This will be done in several parts to keep it short. I pray that this shows you how God has worked and that He can work amazing things in your life too!
2023 was a year that changed my life forever. In this post, I want to write a review on what 2023 brought to my life. It was a year that brought highs and lows and much uncertainty and asked me to take the greatest leaps of faith in my life. As I reflect, I can see where God was in every second of it though and His plan was coming to fruition in my life, even though there were times when it did not even feel like God was there.
The year began in January with me continuing intense physical therapy for my ankle that I broke in 2 places in August of 2022. I had surgery on Sept. 9th and it was such a long, hard, and painful recovery. I had amazing therapists but it took me so much to get back to the point where I was before the surgery. I wondered why God allowed this to happen at this point in my life. As I look back, He was starting to eliminate opportunities to prepare me for the amazing things that 2023 was to bring. But He also showed me that even through the biggest trials, He was going to bring much good out of it. At least I was back to driving and getting around pretty decent and so I was blessed compared to many others who had been through the same thing, especially with the severity of the injury.
I continued to work high school basketball games and I loved it. It was something that gave me such enjoyment in helping my community and watching a game that I love. I have gotten to the point where I love basketball even more than football, at least in working the games. It was an exciting season and it always saddened me to see it end. Especially with everything happening with my ankle and not being able to work football games, it was something that took my attention off the injury and the recovery I was going through.
As we got into March, I decided that it was time to start testing the waters for a senior pastor position. I had tried and tried throughout the years with no success and so my hopes were not very high in getting a position. I remember having the thought that I might as well accept and be content with being an associate pastor for the duration of my ministry. I didn't know what was holding me back but I didn't do it immediately. It took me until April to finally take the step of submitting my resume. Maybe it was just past failure at securing a position. Maybe it was the rejection I had felt throughout my ministry. I do believe it was certainly discouragement and feeling like God was at a standstill working in my life. But I just kept holding on and didn't do anything yet.
I continued at my work as an associate pastor, but I was starting to feel God drawing that time to a close as I felt the door was slowly closing. I at first thought it was just me, but as time went along it kept closing little by little. We were nearly 40 miles away from this church and even though the drive was easy, the cost as an unpaid associate pastor was mounting up and was getting hard. Lori and I decided in March that this would be my final year there and that if nothing opened, my last day would be Dec. 31st. I didn't know what I was going to do after the end of the year but either way, my time was coming to an end there. I loved serving there and the people were amazing but as the costs were adding up, I had to focus first and foremost on taking care of my family. The year before as gas surged to near $5 a gallon, it became a great concern as our income was fixed and Lori only got paid once a month working in the school system. I did not know what the next chapter held but it was a decision I felt that God was leading us to.
April came and things started getting very odd all of a sudden. My therapy was complete and I just was not sure what was next. It was concerning and discouraging. One evening, Lori came to me and told me that it was time to test the waters for a Senior Pastor position. All of a sudden, I felt God says loudly in my heart GO!. For some time, I knew my family was not ready and God would continuously say "Not yet." What made it even odder is only Lori and I had talked about me testing the waters but then the kids came in and said the same thing that evening. So I applied in the West Texas District and waited.
Nothing was happening as May went by. I prayed so much and I felt like no answers were coming from it. I didn't give up but I heard nothing from my district or West Texas about a church. More dead ends again was the only thought that came to my mind. Lori seems to be right in predicting future events and I have learned throughout the years to listen to her.
In 2006, we were going out to her mom's one day as we lived in Pennsylvania at the time and were down visiting in Texas. As we went by the Nazarene Church, out of nowhere she said that I would pastor there someday. I laughed in her face and said that was not going to happen as I would never move to Texas. Forward 10 years later, I was an associate pastor there. It had me in awe that God used her in this way but I rejected it when God was speaking through her. The moral of this story is never to tell God where you aren't going. I told Him I would never move to Oklahoma either and look where I am now.
As we talked one evening before bed, she told me that she felt like she was not going to be returning to her job in August. She revealed to me that her position had been eliminated at work but she would still have a job doing something different. As the month went by, they kept changing what position she would have and it felt like her having a job at all was in jeopardy for fall 2023. It concerned me as she was the one earning the main source of income in our home and without it, it would be impossible to make it.
TO BE CONTINUED....
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