Wherever

Well friends, I haven’t really written here in a long time.  If you know me at all, you know that I like to share, I’m pretty much an open book.  But, I’m finding that, often times, good things come as we wait 🙂  And the Lord has had me in a season of learning to be quiet in Him, of learning to listen.

I know some of you have seen Facebook posts over the last couple months and may have been wondering, “What is going on with the Treus?!”  Well, the answer to that is A LOT!!  But I thought I’d try to share some here.

The most recent big event is that we moved.  The last week of June, our landlord called and told us he was selling our townhouse.  He’s been awesome for the last four years but is needing to send a daughter to college.  The market in Denver is crazy good for sellers right now, so we completely understood.  At that same time, the news was unexpected and honestly shocking!  There was already a lot going on.  At the time, Branden had just quit working his second job.  Between the two and freelancing some on the side, he was working up to 70, sometimes 80 hours a week.  He’d stopped eating and sleeping normally, and I was feeling like a single parent a lot of days.  He just couldn’t do it any more, but quitting was a step of faith for us.  Now we had to find a new place to live.  And we had to pack, and move, by the end of the summer.

We decided Branden wouldn’t pick that job back up.  And we wouldn’t commit to a lease we couldn’t afford.  And we wouldn’t pay for indefinite storage.  Jesus had to have a plan, even if we didn’t know what it was.  So, the hunt for a new place, and the process of packing/selling/moving commenced.

At first it felt like we had some time, not a lot, but not so little that it was time to panic.  I began making lists, organizing garage sales, posting furniture for sale.  The weeks went by quickly and our home began to look more and more empty.  Since we didn’t know where we were going, we made a decision to sell anything we didn’t absolutely need, anything we weren’t currently using.  We all began to learn what that actually meant.  The boys got rid of 2/3 of their toys, we downsized to two week’s worth of clothing for everyone, and sold all our furniture except for our beds (and my record player because I was crying and Branden said we needed to keep it for now 🙂  Some things were harder to get rid of than others, but the Lord was so faithful to meet us.  It’s sad to realize how much we had that was unnecessary, and how normal that is for our culture.  I’m thankful for opportunities to walk alongside our children and learn what it means to cling to Jesus more and to the world a little less.

Two weeks before we had to be out, Branden and I were feeling the crunch.  We still didn’t know where were moving to.  Because the housing market is so crazy right now, rental prices have also skyrocketed.  People are paying more than we were for less than half the space we had.  The Lord shut the door on us getting a place of our own.

A few very generous families who love us offered us their basements, including my parents.  As we prayed, Branden and I felt like that is where the Lord wanted us to be.  They just built a small house about an hour out of town.  Right now their basement is concrete and exposed beams, and the commute is pretty significant, but the Lord is speaking to us about what special things this next season will bring.

So, last weekend we moved.  Ugh, moving is a pain!  (For those of you who didn’t know 🙂  The boys have a space on one side of the basement where their bunks, clothes, and toys can stay.  The other side of their room houses a few boxes we still have.  Branden and I are set up in a larger space on the other side, with our bed on one side of the room and our school/living area on the other.  There are no real walls yet and Branden and my dad will work soon to get electricity in all the areas, but for now, extension cords are the way to go!

It’s humbling honestly, not knowing where to go, getting rid of so much, moving into your parents’ basement.  It feels like the Lord is stripping away any source of security we might be able to have in ourselves or our abilities.  At one point, as Branden and I were praying about where to go, he just asked for the Lord to provide a place that was comfortable and safe.  So many in the world do not even have those things.  And today my heart is so grateful!  He is teaching us a lot in this season, lessons I don’t want to forget.

The last few years have been a roller coaster of seeking the Lord for direction, stepping out, falling hard, and wondering what the Lord has for us.  Rinse, lather, repeat.  It seems never-ending.  We believe we are called to ministry and that the Lord has something specific in mind.  But the Lord has been satisfied to lead us into a very long valley season.  There have been days, even weeks of heartache and discouragement.  Some days I have felt the valley was so long, so dark, that I’ve forgotten what the sun feels like.  I can see now that His heart has been to teach us many things, including who He really is.

In the last few weeks, the Lord has given me this verse over and over.  Joshua 1:9 says, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

I’ve heard this verse so many times before.  It’s the kind that gets put on an inspirational plaque or in a greeting card.  But when the Lord first gave it to me in this season, I thought, “Wherever.  Even if we don’t know where ‘wherever’ is!”  The Lord has said, “Be strong. Have courage.”  But I haven’t felt very strong at all.  I’m learning, when we have come to the end of ourselves, we can find our life in knowing He is present.  It’s proximity that gives us strength.  And it doesn’t much matter where we go, only with Whom we travel.  I have to rest here.  In this humbling, painful place.  In this place where, in the midst of chaos and uncertainty, Jesus is our anchor and gives us the ability to keep walking, to have hope.

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Speaking of traveling, there is something else I want to share with you.  It’s not something we’ve been able to share here, until now 🙂  Along with everything else, actually for more than a year now, we have been praying about full time missions to Ireland. (What?!)  I know it sounds crazy!  Some days it still sounds crazy to me 🙂  But we believe it may be something the Lord is calling our family to, and that is amazing!  There are a lot of things still up in the air, things we are seeking the Lord about, but right now we are in the process of planning a scouting trip.  There is a church there we have been talking with, and our hope is to visit, serve, and pray.  We don’t know for sure if we will go back full time, but our heart is to follow Jesus – wherever!

Would you pray with us?  The Lord is teaching me so much about prayer.  It’s His heart that we would talk with Him, trust and wait on Him, pour out our hearts, and live this life in fellowship with Him!  Here are a few things you can partner with us in prayer about:

• Our passports to come in with no problem (we hope to get them back in the next few weeks!)
• Complete provision for our trip (all 4 of us are going!)
• What our time there will look like (serving/outreach/being with people)
• Traveling Details/Logistics (that the Lord would lead us to the right deals/give us favor with prices, etc)
• That our time there would be fruitful
• Unity in our marriage and family as we prepare to go and during our time there
• That we would be able to hear clearly and know His will for our family
• That the Lord would prepare our hearts for all He wants to do in and through us there

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Okay, so that was a pretty hefty update 🙂  Thank you for reading and for praying for/with our family!  We still believe God is good, that He is with us, that He has a good plan.  Please continue to pray.  We hope to be able to share soon, more of what the Lord is doing.  God bless you!