Confirmation Abounds

An Email Dated August 10, 2012

God continues to do amazing work in this journey! I got to see the Oklahoma group in Winneba while both of our mission teams were in Ghana. It was like a scene from a movie. As the White Station team finished up our work with a soccer tournament in Kweikrom, a truck arrived to pick me up and take me to Winneba where the rest of the Oklahoma team was having Sunday night worship services. I arrived as they were finishing up the closing song and prayer. Everyone filed out of the church and went over to a field ... for the dedication of the land that the Pearl House will be built on!!! I kind of freaked out and got really excited all at the same time. Steve, the youth minister from Oklahoma, was one of the last ones to come out of the building. He gave me a big hug and started filling me in on the plans they are dreaming up. He pointed one direction and I saw a line of palm trees with the ocean just beyond. It is 2 or 3 miles away and there's a great breeze coming off the ocean. I knew we would be close to the ocean, but that is still an exciting fact nonetheless. Next we turned to our right a little bit and he said "and here's a mountain." That is the moment when I knew. I got chills all up and down my arms. You see, while this mountain isn't quite the Smoky mountains, and definitely not the Rockies, it is still a mountain. Mountains remind me of Knoxville where I grew up. When I think of mountains I think of home. I feel a sense of security, familiarity and assurance of God's power. What a gift. ... We were on the property together for less than an hour. There was a prayer of dedication for the land, a groundbreaking ceremony and we had a few discussions here and there about where the house should sit, etc. All of this was super exciting and overwhelming. I was not expecting to step into such a ceremonial event, but it was such a great blessing to be there. 

A view of the coastline from the property where the Pearl House will be built.

When the time came to leave Ghana I was sad once again, but felt a bit more peace that I will be back sometime soon. We got home on a Monday evening and I spent that week starting to process all that happened during my time in Winneba. It was then that I realized the people in Oklahoma are for real about all of this. They are raising money, there's a logo, there's magazine articles, there's pictures on facebook - it is all very concrete for them. Which is super exciting, but also a little weird for me over here by myself. True to form, I am doing a lot of internal processing and am getting to talk about it some trusted friends, but I still felt a little anxious about all of it for a couple of days. Well ... on Friday of that week I got a text from Courtney in Oklahoma that said, "I'm in town! Let's hang out!" We met at Starbucks that night for the very first time. It was super fun and exciting to see that she's a real person and that God is at work in both of our lives! I felt completely at peace after spending an hour or two with Courtney and some of her friends. God is faithfully laying this out for us step by step, no need to start freaking out now! 

Courtney and I meeting for the first time at Starbucks.

About a week and a half after coffee with Courtney I was at camp with our students when God reminded me yet again that He is still in this thing. My precious intern Laura Jean came up to me on Wednesday morning at camp and said "The Lord has given me a vision for you." I said, "Alright, let's hear it." She said "I see a white door with some black stuff on it, it's not demons or evil, it's like a fog. The Lord wants you to know that the fog is lifting and clarity is coming and a big change is coming your way." !!!!!!!!!!!!!! How cool is that!?!? It's funny, I wasn't even surprised when she said that. It just added more peace in my heart and furthered my confidence that the Lord is all over this. 

A tiny tidbit to add to the continued craziness --  Courtney's birthday is August 3rd and mine is August 7th. We were both given almost identical silver necklaces with pearls on them for our birthdays. 

So where do things stand now? Next Thursday, August 16th, I am going to Oklahoma to spend some time planning and praying with Courtney, Steve and others who are involved in the dream of The Pearl House. So far this thing has been happening TO us, which is awesome. We are going to try to get ahead of the game a little bit and make some plans. All the while praying for God to be as in the middle of it all as He has from the beginning. 

Prayer Requests: 

1. For our weekend of planning to go well. For the Lord to lay things out for us. For Him to remind us of what we are forgetting. To give us eyes to see potential difficulties and how we can plan ahead for them. 

2. Pray for me to continue to be in a place where I am seeing and hearing the Lord regularly. He has been so faithful, I want to be the same.