Our journey so far

In a certain sense, Beth and I would love to have been living in Ireland by now. Traveling back and forth isn't the most ideal way to carry out our ministry effectively. However, we have found God's timing to be perfect and He's showing us that yet again.

When we started down this road -- the one that will eventually take us into full-time service in Ireland -- it caused us great consternation regarding Molly. You see, when we first began thinking about moving to Ireland we thought that Molly would want to go with us. She loves Ireland and it seemed like a no-brainer. But then, as we were in the midst of the process to raise our monthly financial support, Molly finished High School and decided that she wanted to become a violin performance major. She had been working with Dr. Yanovskiy at University of West Florida and realized that she wanted to get her Bachelor's degree there.

So then we were faced with this dilemma: We knew beyond doubt that God had called us to Ireland, but we also knew that Molly was not ready for us to leave her in the U.S. on her own. But as I blogged about last year, God made a way for us to begin our ministry by taking regular trips to Ireland, while remaining based in the U.S., continuing to raise pledges for our current work as well as our eventual move overseas.

All the way through the process up to now, I have maintained that God was working out His best plan for all of us. There were times when I wasn't very convincing, even to myself, that we were on the right path and it caused a lot of soul-searching. But, bit-by-bit we see His plan unfolding.

Yes it has taken longer for us to raise our monthly financial support than we had anticipated, but we have, in the last several months, come to this conclusion: when the money is there, Molly will be ready and we will also be at peace about leaving her.

God is good. Here's how He is at work...

Since last September, every trip we have made, Molly has become more confident and self-sufficient. She has become one of the most focussed 19-year-olds that I have ever known -- very serious about her carreer path. The decisions she is making now are all guided by her plan to pursue a Master's and probably a Doctoral degree. She loves what she is doing. She loves UWF.

Last school year we decided (after much prayer and discussion) that it would be a good thing for Molly to live in the dorm at school. It would be kind of a halfway-out-on-her-own experience. It was good on many levels and was worth the extra money spent.

Now, as I write this entry, Molly is preparihttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifng to move into a rental house with some friends. Between her scholarships, grants, orchestra contracts, teaching, playing for weddings, etc., she is in the position to support herself completely if need be. (BTW -- she turns 20 in November -- can you believe it?)

So lately, instead of feelings of abandonment, she is anxious for Beth and I to move to Ireland so that she can come visit us there.

Meanwhile in Ireland -- our ministry continues to grow and we are seeing more demand for what we have to offer the worship ministries of churches throughout the country. Our upcoming trip in a few weeks will most likely prove to be our busiest to date.

It seems that the ship has turned and we're on a direct path to Ireland. Now, obviously the big task at hand is to gain the Ministry Partners we need to get us to our monthly goal of financial support.

Want to know how you can become a Ministry Partner and support God's work in Ireland financially? Go to our website and check out the page.