Embracing God's 2nd Calling . . .What?

to the reader . . . Caution. . . I have no idea how long this post will be. It may seem random in places. . . you may have difficulty reading because of typo's (I hate this dawng computer) it may be whinny or inspirational. I hope the later. I am writing it to you and to God. Read on you'll understand.

7 years ago we began working part time in ministry. Within 6 months we were full time while Cowboy held down a full time job. (see this computer is stupid I did not ask for italics again nor turn it off it is possessed I say) We owned our own business so he could spend lots of time on the ministry. Opp's sorry, I am getting a little ahead. . . we began working in ministry when my Cowboy was called by God to try and help teenagers and get them to come to church and tell them about God and about Jesus Christ. This was not his idea it was God's. He followed God's calling and we ended up in full time ministry. That ministry evolved into what it is today. Working in prison units teaching auto mechanics to the boys, sewing to the girls and leading chapel services in both units. There were times a few years ago that I was so burned out that I had a hard time ministering. We literally left our house at 8 or 9 in the morning and didn't come home till 9 or 10 at night. It was physically demanding and emotionally demanding. Picture dealing with 20-22 teenagers every single day. The last few years I was either cooking or co-ordinating the evening meal for these 20 or so kids. And I loved it. But what I couldn't handle was the every single day part. Oh I forgot about Saturday that was our short day. We came home at 3:00 in the afternoon. That was the day the kids from the jail came. And that is another story. As I began to be burned out...here's why; if you haven't read between the lines. Who do you think did the laundry, took care of all the meals, cleaned up after all the meals, took out the trash, made the bed (no cross that one off no one made the bed) you get where I am going. And run a seperate girls ministry during the day. You know you've heard 'be careful what you pray for'. Well I prayed for some relief. I was only asking for maybe a day off but what happened was we lost all funding sources and all our volunteers. All of this for two reasons. We became estranged from Cowboys mother (who btw is a closet alcoholic) because she didn't not accept our son in law. And we changed churches because the church we were at told us how wrong we were because of the estrangement. (there is much more to this story our son in law worked in our ministry) Just before all this happened I began working with the halfway house (girls prison) and so the ministry shifted gears and instead of working primarily with local kids we began working 100% with the girls inside the prison unit and soon after we finally got into the boys unit. (we had been praying to be allowed to work with the boys for 3 years). Since that time we have struggled. I mean really, really struggled. But Cowboy always said God gave him the vision for this ministry for two reasons...#1 no one else would do it. And #2 he was too stubborn to quit.

Fast forward to what is going on right now. A few months ago we learned the house we were living in was being sold. We were already behind on rent because the corporate sponsors had begun changing their policy and they began really dragging their feet on disbursement of funds. Slowly they began to pay and we were able to get some other corporate sponsors interested in the Auto Mechanics program. Not the faith-based part of our work. We began looking for a house prayerfully asking God to provide a combination of house and place for ministry. And, we felt like he did when we found the house and hanger. Still having difficulty with the funding they still continued to provide albeit slow. The board approved signing the lease and approved the house and we waited on funds. We were given from one source the first months rent. But the deposit was coming from another source. They assured us it was on it's way. We barely had the money in the bank to cover that check but we had written some others for utilities etc. Well long story short the money was not wired as they had promised and of all checks to bounce the deposit check bounced. The sponsors sent half of the deposit eventually but we still haven't gotten the rest. We have not received this months funding and we are being forced to move. We knew this was happening two weeks ago but remember I told you Cowboy is stubborn. Last weekend we went to Houston to a convention (all expenses paid) where we received an award for our Chaplaincy programming. Theoretically we should have stayed home and packed but we were still holding onto faith and hope that God would answer our prayers and provide a miracle.

Today we are still asking God for a miracle. But more so we are asking him for direction. In April when all this started I began feeling that God was leading us toward apartment ministry. I talked to Cowboy the stubborn one. He adamantly said God is not calling him to apartment ministry. His words "God called me to do auto mission." We heard someone say one time actually pray that he would not get too far ahead of God or get behind God. Well I am wondering now if that is what we are doing? When I first approached Cowboy about the apartment ministry he said well get the info. and I did but it just didn't seem right. They didn't call us back. I emailed and then finally got someone to call and they said that the application process required both of us to fill out separate applications (it didn't say that on the form that I originally found on the inter-net and filled out) and so I thought well that is our answer. God talks to Cowboy more than me. Or at least Cowboy is a better listener.

Shortly before we were to move I found out that one of our long time closest friends just changed jobs. He is working in apartment ministry (with a different firm). I thought it was interesting but actually forgot about it until last night or maybe this morning I woke up and remembered that he is in apartment ministry.

Right now we don't know where we will sleep tonight. But Cowboy is calling our friend to see if he can help with a temporary apartment that takes dogs btw. (if not our option is a weekly motel and we don't know what to do with the dog)

I am praying. He is praying. We are asking God is this our 2nd calling.

Will you pray for us today and tomorrow and the rest of this week. Will you please leave me comments. Will you please pass onto your other friends and ask them to lift us and our ministries before the Lord. We need guidance and direction. Here's the link to the ministry blog. Please go there and see what we are all about.

Thank you for stopping in. Thank you for taking the time to read this post and for praying for us. I'll will be writing more posts about our ministry journey and I hope that you'll come back. I hope that you'll find something here that touches your heart.

Sending you God's love and Blessings today.