It was all Accidentally on Purpose...
There are deliberate steps you take in life, purposeful strides you make to achieve your goals. On the other hand for some of us supernatural providence intervenes and takes us a place we never intended to go. The later scenario is our story. It's a tale of blessed intervention on the part of a loving God in the lives of two wayward children, twisted and molded into a kingdom focused family committed to becoming God chasers, and living a life we never knew existed. This is our story...
Ray and I grew up in rural Virgina, a place where the definition of Christianity is ill defined and there aren't really clear jurisdictions as to where "the world" really is. Christian school was okay (for the rich kids) and homeschooling was for weirdos. It was a story I imagine is similar to many people who grow up in the bible belt, where church attendance is a as important as high school football, and unfortunately Jesus is pretty much relegated to mascot status as well. That world is starting to fade away now and the traditions of the church that held the world at bay have begun to weaken as rural communities begin to show the fruit of the social Christianity that they have clung too for generations. We are probably the last generation who will recall such a place in our country. I don't grieve for it, I am glad to see it go and the boundaries between Christians and traditionalists become more defined, but that's another post.
When we were married we knew we wanted something different for our marriage and our family. The problem was we had no idea how to get there or even which direction to start walking. There is an old saying that "a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step", that is so true of our life story. The story of our family began with a single honest prayer for guidance offered up in sincerity, and God answered that prayer in a way we could never have expected, taking us across the state and this country and back again several times over, all the while placing people in our lives to train us.
Fast forward from that single prayer on our wedding day to almost 15 years later, we are the homeschooling family of 7 children and counting. We have been involved with church planting for 4 years in two states, and Jesus is everything but a mascot to us now. As I look around my life since I married there are days when I think to myself "how did I end up here?". Our Journey as been one of twists, turns, heartbreaks, frustrations, and temptations, but today we are finally beginning to see the path in front of us with clarity. Knowing our footing can be sure as we are rooted in sufficiency of Scripture for our guidance and steering clear of the dangerous traditions of man. I hope you will enjoy reading about our journey, there is a lifetime of material yet to be covered, and it all happened accidentally on purpose...
