So what are you waiting for?

This is a question I have often asked others but am currently asking myself.  Concerning our next steps and more specifically the “where we are to go” and “when we are to go” we are simply waiting.  This is not out of laziness.  God has placed a call on our hearts to step out in faith again.  I was recently encouraged to keep my hands open to what God may want to do and not hold on tight to a single idea or way He could guide me and my family.  It was a good and timely word. On my way to Atlanta this week, I was listening to a teaching on Acts 1-2.  It was interesting to note the expositors emphasis in Acts 2 on the idea of listening/hearing before doing.  To be honest I struggle with this.  I am a direct person and can get focused on results and become very impatient with waiting.  I am working on this though.  If you are not familiar with this block of scripture, it deals with a period of time where the Apostles were waiting on Holy Spirit.  This third person of the trinity was promised by Jesus to guide and help us.  In the text we note that in Acts 1:8 Jesus states the following:

But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. -Acts 1:8 NKJV

I am reminded that we are called to do ministry.  So what does this mean?  What are we waiting on?  We are simply waiting for the Lord to empower us go where He wants us to go.  There are several places on my mind.  I know the northeast has a need for the Gospel and there is a bit of a revival going on up there thanks to the hard work of those who have been called to minister there.  I personally have spent the past few summers in New Hampshire with missions teams coming along side the local church and can attest that the Gospel is gaining a strong foothold in the northeast.  I know we (as a family) love the Carolinas and North Florida.  We have been to Asheville, NC, New Hampshire, and St. Augustine, FL over the past few months to ‘see’ the area and to begin to pray if that is what God has for us.  It’s times like this that I am glad that I journal.  Two other times in my life I have felt this same burden to begin to prepare for a step of faith.  This burden has always been a prelude to God moving in our life in a very big and unexpected way.  I was reminded by reading my journal that God’s perfect timing is often time our last minute.  Thanks journal…I appreciate that (insert ‘Holy’ sarcasm).

So what does this mean?  What’s the bottom line?  We as a family are approaching this with our hands open.  We ask that you pray with and for us.  We ask that our thoughts and prayers be focused on God’s ultimate plan.  We are completely surrendered to His will.  If it’s back to engineering then that’s where I will go.  If its across the ocean we will go there too.  We are open to however God wants to use us.  We ask that you pray for our courage.  Once God reveals to us what we are to do we know it will require great courage on our part to step out in faith.