Packing up and moving out- how we became REVIVALISTS!

My story is simple.

I didn't always think it so, especially when I thought about my family and the circumstances that have challenged me these past 5 years, words like hard, complicated, exhausting, painful, and confusing came to mind. 

Not simple.

But I'm here to tell you that is exactly what my story is- simple.

Jesus changed my life.

In a simple moment, an act of faith I'm sure of it, 

"Can I pray for you?" She said.

And my life was simply wrecked, rolled, turned upside down.

He came to me and lifted my broken spirit, He took my dry and rotted out bones and breathed life into me. I had searched and searched for a love and tenderness like His, I looked to boyfriends, materialism, social status, food, perfection, body image 

and even to my family but nothing touched the joy I encountered 5 years ago.

The joy that had left me reeling ever since.

 

It is because of that so tangible yet incredibly indescribable love, joy and peace that the decision to dedicate my life to the unordinary, or as some have plainly put it, unorthodox and irresponsible has become so clear and so effortless. My decision is yes, I will go. Send me. 

I want to tell you, with great anticipation, joy, an overwhelming sense of purpose and hope that Tiffany and I will be moving to Maine. 

It started 5 years ago for me, when the day came for me to leave Chop Point, I never knew I was capable of crying so hard, feeling so deeply or even loving people in such a way that I learned to love my first summer in Maine. And that was the beginning and that was the end for me, Maine has always been on the brim of my lips

 It started 4 years ago for Tiffany, my California girl by birth but east coast girl at heart. A cross country road trip with her family sealed her fate as soon as she saw New England's cobblestoned streets, autumn's great landscape, and of course, the Kennebec, which gave way to a new calling in her spirit.

 Our stories crossed in perfect rhythm. Lately, it has become one of my favorites to tell, as it continues to fit the curvature of our ripening destiny.

We met this past summer at Chop Point, Tiffany was the camp cook and I was a camp counselor. It was Tiffany's first summer at Chop Point and it was my long awaited return. Ironically, we probably weren't each others "first picks" but due to ending up in the left over or "surplus" van a couple times, our pickins were slim. Whether we liked it in the beginning or not (for the record I did and Tiffany did not ;P) our friendship flourished throughout days off, giggling in the boat house, long naps  in the sun and our love for Jesus, food and high school kids.

We decided early on that after camp ended I'd pack up my Virginia life and head out to the coast. But as it goes, God had very different plans. I took an internship at a local church in Virginia and Tiffany, a woman full of guts, grace and humility (did I say GUTS?) came out for a visit and discerned God's call for her to make the cross country jump.

 By mid October she had her license, a new car (named Misty, she's blue and was born in 1998) and was settling into the bedroom next to mine. Things didn't seem to slow down, thanks to an incredible guy we met in our bible study named Ian, (who by the way, is a legend but we'll get to him later) we began going to a Saturday evening revival service for young people. To say our hearts were shattered would be a radical understatement. In the span of a few short weeks our souls were being revived, Jesus began to do a new thing in us, for the first time in a very long time the realization of life, love and our time here on earth became clear. We began to live Saturday to Saturday, hungry for more knowledge and teaching, each day was newer then the last.

By early November we received extremely sad news that one of my counselors from when I was a camper had passed away and so we packed up the Kia and headed north.

 Our hearts grieved for our friends and kids who were deeply affected by her passing.

Though while we were there, Holy Spirit began to speak to us in a new way, His direction was so clear it could have been audible. Maine. It had always been Maine. 

Somewhere between the back and forth of spending the little time we had with our teens, it dawned on us. The revelation of what God had done for us and was doing in us. It was Maine, the children of Maine. The promised land. 

The more we prayed the clearer it became. The more we looked around the more we saw Maine everywhere we went. Homesick in our hearts for a people who are longing for freedom, longing to be seen, loved, cherished and called chosen! 

 Unsure of how we'd sustain ourselves in Maine but certain we wanted to see the revival, I shared our dream with a beautiful friend of mine, Grace. Who with wide eyes and the most comforting of smiles told me that there was a guy and there was a new church and there was a dream, SOMEONE HAD THE SAME DREAM, someone loved Maine and it's people and its teenagers and its children and its family and its lost and its broken.

 God is and was and will always be so good and gracious and perfect and loving.

 The next week we met with the youth pastor of The Roar (the local rival we had been chilling at) and he graciously opened his doors to us, welcomed us and gave us the opportunity to grow under his leadership team. He then (this man is amazing) said he would put us in contact with the guys in Maine who were birthing the same movement as The Roar.

In disbelief we nodded and in disbelief we cried, in disbelief our hearts called out and our good, loving Father answered. Softly He whispered all that He was going to entrust to us, that He loved us so desperately and believed in us and in our stories SO much that He was going to birth in us a dream  beyond satisfaction.

 Our original plan was that we'd spend the summer at Chop Point, come home to Virginia in August pack up our things and move back up to Maine by mid to late September at the latest, that was until...

New Years Eve came upon us and God began to speak and stir and do a new thing again. The month March began replaying over and over in my head and God told me March, March will be when you go. So, I rushed through the crowds to find Tiffany, I asked her to pray and ask God when He wanted us to go (I am a skeptical woman). Two hours later, only moments before midnight I asked Tiffany what The Lord had said, and she looked at me, more unsure then I'd ever seen her, and she squinted out the word March.

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As for now, we continue to wait as God moves and speaks to us about whether we will go March 2014 or March 2015. And in the meantime, Tiffany has decided to learn guitar (Ian and her are going to be worship leaders), she's also picked up knitting (I'm learning too) and Ian has decided to move to Maine with us, he's also in the midst of working on his famous collages and mix tapes. 

We are so thankful for all our family and friends who believe in our dream of LOVE and REVIVAL!