When I was fired from my job in March, Layne and I found ourselves in an uncomfortable position. How were we going to replace that income in a way that would still allow Layne to spend time with our daughter, Saoirse, and allow me to continue doing the work that God has called me to at the Village? That first day we both felt God saying, “Wait.” We weren’t clear what that meant but we waited.
Waiting is a familiar space for me. When I moved to Tucson in 2007 I thought I would be here for a year and then I would move on. God said, “Wait.” Three years later I found my way out of Tucson in the form of work with a friend at a church in Houston.
When that fell apart less than a year later, I moved back to Arizona thinking that I would move on not long after. God said, “Wait.” Even though I looked for jobs out of state, I didn’t find anything. Eventually I settled into Tucson with my old job at Starbucks, and at the prompting of friends and God, I decided to find a church to commit to here. Through my brother David, that church was The Village.
But I didn’t really commit. I joined a pilgrim group and a monastic community and after awhile Eric invited me to play in some of the bands on Sunday, but for a year and a half I looked for a way out of Tucson. In the spring of 2013 I received a job offer at a church in Nashville. Finally I had what I had been looking for, but God said, “Wait.”
Each time God had said, “Wait,” I sat in anxiousness, trying to find what I was waiting for, but this time I knew. God had called me to settle in to Tucson, to commit to a community, and I had not. My perspective shifted. Things began to fall in to place. Not long after, Eric and The Village invited me deeper into the community. I began dating Layne and the most important thing I said on our first date was “I’m not going anywhere.”
Waiting is a hard place. It often feels unstable and uncomfortable, in particular when the provision for and well being of your family is at risk. God told Layne and I to wait and then relatively quickly found a place for us. The Village hiring me fulltime has been a huge blessing. God is providing for us in incredible ways and not always in the form of money. He has sent people alongside us to care for us, created space for us to work by watching Saoirse, stretched our food out farther than we anticipated, and encouraged us through the words of people inside and outside of the community.
I am familiar with waiting, but what God has done in our lives over the last few months has been amazing. I am grateful for the people that God has placed in our lives that have prayed for us, supported us, and cared for us. Thank you all. May the Lord bless you and lift you up and if you are in a season of waiting, know that God is near. I pray that He meets you in this uncomfortable, hard, and often painful season.
