Good-Bye Vermont

As I took my last walk in our neighborhood today my heart is full with thankfulness for the precious friends God has given us in Vermont. As this day approached I feared much sorrow and trepidation as we packed and prepare to move out west. But surprisingly I find myself full of awe and praise to our great God for all He has done in our lives over the last eleven years. Here in beautiful Vermont God has so graciously challenged us, discipled us, nurtured us, loved us, and grown us and established us in our faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. He has used many of our dear friends here in this work in our lives for which we are very grateful. As I reflected on this work I was reminded of a little story I used to read Hannah when she was about five years old. The story was about a kindergarten class who one day went outside and found a little caterpillar. They brought the caterpillar in to their classroom and put it in a jar. There it ate and ate and ate until one day it went inside a cocoon and slowly changed and became, through a miraculous work of God, a butterfly.  During this time the children had grown to love the caterpillar who went into a cocoon and one day emerged as a butterfly. But the children realized that it was time for the butterfly to come out of the jar. It could not fly and do what God had wanted it to do, so the children walked over to the window, opened the jar and the butterfly flew away. As they watched it go they were a little sad and a little happy.

As we embark on this new chapter in life and move out west, away from our home in Vermont, I find myself feeling the same emotion of "a little sad and a little happy". Positionally, we who have placed our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation are already butterflies but experientially we are growing and changing each day to become conformed to the image of Christ in our daily lives. The Lord has used our time in Vermont and the people we have known here to so bless us, change us, and mold us by their love and example. The work that the Lord has done in our hearts here in Vermont is now done and it is time to go and learn new things He desires to teach us in NM. But as we go we will fondly remember each one of you, our friends in Vermont, and all that you have taught us.

Moving is hard, change is hard. But we serve such a great and awesome God who knows the plans He has for us, to give us a hope and a future. As I close this post I want to leave you with a thought the Lord had brought to my mind recently in hopes that maybe it will be an encouragement to you as it was to me. Many times the Lord will call us to "launch out into the deep", to do something hard, to face the unknown with only Him to guide us and keep us, with no answers but His promises, no guarantees but His word to us. Launch out into the deep He says, trust Me and see. That is His call to you today and His call to me, my encouragement to you is say yes...say yes to this great God who calls you and see what He will do. I am reminded of the admonition the Lord gave me to share with a dear friend many years ago as she and her family were leaving New Mexico to go to the mission field in Albania, and now these words are a comfort to me as well.

"A ship in a port is safe...but that's not what ships were made for"

God bless you as you seek to answer His call