Two became One

Today makes 8 months since Andrew and I said our wedding vows! So much has already happened that it seems like more time has past...

A month or so before our wedding, God blessed Andrew with a new job as a Sales Representative at a company that specializes in software protection, Symantec. We were thankful to receive time off for our honeymoon so early into his hire! After returning, we proceeded to move my belongings into his apartment above his cousin's garage. However, within the first month of driving an hour to work and back every day, we decided to move closer to his job and our church. We found a nice and affordable apartment that was only 7 minutes from his office building, and 7 minutes from the community college I would soon start attending, with our church only a 20 minute drive away as well! So, the first few months of marriage were filled with two moves, starting up college classes, and Andrew and I stepping up as head Junior High Ministry Leaders at our church... as well as the usual adjustments that come with newly married couples!

While the Lord has been teaching us so much about what a Godly marriage entails... we had started to become comfortable in where we were at in our lives. With Andrew's grandma being diagnosed with cancer for the third time (this time in the brain, bones, and lungs); the Denelsbeck family was shaken as we spent three weeks in the hospital/hospice attending to her until her departure from this world in the early morning of February 2nd! Neither Andrew or myself have ever experienced someone close to us dying, and we both agree that it is a very sobering trial to go through. With that said... as we prepared to share at her burial and memorial about her life and ministry for the lost through missions, God once again grabbed hold of our hearts and challenged us with our own lives! Were we to stay comfortable with where our lives were now? Or step out in faith to share the wonderful news of our Savior with those who have never heard??

As the month went on, we kept feeling a tug on our hearts! Just this past Wednesday, Andrew attended a meeting with our Pastor to discuss our passion and desire to pursue further training with New Tribes Mission. While it is easy to start feeling overwhelmed about all the things that would need to line up in order for us to go, we got our first boost of encouragement as our Pastor said that the church would completely back us in our missions focused ministry! What a blessing to already see the Lord opening doors for us!! So now come all the questions of what our next steps will be... Our Pastor challenged us with prayer and faith! We are looking into starting up the training in Missouri either this coming August '13 or January '14. While we take this time to rest in God's timing, as well as providing the finances for our training... we would appreciate your prayers and encouragement as God continues to direct us!!