Welcome Home
It’s nearly been a week since we made our move to Boston. We have been getting settled in with our directors while we wait for our move in day with our apartment. We’ve slowly been exploring our new home and learning how to get around. For two southerners, this is a whole new world. Yet it really does feel like home. We get so excited being out and about with the people here because now they are our people and this is our home. God has stirred so much compassion in our hearts for the people here. Of course our hearts are mourning for our families and friends back in Arkansas, but we believe that God has brought us comfort and a compassion for the land we are in. My friend Savannah(who is now a nurse at her dream job, PTL!!) and I were texting the other day. She said “Syd, can you believe that our prayers are here.” Everything God placed in our hearts and what He is calling us to, is coming to pass. We praised God for His faithfulness and how true it is that He will never leave us or forsake us.
I was reading a devotional the other morning and the author was reading Scripture about praising God. He said stop what you are doing and praise Him! He is so worthy. Everything He created is beautiful. We look at big cities and beautiful landscapes and think “Wow, God!” Now being in a diverse city, I look at the people and say the same thing. How much more should we exclaim and praise God for creating us and other human beings! He created this world for us. What a good Father.
It has been a great few days here. Definitely not easy, but God has been our rock. This week we have continually gone back to Psalm 23. Every part of it has been a promise that we hold onto. He is the Good Shepherd and we trust Him. On July 5th, we said good-bye to our families and made it to Knoxville, TN. I think I cried till we got to Little Rock. Leaving behind family and all comfort is something that we know is common in the work that we do, but it doesn’t mean it is easy by any means. I think God has shown us that it is okay to miss family, they are worth missing because we have been so blessed to have the families we have.
When we made it to Knoxville, God really started showing us more of His provision. We had Uhaul trailer problems, so we had to trade in the trailer for a moving truck. We felt a little stretched, but we knew that we had to do it. Kyle and Porscha, our best friends who do Chi Alpha in Knoxville, helped us unload and reload everything. Then they took us into their home for the next two days. They blessed us with love, encouragement, and sweet memories made. The next morning, we were provided with enough money that covered the Uhaul truck! We didn’t tell anyone about it. A supporter woke up in the middle of the night and felt that God wanted him to pray for us and send us a financial gift. Talk about timely! On top of that, we were going to have to rent a Uhaul storage unit to put our stuff in while we wait to move in and the Uhaul place gave us a free storage unit for 1 month in Boston! God clearly intervened in what could have been a stressful few days.
We left Knoxville and drove to Harrisburg, PA in our separate vehicles, but it was such sweet time with the Lord individually for us. It was a LONG drive, but I believe God gave me strength because normally I am the type of person who falls asleep while driving long distances. We made it to Harrisburg, stretched our legs with a game mini-golf and went to bed. The closer we got to Boston, the more nervous we became. We met Michael, our director, at the Uhaul storage place to unload. It felt unreal that we had made it. When we opened up our storage unit, we found out that it was on the second floor and the only way to get in it was a rickety old stair set up like you would see at Lowe’s. We were not upset, but instead we laughed so hard! I think good perspective helps in a time like that. I’ll post a picture at the bottom of this post so you can laugh with us.
Overall, God has really been teaching us how to walk in deeper trust with Him and how there is always more to surrender to Him, even when we thought we had already surrendered all. It has to be a continual releasing of what we want and let Him exchange it for His plans. Not because God is a control freak, but because He loves us so much and wants to give us the best. It was an anxious trip at times, but the Lord is showing me that my need for control is fear based, if I truly trust God I need to lay everything down before Him. In Matthew 10 Jesus says, “Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.” We have clung to this passage of Scripture that speaks against worry and fear.
This week we drove by the place that will be our home on July 25th and it is everything that we have prayed for here. The little desires that we have had, God has given us. We have felt so seen and loved by God in a time that could have been extremely stressful. Inviting God into our whole lives gives us peace, rest, and courage whenever it seems like there shouldn’t be any of those things.
We can’t thank everyone enough for covering us in prayer and encouragement. We are humbled and know that God has called all of us for such a time as this. This city needs Jesus. We’ve only been here 6 days and it is so apparent. We went to a blueberry farm this past weekend to pick blueberries. There was bush that was so full of fruit that it was laying on the ground. Through that the Lord spoke to Bekah that it is like Boston. There is so much fruit here, so many people. The harvest is much, but the laborers are few. What happens to the blueberries that aren’t picked? What happens to the people that aren’t given a chance to know Jesus?
Thank you for partnering with us. We couldn’t do this without you. May God bless you and your families. Feel free to reach out to us any time, we would love to share more with you and pray with you!
