Friday, July 25, 2014

ELEVATION NORTH has NEWS for YOU!


LEAPS OF FAITH.  They do not always feel good, nor do they always look pretty.  But there are rewards for making the decision to jump, for without that action nothing would ever happen.  Even the slightest movement takes a decision to change something about our posture.  And when God aligns us with something more significant than slight – sometimes our leaps of faith take a push from God Himself!  Looking back one wonders if we would have jumped, had there been no push!  In these past three weeks we have been blessed with vision to view life from an entirely different vantage point than usual.  Since our lives were turned upside down nearly seven years ago now, we’ve written a new definition for the word “normal”.  Wasn’t it normal to work from dark in the morning until dark at night?  Wasn’t it normal to come home and engage in ministry work and preparation and then your own responsibilities and family time as the night wore on – until knowing that you must fall into bed for at least a few hours – before beginning all over again?  Wasn’t it normal to claim God’s promises in His Word and fully expect that He would redeem your three hours of sleep and multiply them into six or nine?  It just seemed normal that while it was kind of tough to jump out of bed when awakened by the rude sound of the alarm on our cell phone, the moment our feet touched the floor, God showed up and literally poured supernatural strength into our bodies, minds, and souls!  It seemed wondrous to begin the new day all filled up, and somehow there was that sense that we were running on heavenly fuel.  Our world was one we had not known before.  There was no steady routine, just topsy-turvy schedules that brought delight in God-adventures and opportunities that graced our every day.  In the first several months of our journey when we had no church to pastor, God gave us the marketplace as our pulpit.  We never dreamed that a pulpit could look the ways that ours did in the years to come!  These are just some of the places God gave us pulpits:  behind a retail counter ringing up purchases; unloading merchandise off the truck in the freezing cold until our fingers cracked and bled; mowing lawn and trimming shrubs and trees and kneeling on rocks pulling weeds from flower gardens in sweltering heat; repairing everything imaginable that can break; cleaning toilet stools until we lost count; mopping floors and vacuuming; painting walls with everlasting gallons of paint; pushing the carpet cleaner back and forth until the job was done; filling icy-cold coolers with food products and beverages; shoveling and snow-blowing sidewalks and entrances in sub-zero temps until you thought your fingers were no longer attached to your hands; and yes … there were even more pulpits!  What made every one of these unusual pulpits so precious is that we were able to preach the message of Christ through the love we felt for the people we served – through the words that flowed naturally from our heart and mouth as we chatted with them – through godly choices – through all the reasons we had to smile – and through what others described as our endless energy!  You see, when circumstances thrust you into a long, dark, dry wilderness … the sign of life and light within your soul shines ever so brightly against the contrast.  God IN you in ANY surrounding – makes all the difference and preaches a powerful message with no church in sight!  And the amazing thing is that God gave us the pulpit at Elevation North right alongside all of the other ones in the marketplace.  That is, until we sensed there was a changing of seasons coming into our lives.  For several months now, we knew that God was saying it was time to return to more ministry and less marketplace – but how?  We searched for jobs with less hours – and each time God slammed the doors shut very abruptly!  Finally, with much pain and deep struggles, God made His plan clear:  not less hours.  No hours!  When we heard Him saying to give up the main job and trust Him for provision, all turmoil and conflict ebbed away.  God’s peace flooded o’er us, settled in, and came to stay!  To date, God has provided “some” of what we need – but not “all”.  Still, we are at peace.  We know He will complete what He has started.  He pushed.  We leaped.  And we know we can trust the One who is faithful beyond all comprehension.  He will do it!  And we will tell the story, so He gets the glory!  (I think there’s a book in here - somewhere!)  I am thrilled beyond words for my pastor-husband who now gets to pursue more fully the precious calling he received from God as a teenager.  I am honestly excited that we are gifted with a bit more time to stop and smell the roses - and share that fragrance with our loving, supportive family who has sacrificed so much and stood in the gap for us all this time.  And with this change in our season of life, comes a long-awaited for season in the life of our church.  God is providing open doors for us to soon be able to worship in a place we can call “home” ~ after our extended interim journey this summer.  Friends, we are almost there.  We can “see” it by faith!  It’s been a long time coming, but God’s timing is implicit in its perfection.  He knows the end from the beginning – and every step in between!  Has He ever left us?  A thousand times “NO”!  He has been closer than we could have imagined, and now after the push, we can still smile because we know it was for our best – and for His glory!  It doesn’t get any better than that, dear ones!  Don’t miss out – leap forward with us in these exciting end-time days!  You’ll be glad you did!!!

REMEMBER . . .
“God takes care of all who stay close to Him.”
Psalm 31:23  


Serving Christ Joyfully . . .


Pastor Doug and Debbie




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