at different times.

And for our family, for right now, THIS is what that looks like.