We found a place we can call home.

We have been in Saint Charles 3 1/2 weeks.  The ups and downs of the past 3 1/2 weeks have made it feel like 3 1/2 months;)  We have visited a couple GREAT churches.  We have read through countless church websites online and thus far, though time is logically short, we have felt uneasy about jumping in anywhere.  NO church is perfect so we know we could get involved anywhere, but in an intangible way nothing so far has seemed to fit, though we are chomping at the bit to just get involved!

Last week, I was sharing this with my dad.  Sharing our heart of wanting to be in a church body where we can use our gifts but also feel supported and apart of a community.  It seems a small order, but thusfar we haven't found that fit.  After listening to me, he suggested he introduce us to some friends from their church who left in January to be apart of a church plant where their son was becoming family pastor.  Church plants have never been something on our radar.  It seems there are enough churches, right?  Yet, we trust my dad 150% and at the very least this couple seemed like amazing people.

They invited us right away to dinner at their home last night.  We shared our stories of what God has done in our lives.  We prayed for one another.  We heard all about this church plant.  We were intrigued.  It was obvious God is at work there and we immediately knew we had to visit this morning.  We just wanted to see what God was doing there and see if this meeting was a "God thing".

I didn't sleep at all last night.  I tossed and turned wondering what in the world we were thinking.  We can't be involved in a church plant.  We love to serve but we also need to be in a place where we get support ourselves because we are bringing home a very special little boy one day (hopefully SOON?!).  I worried about our kids and bringing them to a strange place just for our own curiosity.  I prayed a lot for clarity and purpose.  I prayed that God will quickly show us where he wanted us to be.  The church is an important part of our lives.  It is like our family, it is the avenue Jesus choses to reveal himself today and not being committed to one even for three weeks has felt hard- like we can't feel settled here until that peice of the puzzle is in place.  I prayed that God will clearly show our children too so wherever he led, they were equally excited to be.  I prayed Marc and I would be in 100% agreement.  I prayed that he would use us for his glory and purpose, no matter what that looks like.

We arrived a couple minutes late to Rivercity Church today because our GPS was a little confused.  Right away Risa greeted us, the children ministry check in went fabulous.  The kids were excited to go into their classes.  We joined in worship.  Nothing was flashy and nothing was shotty.  The worship team, was just worshipping Jesus.  The congregation was just singing and listening.  Yet, both our hearts knew almost instantly we were home.  I can't quite articulate what a blessing it was to sit in church and know we had just connected with the place our hearts were longing for here.  There are lots of opportunities to serve, but also amazing people that will spur us on in our own journey and support us.  It was almost like getting hit with a fire hose, it was so clear he was answering our prayers and directing our steps.

God is at work.  God is active and God is personal.  I don't know all the reasons he moved us to Saint Charles.  I know there are blessings, like living near family and a really good friend, but there are also heartaches of saying Goodbye to people we love and a church body we LOVED being a part of.  Yet today we were stunned by how clearly he answered the desire of our heart.  Immediately people were interested in who we were, in our story, in hearing about Christian.  I felt a crazy amount of love for people I had just met.  People showed great interest in not just us, but our children.  I can only describe it as, Home.  We found our church home here.  I shouldn't be surprised at all, we were seeking God and trusting him to lead and he promises to direct our paths...yet, I stand in awe, cuz he is SO Amazing, so gracious in not prolonging the process, so....God.