Go to Chicago! January 2003

In 2002, my husband, Jay, sold his business and began to work at our church as an interim pastor. He LOVED the job, but he was told that he would only have the job until they found a qualified seminary graduate. During his time at our church, they sent him to Willow Creek Community Church for an Evangelism conference. He heard about the three year Internship program that they offered - a seminary degree, ministry experience, and inner journey work. It sounded good, but we lived in SC and this was in Chicago. Not possible.

Jay returned home to tell me about it and it lodged in my heart. A few months later, he got the call that our church had found the perfect candidate and that his job would not last very much longer. He decided to call Willow Creek again to learn more about the Internship. They said that we should come to Chicago in a couple of weeks for the Internship training weekend. Jay mentioned that to me and I said, "NO!!!! You check out all the other seminaries and other opportunties. If after a few months, you still are interested, I will go with you."

Right after that, Jay went a way for a previously scheduled hunting trip with some of his friends. The first night that he was away, I woke up at 4:30 in the morning. This was highly unusual for me. I had very young children at the time, so they were typically the only reasons that I would wake up in the middle of the night. I rolled over and went back to sleep.

The second night of his absense, I woke up again at 4:30 in the morning. Not 4:25. Not 4:32. Again, I rolled over and returned to sleep.

The third nite, again a 4:30 AM wakeup. I finally tossed back the covers and said, "OK God. What is it?"

I sat in my red chair - the place where I most often read and pray. The Power of Praying Wife was open on my chair to Chapter 9 - His Purpose. So I began to read, " Everyone has purpose. It's the reason we exist. When he discovers that purpose, and is doing what he was created to do , becoming what he was created to be, he will find fulfillment. This can only contribute to your happiness as well." I kept reading and began sobbing. As I continued to read, it was as if God was writing with a black Sharpie on the pages of this book, "Go to Chicago!"

Jay called me later that day, and I told him what had happened. A week or so later, we left our little children to attend the Internship training. Throughout the weekend, we felt very sure that we were to continue to pursue this option - all the while praying that God would close the door.

A few months later, we packed up our 40 years of life in South Carolina. We left our families, our friends, our church and our home and everything that we had ever known.

We have now been at Willow Creek for 5.5 years. My husband, Jay, is on staff at Willow Creek and I have been blessed to work on Life Story materials with some amazing women for the last several years.

It has been a hard journey, but an amazing journey too. We wouldn't trade all the money in the world for the blessings and opportunites that we have had following God down this path. More than we would have asked for or imagined.

Scrapbooking in Africa?

Since I worked on getting balls, bibles and t-shirts for the kids of Chitipa, Malawi in the Fall 2008, my heart has been thinking of Africa. For so long, I have said, "God, please don't send me to Africa." Probably not what most people fear, but my Aunt Neale (my given middle name and my daugther's first name) was a missionary there for 42 years, so I guess that the idea has always been in the back of my mind.

Recently, I asked my husband, Jay, about the idea of working in Africa and he said that we are of more help to them here, because we can mobilize people and resources here to help them there.

Last weekend, Jay & I had dinner with Stella, who works for our church in Malawi. I told her that I as considering being apart of the serving trip in June. Jay asked Stella how she might want me to serve. Stella said, "Do you like arts & crafts?...Would you be interested in helping AIDs families do scrapbooks?" She continued by talking about how the children are left with nothing once their parent(s) die. They have no pictures to keep and nothing to hold on to.

Well, I could have just fallen out of my chair. What Stella didn't know was that I have been scrapbooking since I was seven years old. It is part of who I am and who God made me to be, but I have never dreamed that it could serve a kingdom purpose...until now.