This is the second post in a series that I am hosting in honour of MoveIn's 5th anniversary. You can read the first one here. This time written by the ever lovely Olivia* who I first met at this year's MoveIner Conference. Stay tuned for more #MoveIn5Year posts over the next few days.
One of the prayers my husband and I prayed often as new parents was that God would surround our 3 boys with a close community of people who love Jesus and would be role models in faith. Amazingly, this prayer has been answered through our obedience in moving in. Over the course of several months, God had been inviting us to consider the possibility of selling our home and moving into a downtown neighbourhood to join a MoveIn team. Last spring, we sold our house.
To be honest, we had a lot of fears: space, safety, giving up a laundry room and the loss of a backyard. And yet as we sensed the clear call to move in, we knew God would be faithful in spite of our fears. Being moved in with 3 boys under 5 has been tough at times, and yet God is so present and gracious in the midst of our daily lives. He has been stripping away the comforts that we thought we needed and in turn given us more of himself. Our reliance on Him has deepened immensely.
While God could have met our spiritual needs while we still lived in our house, He called us to obey this particular call. As we’ve walked this out God has overwhelmed us with grace in the hard moments. Not a week goes by that we don’t have a conversation with our boys about the choices we’ve made. Visits with friends or relatives surface questions about why we don’t own a house or have a big backyard. We share with our kids about how God called us to move in, and together we find the blessings in daily life.
Living in an apartment means our family has become closer. Literally. There is not much extra space for 3 little boys who like to run. While sometimes this is tough, it has also given us an opportunity to be present with one another throughout the day. Ultimately, stepping out in faith to move in was used by God to answer our prayers. Our boys are now surrounded by teammates who pray for and with them often. Within our team, the boys feel the freedom to love and serve Jesus. They come along with us to visit neighbours, ‘play’ the guitar and drums during our team worship time, and are present in the midst of faith-stretching conversations and the joy of fellowship on our team.
A few weeks ago, my son stood on a chair during Sunday school and prayed for the class. Normally a quiet but friendly kid, I asked him what prompted him to this step of boldness. He shared that he felt afraid, but felt that he really wanted to pray, so he raised his hand quickly before he could change his mind. Over the months God has been giving him a desire to pray for himself, his family and his neighbours. As a parent, this makes me so thankful. As God has been giving my husband and I more love for Jesus and more love for unreached peoples, this same passion has been trickling down to our children. He is so faithful!
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