"What are those crazy Walleys doing in Hawaii for 6 months?" you might ask. It's a good question! As I write this we've reached the end of our first week here and it still doesn't feel real. Yet, I can, with unquestioned confidence say that God has brought us here. It was only about 4 months ago that the thought even entered our minds but it took hold rather fast! Here's what has happened: Derek's work had come to a point where we thought that he may be working a bit more than we'd like. He was already commuting 45-60+ minutes through I-4 traffic everyday to get home to us and the 4 day weeks that had originally been promised hadn't worked out. So, with the thought of looking for a new job sometime soon, the thought of travel nursing came up. (For those who don't know, there are many companies who specialize in getting nurses to travel to different locations throughout the world to fill a gap in a position in a hospital, Dr's office or surgery center. These positions can range from 3 months to a year and they provide you with funds for a place to stay, getting there, etc.) Before we were married, Derek had traveled to several different cities in the states to do just this and had enjoyed it. The thought of doing something exciting like this and getting to live in and explore a different area for a short time was what originally appealed to us. Hawaii was always at the top of our lists but we weren't sure if it would really work out to get there. All these ideas began brewing in our heads for a month and we started talking more earnestly about it. Meanwhile, the Holy Spirit had been prompting both of our hearts in similar ways in areas that we would like to see change. As we began talking, it became clear that not only could this be an opportunity to see some of the world and have an adventure, but this could be a unique opportunity to allow God to work in our hearts and lives to see change and growth in a way that would be much more difficult at home with all of our old responsibilities and distractions and habits. The questions of should we really be doing this?... Could we?... began to be clearly answered as God provided every need. It became clear... this was really happening!
The next few weeks were a blur of God's provision. Everything we needed was provided. What will we do with our house- could we possibly find renters for only 6 months- could we leave it furnished so we don't have to move everything out? Provided- some friends in the church needed a furnished place for a few months! What do we do with our pets? Friends and family are caring for them! We don't want to lay down our home group and make everyone spread out! Provided by dear friends leading it for us in our absence. We would like to be able to go to Derek's brother's wedding, so can we find a job that doesn't want us until after then and could that job possibly be in Hawaii like we would prefer? Yes and yes! They wanted us a bit earlier than we would have liked at first but allowed us to come later! Can we find an affordable furnished apartment big enough for us? It just fell into place- even having an extra space that we could use as a 3rd bedroom so Derek's grown niece, Christina can move out with us! One could say that this was just fate, but we know it's not so. God's hand is all over everything in just the little details that He has set up and provided to bless us. We couldn't be more thankful and now even more faith filled that if He has provided all this for us surely we can't allow ourselves to fear any of the other problems we can dream up!
Now on to the details. While we're away we will be praying for our church and friends and family who are so far away. We covet your prayers too. Change is hard. We are sure there will be struggles. Yet we are in faith. We are praying for Spiritual growth. We would love to see our personal devotions & family & quiet times as a couple grow in consistency and to see our desire for God deepen. We've gotten lazy in the ease of turning on the TV instead of talking or reading together or on our own. We brought a huge stack of books from our church bookstore to be diving into. We would like to be more purposeful in our conversations and training of our kids and viewing them with much more enjoyment than as sometimes burdensome. In short, we want to be more disciplined in the way we spend our time so as to see God as our undeniable priority in what we do, talk about and think about. Death to apathy and laziness in our spiritual lives... life to seeing and savoring the God who is bigger than we could ever imagine! We're just so thankful that God has brought us to this place. One could say that we're over reacting. Life isn't so bad for us. It's true. We are very blessed. It hasn't taken a point of our lives falling apart to see need for change or become desperate for God. No, God has graciously saved us from great despair and turmoil in our lives to make us desperate for Him. However, He has brought us to great despair in seeing how greatly we think of ourselves in our finding ourselves trying to live with less and less of Him. This is what we are desperate to change!
The fact of the matter was that all of what we're hoping to see change in our lives could have been done at home but with just a bit more work involved. We just couldn't pass up this change to be in Hawaii while doing the work! So, hopefully, through God encouraging our hearts and His work bringing change in our lives, we can inspire you, our dear friends from far away... to evaluate where you too have become apathetic and lazy in your spiritual lives. Even though we're not there with you, we can take this journey together and mutually encourage each other. Our God is faithful and if we seek Him, we will find Him. He will make it possible to become more like him and we're walking out these next few months knowing that change is not always easy, but He will give us the grace we need! So, come with us friends, continue fighting against the lure and ease of this world. Break out of the areas that you have become comfortable. These 6 months while we are away will only be a momentary aloha and then we'll be back. We are confident that this time will go by so quickly and we look back and see that it's over and all our fighting will not have been in vain. We are in faith that God in His grace will bring us back different and more like Him. Every second of pain as we put our flesh to death will be worth it. Just as we will look back at this time and see that it went by so fast but it was worth the fight; so we will at the end of our lives be looking back at our time on earth here and see that it too was momentary... a flash! And then this beautiful paradise here in Hawaii will seem dull compared to the paradise that awaits in being in the presence of the God who has unnecessarily saved us and made it possible for us to turn from our sin!
