He is WITH us.

The last few days have been full of a lot of joy, tears, & deep breaths.

We are in full "see you soon" mode.  With each person that we hug for the last time for a while, this journey feels more & more real.

Our hearts have felt very torn in the last few weeks.  We have moments of pure excitement, deep grief for what we know we will miss out on here at home, & anxiety because of all of the unknowns ahead of us.

But in the still & quiet moments, The Lord has really shown me just how perfect the timing is for this.  His timing has been perfect all along.
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Five summers ago, after two months of serving in Honduras, we knew that the Lord was calling us to more.  He was calling us deeper to have radical faith & abandon all to make Him known.

But since that summer, there has been a war raging against us.

And in that war, the delay & wait has been exhausting.

There were times that it didn't look like God was doing anything.  I wondered if He had forgotten what He had spoken to us, what He had promised, and wasn't going to do what He said He would do.

BUT God ...

He is so faithful.

He showed us what needed to die in both of us individually before we could be who we needed to be in Him for the assignment that He had set before us.

And He restored what was broken & brought beauty from ashes.

And now here we are ... 48 hours from boarding a plane with a one-way ticket.
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A promise 5 years in the making.  But we are entering this journey in HIS perfect timing.

And it just so happens that He is drawing us near to Him in complete abandonment in this season of Advent.

Advent is the season leading up to what we celebrate as Christmas.  A season when we reflect & remember on all that God has done and all of the promises that He has kept.

A season that is meant to serve as a reminder that God is WITH us.

When Jesus came to us, He was a fulfillment to the promise that God will never leave us.

Immanuel ... God WITH us.

A promise from the beginning of time that was told by Isaiah but did not come to pass for centuries.

Can you imagine waiting on THAT promise?

But that SAME promise from centuries ago brings hope to us even now as we step out into this calling.

Centuries later & the promise of Immanuel is still bringing peace & joy.

During this season of Advent, it is so important that we pause & reflect on God's faithfulness & remember His promises to us.
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We have had a lot of people ask us ... "Why are you leaving before Christmas?"

We had several factors that contributed to that decision but ultimately we felt a peace about getting to Costa Rica before Christmas to be settled into our new "norm" as a family.

So, no ...  we aren't doing the traditional things to "celebrate" Christmas this year.

We aren't cluttered by the hustle of this time of year like we always have been in the past.

We are spending Christmas "alone" in a new country that will feel anything but normal.

But I am starting to see that this has been His plan all along.  This timing is intentional.

Stepping out into the unknown & the uncomfortable with the promise spoken over us that we are NOT alone.  Advent is the perfect season for this step in our journey.
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We don't know the heights of joy or the depths of pain that may come in this journey.

But we DO know that we are not alone.  He is WITH us.

We can embrace today & rest in the fact that Immanuel is the ONLY consistent piece of our future.

The ONLY One.