So now what?

Toby was working hard as an engineer and I was loving every minute of being home with Haley when God completely interrupted our lives and revealed the great detour to us. We were thrilled, so excited to know what He wants us to do with our lives, but now what?

We had a beautiful home in a great part of Tennessee. Toby was earning a comfortable salary with a nice 401(k). He is an incredibly smart and talented chemical engineer and his company was thrilled with his work. They had high hopes for him and said "he could go as far as he wanted with this company." As great as that looked from the outside, it was suddenly no longer enough...not even close. At this stage when God asked us to walk away from it, from everything that we knew to be secure, there was nothing to consider or even grieve over. We knew that what He had waiting for us would be far better!

Now, there's always the practical side...What will do about income? Can we get health insurance? When will our TN house sell? How will we pay for Toby's tuition? These questions quickly became our biggest mountains. Toby was a wonderful, highly qualified engineer, but that's not really going to help him get a job on a church staff, is it? Other than leading small groups and volunteering in various ministries, we're clueless about the administrative aspects of the church world. Maybe he could get an internship somewhere, but would that provide health insurance? With a small child and a desire to have more, good health insurance is absolutely necessary, but could he earn enough to pay for independent coverage? The real estate market is in the toilet...how long will it take to sell our house? And can we afford a realtor? Knowing we're heading into tighter times, 6% is a lot to sacrifice. And what about tuition? We were now desperately trying to live by God's standards and He strongly warns against using debt (Prov 22:7), but we'd sunk all of our savings into keeping the flip house afloat. As you can see, the reality of what God had asked us to do was beginning to set in.

A sweet mentor of mine received a vision from Jesus about our journey...it was Toby and me standing side by side on a path. The path went forward and out of view and all around it and covering it was thick, fog-like smoke. When she asked Jesus about the smoke, He said that was His Spirit. Our path had already been laid (Jer 29:11). Jesus had gone before us and prepared everything and His Spirit would cover us the whole way...through every step. Jesus would use this vision over and over for us as a reminder to stay on the path and keep our eyes focused...all of the hard work and planning had already been done, all we had to do was walk it out.

Despite the mountains of uncertainties, we knew one thing for sure...Toby was suppose to attend the University of Mobile, so within two weeks of the great detour we found ourselves on campus. We met with two deans who each had wonderfully encouraging words for us. However, the greatest confirmation of the day came unexpectedly. Two of our close friends went to campus with us that day. They had each attended UM, were very involved on campus, and watched Haley while we attended meetings. During a quick break, they mentioned that they wanted to pop in Dr. Foley's office for a quick hello. We're thinking, sure, no problem. Oh, did I mention that Dr. Foley is the President of the University?!? Yeah...intimidating! He has a few minutes free up and invites us in for a chat. The kids got restless, so our friends took them outside and Toby and I were left alone with Dr. Foley. He was totally engaged in our story and what God is teaching us and then he tells us some of his journey and about where God is taking the university. After a wonderful 30 minute chat, we got up to leave and he put his hands on our shoulders and said, "I'd like to bless you before you go." I looked at Toby, he looked at me...both of us completely caught off guard. Dr. Foley then launched into a beautiful and powerful prayer of blessing, provision and guidance for our family. I couldn't help but think to myself, Is this really happening? The President of the university is praying for us? We left campus that day with utter confirmation straight from the throne of grace..."Yes, I am that big and yes, you're on the right path."

That was all we needed to keep going on our journey. Even with so many questions still to be answered, we would take one baby step at a time because we knew we were headed in the right direction...