Rest Awaits

The past couple months have been c.r.a.z.y. for my husband with work.  

Can I take a minute to tell you just a little bit how amazing he is and how faithful our God is?   Maybe you already know this story.  Maybe you just know parts.  But here it is in the abridged version...

In 2007, he was driving home from a 9-5 job, his first job after we left staff of the missions organization we worked with in Mexico.  On the way home this particular day, only a couple months before our first child was due, God gave him a vision of starting a company.  Not to build his name or earn a lot of money for our family, but to build the Kingdom of God and to give a lot of money away to fund and fuel ministry.  When he came home that day and told me about it, I knew it was right.  I had a feeling it would be hard but had no idea what lied ahead.

Start a company. Lots of people do that. It can't be too hard.  Oh, but it can.  This journey has been the most refining lesson in our lives in believing God, His promises, and where He tells us to go even when it doesn't make sense.  (That's why Mr. Newton's real name is so significant to us.  Check out Genesis 15 for a pretty intense story of trusting God).  

Do you know what doesn't make sense?  Starting a company with no business experience, a degree in Youth Ministry, and a (very) minimal savings account in order to avoid taking on debt. But God said go, so we went.  And what we have discovered is that even though God's leading doesn't always make sense to us, his blessings don't always make sense either.  There is just no other way to explain all of what has happened (a world wide company as his main client, the people who have come to work alongside him, the continual expansion, monthly provision, etc) except that this is exactly what the Lord has planned for us in this season of life and that He has completely provided it all.

Pause - don't let this sound like we just trusted with full faith throughout the entire journey.  There were lots of tears and doubts and worries and questions.  But we decided early on to trust God before and during the hardship and not just look back after it was over and say how faithful He was.

Long story short, for the past 4 years there have been so many ups and downs.  And we have no idea what the future holds.  But through it all, God has constantly reminded us that this is His. Not ours. So if it fails and we go bankrupt, that's okay because our identity is not in a successful business.  But so far it has survived and continues to grow.  There are so many specific stories I could tell you of God's provision and faithfulness.

It is still not easy.  He still has no formal business training.  He learns everything as he goes. He has to do every part of the job...keeping the books, writing contracts, balancing finances, and of course, the actual projects with his clients. There are a hundred other things he is responsible for that I don't even know about.  And his whole company is based on a software that is just emerging and he is doing things with that software that the business world hasn't seen yet.  I actually don't really understand it all, but it's darn impressive what he can do with thousands of lines of code.  Basically, God has gifted him with a brilliant mind to innovate and push the limits of what can be done. 

So yes, his schedule is very flexible, he gets to eat lunch with us daily and he comes upstairs to help me when a moment with the boys is especially rough. But those luxuries come at a cost. In seasons like this where he has several major deadlines all requiring extensive research and innovation, there are lots of long hours, late nights, and mental exhaustion.  And lots of prayer along the way.

BUT....there is a light at the end of a very long tunnel.  Deadlines are almost met.  Projects are almost completed and deployed.  Life may be slowing down to a normal pace again.  At least for a little while.

And best of all, this awaits us.

Rest cannot come soon enough.

I know that while our story is unique in many ways, but we are not alone in this journey of trusting God and doing our best to follow where He leads.  I can count a handful of people I know who read this blog who could give equally encouraging testimonies of how they have experienced God's faithfulness through hard job situations or by stepping out in faith when life didn't seem to line up.  I've read some of them on your blogs and I have been encouraged by your faith as well.  What a reminder of God's infinite goodness and faithfulness and His intimate knowledge of us and our lives.  Such grace.

  Hebrews 12:1-2

 ¹ Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. ² Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. ³ Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.