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So a lot of you have heard the news about God closing the door at Hope Chapel…  Let me just explain the full story so everybody knows how amazing God is!

I had just finished up school at Vanguard and wanted to get away to sit with God and just pray for the next step in life.  So I decided to go to Australia for a month with no agenda, no plan and see where he would lead me while I was out there.  As I was out there, He really started to reveal things to me like never before showing me some of my passions and how I love to work with people and train them up in the many areas that God has gifted me.  He revealed to me my passion to preach Christ and how because of my history I am able to relate to so many people in the world.

So where would He lead me next became the big question.  I wrote out a list of things to pray about looking for answers while I was there and guess what happened?  Nothing!  He didn’t reveal much to me as far as direction and what to do next.  So I just continued to pray and seek out His face asking that He would slam the doors in those areas He didn’t want me involved in and open up new doors.  Knowing how I am and how I question whether things are my motive or God’s motive a lot, I had to pray this prayer in a way that showed that it was from God.  Something that I wouldn’t do on my own that would give me clear evidence.

So a month later, after an amazing trip in Australia seeing some pretty amazing things I just laid it all out there saying “God, swing wide the doors and take away anything you don’t want me to have.”  Now I want to for warn you, don’t ask this prayer unless you are willing to fully let go of everything because that is just what He did for me.

I got back totally on fire for the Lord and ready to do anything that He called me to do.  I started to plan out my weeks for work and wanted to up my game on everything that I did so that God would be glorified.  A day into being back from work I got called into the office saying that it was time for me to move on because of certain changes at Hope.  At first I was really confused, but immediately I remembered my prayer and how I asked Jesus to slam the doors so I knew without a doubt that it was His doing, and I found myself totally at peace.

Actually, I felt sorry for the people that had to tell me this tough news, because they didn’t know that it was an answer to prayer.  They just thought they were letting one of there own go.  Me on the other hand, I knew that It was totally from God and could see nothing but doors being opening to follow into a new adventure for Christ.  He closed the Door at Hope Chapel freeing me to walk by faith into the unknown while fully trusting that He will open up another door for me to walk through.  Now that is Exciting!

So many of you have asked what will happen next?  How will I make a living financially?  Where will I go?  What will I Do?  etc…

I answer these questions lightly because I could do a lot of things but I truly believe that the next step is to wait on the Lord to see what door He will open up next.  In the mean time I have a ton of time to sit with God and take in how amazing He truly is while looking for opportunities to preach Christ to a lost city.  God has gifted me in so many ways and I pray that He may be glorified through them all as I look to do more photography, coaching and discipleship.  As I do all these things I know that God has some kind of ministry for me, just not totally sure what it is yet.  We don’t have to always know the future, in fact that takes away all the excitement and fun of growing our trust and faith in Jesus.  When we trust God we don’t HAVE to worry about anything because He is in control and wants what is best for us.

So, am I leaving Hope Chapel?  Of course not; the people of Hope Chapel are my family!  I plan to stay as long as God has me here.  If He calls me elsewhere of course that will all change but Hope Chapel is where I grew up in the Lord, and will continue to serve and grow.

Just remember when things happen to us we have a choice to get bitter, push blame, gossip, and make excuses for things we could have done, but when you see the bigger picture of how God stirs us up for His Kingdom, the only thing that we can do is Praise Him because He is in control.

God bless you and thanks for reading what God is doing in me on this journey.
To be Continued…

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