Today an announcement was made that affects our lives significantly.
Walter and I have accepted the position of General Director for Northern Canada Evangelical Mission, as well as carrying on with our directorship of Healing Hearts Ministries, Inc.
When the board member from NCEM called Walter to ask if he would consider this ministry possibility, Walter's first reaction was "NO!"  How could we leave Healing Hearts without leadership while still expanding and catching up with the growth we've experienced in recent years?  So although Walter wanted to be respectful of the request, he promised to pray and get back to them in a week, fully expecting to say "No" but thank you for the incredible honour.
We discussed this opportunity and I, too, felt it wouldn't be reasonable.  So as we prayed together, we sought God's direction and prayed for His choice for their new Director.
The next day, Walter read Scriptures in Psalm 133 as part of his regular Bible reading and verse 1 grabbed his attention.  "How good and pleasant it is when God's people live together in unity!"  Was God challenging Walter to be reaching out to a sister mission organization?
I had been reading in Isaiah around that time and a passage I had marked the year before came to light again.  "Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes."  Reading this several months ago, I thought it was about the growth of Healing Hearts and the adding of new staff.  But as I read it in the light of the new situation in our lives, I could see it as God preparing us for even more expansion of our "tent".
So as we sought the Lord, we didn't hear Him say "No", as much as we thought He would!  We sought some other counsel and each one encouraged us to pursue this course and at least see what the expectations of NCEM would be.
We met with their board and got acquainted.  They were not hurrying the process to find a new director, but were prayerfully considering our name as it had come forward.  After this meeting, we again just left it in God's hands and would wait for the NCEM board's discussion and our own direction from the Lord.
Just before Christmas, the chairman of the board called Walter to say they wanted us to come on board.  We were both excited and nervous as to what this would mean!  The next step was for the Healing Hearts board to meet with them and discuss how this role could be shared by both organizations and if it was a reasonable expectation.  So this meeting was held Saturday, January 28, 2017.  The decision was made for us to begin our new role on March 1.  All the board members of both missions gathered to pray for us and it was a surreal moment.  God had certainly given us a task that is bigger than we are but we were surrounded by godly folk who cared very much.
As I sit at my laptop and type these words, I am feeling a little overwhelmed!  The enormity of the task and the huge responsibility for many missionaries across Canada is hitting me.  But a verse that the Lord gave me is what I am hanging onto for now: "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit," says the Lord Almighty..." Zechariah 4:6  How the details will work out and how we will manage this expanded ministry is by God's Spirit, not by any ideas or abilities we may have.  This gives me great peace.
Thank you, my blog-readers, for your prayers and support.