Hope

Over the last few years, we have known that we needed something to happen in order for us to go on well.  Work changes, and there are new areas to reach out into and new directions to go in.  New possibilities come with new needs.

We've grown over the years, added to our team.  Some of that has been good.  Some of it has brought more headache.  But our biggest holes remained unfilled.

Going back even before that, I have been praying for something, for a direction that I thought we should head in.  When I began to pray for this, it was comical, unthinkable, impossible.  The capacity of who we were was already stretched.  It would not work.  People would not even think about it.

There are also time that I feel strongly about people joining us or not joining us.  I have no say in the matter, but I am very aware of the discussions going on in the background when we discuss these things.  I prayed once for four years that one couple would join us.  Now they will be, not quite yet, but soon.  There are two others that I am praying for, and then another yet who I do not know, but a position that I would like to see filled.  It is something that requires patience.  God is not answering those prayers quickly.

I honestly think that God has been sifting, settling, and growing our team to prepare us for what is ahead.  I do not know what is ahead, but I know that we needed growth first.  My daughter has been crying in her bed several nights this last week because her legs hurt.  Growing pains.  Our team has been going through them, too.

But I feel the quiet, tingling excitement.  I know one prayer of mine is being answered soon, and I am confident that another will be, too.  In these people I am praying that will join us, I am praying for a few particular qualities, and these potential new people have them in abundance.

I think God is going to do great things soon.  I get excited when I see that happening.  Hidden inside me today is a grin that refuses to go away.