Our trip to Canon City, Colorado, was a success. The verse I sensed the Lord giving me on Saturday morning was, "My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." And He did just that, in my spirit, as one thing after another checked off our list.
Climate: very dry. So dry and rocky that it could get depressing, but not if you're allergic to rain.
Church: friendly, good worship, nice people. And an amazing number of solid, satisfying Menno-connections--Cheryl from Stirland Lake days, Dorcas from Kenya days who is married to Prairie View's son Shane, Marilyn who is an aunt to Paul's nephew's wife Amy.
People who would look out for Emily: Kay and Gaylord and their family, who basically look out for everyone and would be happy to include Emily in their fold, staff people with New Horizons Ministries who have a heart for people in recovery in addition to their major calling of working with prisoners and caring for babies born in prison
Young people to do things with: lots of them
Meaningful work: Emily can work in the mission's thrift store, part time, as she feels able. She is a true Yoder in her love of digging through castoffs in search of treasure so this is a good line of employment. I also sensed that there's potential for her to use her gifts of drama and working with children.
Transportation: she'll be within 3/4 of a mile of work and church if she gets the Amazing Castle [more on that later] so she could conceivably walk or bike, but it looks like she'll have to bite the bullet and re-learn to drive to places like the grocery store and Knepps.
Housing: since she wouldn't be an official voluntary-service worker she wouldn't live with the other workers. So we'll need to rent a place. Knepps drove us around and we looked at a few options, such as an older trailer house whose pipes regularly freeze and leak, not a good choice for someone with mold issues. Then, oh yeah, maybe we should drive by this house that the pastor owns and would like to rent out. Well. You can read Emily's take on this here. Paul saw her reaction and said, "I think I'm on an unstoppable train."
So, yes, it looks like Emily leaves Redmond sometime in February, after Amy is home from Bible School, and we'll move her to Colorado.
It isn't easy for me, naturally, but His presence goes with me and gives me rest. And Emily is excited about the move, which helps a lot.
Quote of the Day:
"Well. I knew the minute I set eyes on it, it was the house for me."
--Emily, misquoting Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
I loved Emily's take on the trip. Unstoppable train indeed! Sometimes you just KNOW. There is peace in that. And when it gets hard, you have that to hold onto.
ReplyDeleteWhen my brother was dying recently and I wanted some alone time to go be with him and pray with him and bring worship into his presence, every time I went the house was full of people, and the Lord kept sying to me, "You will see him again Saturday." Then, "You will see him again Monday." On Monday, finally I got time to be with him, and read scripture and pray and sing to him...and I knew I was done. I got a call shortly after I arrived home that he had died, just hours after I had left him. That was a gift. I have peace that I had accomplished what God had asked of me, even though the timing was always tenuous in my mind, God knew.
How utterly amazing. I love how the Lord works so subtly in our lives and answers even the smallest of prayers in such a big way. What an incredible opportunity for Emily, and what a beautiful home the Lord has provided for her.
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