Dear Friends,

      I wanted to write and let you know about the changes that our family is facing. First, I offer a big thank you to my readers and my fellow pastors’ wives for your outpouring of support. My husband and I have been absolutely blown away this week by the comments and emails I’ve gotten from other pastors’ wives and from our family friends. I just keep thinking, “Wow, I am so blessed.”  I wanted to answer some of your questions and let you know how we are embracing this change:

      So what’s going on? We have decided to move to Wilmington, NC and assist my in laws for the year of 2015. My father in law has been battling cancer for most of this past year. We observed his progress via phone for the year, and then recently made a visit and were alarmed at how much they are struggling. My FIL has more cancer treatments and surgery in his future. My husband is an only {adopted} child and we feel the responsibility to take care of our family. At this point, it is not working out very well to try to do it from 2,000 miles away. So, January 2015 will find us down south, settling into Wilmington.

     Are you leaving ministry?  No. We believe that ministry is a calling, not a position. We are passionate about ministry, and believe that even when we do not have a church to lead, we are still pastor and pastors’ wife at heart. In keeping with this, we are looking at 2015 as a much needed sabbatical, where we will rest and refresh our family and pursue a church as soon as we know that our parents are doing fine.

     How are your children doing? They are insanely excited.  As in, as soon as we told them about our decision, they packed their toys immediately and set their boxes by their bedroom doors. That was three weeks ago. 🙂 They cannot wait to be closer to both sets of grandparents. We would appreciate prayer for them in the area of culture shock. Canada is all they know, and the south is very different. I’m glad they are young and adaptable, yet knowing the realities of culture shock, we are already actively helping them prepare for the differences.

     Will you ever come back to Canada? Our entire family has dual citizenship, giving us the privilege to come and go across the border as we please.  We are completely open to and hopeful about returning to our Canada someday.

     Will you continue writing/blogging? Yes! I can’t live without writing. 🙂 Whether in a journal or on my blog or in a book, my writing will continue. I’m journaling personally through our resignation experience and will continue to during our sabbatical.  Aside from blogging, I’m working on another book. This is an opportunity that has literally found and chased me, and not by anything I sought. I am excited and {ahem} afraid, but so blessed and humbled that God would choose to use my words in this way.

      Will the Heart-to-Heart Groups continue? Oh. YES. I love the community of pastors’ wives that has gathered here at Embracing Grace. There are about 200 pastors’ wives in my six online support groups. And this ministry is rapidly expanding.  Group #6 is full and #7 is in the works. We need each other in ministry, and I am so excited about the the potential that these groups have for the future {some are even asking for a Heart-to-Heart retreat so they can connect in real life- can you even imagine how excited I am about that possibility?!} So, yes. And if you are a pastors’ wife in need of encouragement and prayer support from other PWs, send me an email. You are not alone.

       Are you excited or anxious about the changes? Yes. Both. We’re greatly excited about things like being near family, enjoying all four seasons {especially a warm spring}, having the option of a Christian school for our children, getting to soak up more than we pour out, being closer to conferences and camps, and many other things. But, this whole thing is a journey of faith. My husband preached about faith journeys recently and at the time we didn’t realize all of the ways God was using that in our life. Now we see more clearly, and yes, this is a step-by-step process of trusting God daily for provision of our spiritual, emotional, and physical needs. To paraphrase Francis Chan, ‘what are we doing right now that, if God doesn’t come through for us, we’ll be sunk?’ Um, everything.

      How can we pray for you? So many of you have asked. And, thank you. How you bless us just by being so thoughtful! You can pray that we will recognize God’s provision of our moving expenses, housing, wisdom for decisions regarding my in laws’ health, and wisdom about decisions for our future after 2015. Also you can pray for our hearts, because leaving a ministry means tearing your heart away from the people you’ve loved and led for years. It’s excruciating, actually. You can relate.

      Each one of you is a special blessing in my life. I am humbled and honored to call you my friends.

XOXO,

A Kindred Spirit

P.S. To my southern/Carolina readers- We should connect in real life!  Seriously, let’s make this happen.