Our Story

We hope our story encourages you. We are so thankful for God's direction in our lives. 

Hopefully the format this is written in is understandable. We tried to be as concise as possible without leaving out the most important details of God's work. 

Michelle: Sometime in December 2018, my cousin mentioned the need for house parents at Gateway and half-jokingly said we should consider a position. I laughed it off, especially since I was in the process of taking a position at the Illinois branch of Gateway as an Adoption Caseworker. But, as time passed, I could not get the thought off my mind. Maybe we were supposed to move to Gateway. Maybe that’s where our family was supposed to be.  I didn’t want to. I didn’t like the idea. I didn’t want to move. I was happy where I was. I didn’t want to move states, switch churches, leave family, lose comforts… I didn’t want to. So. I didn’t say anything to Nathan.  But, the wondering and thoughts kept coming. Eventually, I prayed that God would take away those thoughts. That if this was something we were truly supposed to consider, God would bring them back. And they went away, for months. I thought nothing of it.

Michelle: In June, we went to my cousin's wedding in Indiana. In church then, someone commented that we should consider being house parents. On the drive home, we both said we didn't think we could ever do it. We didn’t talk about it anymore and left it as that.

Michelle: Later in June it became clear that Nathan’s job, which had been an ongoing source of stress, seemed to be at a dead end. We decided together that we needed to pray whether Nathan should start looking for another job or stay. We decided to pray specifically about this each night together for the whole month of July. Once we began praying, the conviction about the house parent openings at Gateway came flooding back. But, again, I mentioned nothing to Nathan for fear he’d want to pray about it. Little did I know, Nathan was beginning to feel the same way.

Nathan: Around the middle of July, I started feeling like God wanted us to pray about the house parents position at Gateway (Michelle still hadn't told me she had ever thought about it). I brought it up to Michelle, and we again both went through our concerns, but agreed to change our praying to be specific about it.

Michelle: We didn’t really know how to pray about a big change like this.  A good friend of mine had recently made a big move with her family, so I gave her a call.  She encouraged me, gave me all sorts of wisdom, and told me that they had spent time praying through their fears and concerns.

Nathan: We wrote down our main concerns and prayed specifically about one each night for a week. On Wednesday that week, things were not going well with the kids after I got home from work, and we had to leave in 10 minutes to be on time. We almost decided to stay home, but we both said no, we need to go, even if we’re late. By a miracle, we got ready quicker than we ever had before, and ended up being almost the first people to church. The evening sermon was about not letting our fears keep us from being bold when God calls us to do something.  I felt strong direction from this, and Michelle was very glad we had decided to go.

Michelle: As we prayed through our fears and concerns: moving far from family, effect it would have on our children, becoming a part of a new church, and safety concerns, God continued to show me he would be there. God won’t take away the cause of the fear or concern, but He will be there in it and through it. And, in that I found peace that whatever way this process went, God meant it for our good.

Michelle: We eventually talked with Nathan’s parents and with Michelle’s parents.. They voiced concerns, gave some advice, and agreed to pray about it. We knew all we could ask and expect from our parents was that they could trust that it was God leading us to Gateway, and not just something we wanted to do.

Nathan: After talking with our parents Nathan started praying that God would speak to our parents too, so they could be confident in our decision.  On Wednesday that week, the evening sermon was about Jehoshaphat and the children of Israel standing before God when three enemy kings had allied together and were coming against Israel. The minister ended the first reading in the middle of the chapter, but Nathan read a little further and read the verse stating God’s answer to their prayer, “Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them: for the Lord will be with you. 2Ch 20:17” Nathan thought, “I wish the minister had read a few more verses, because I think this is an answer to my prayer for our parents.” After the prayer, the minister got up and said, “Let’s just read a few more verses before we turn to the New Testament, because it is an encouragement.” The rest of the sermon was about being a citizen of God’s Kingdom here on earth and taking on responsibilities that go along with that. Nathan felt strongly that this was an answer that God would speak to our parents to allow them to trust and more direction to move forward with Gateway.

Nathan: Throughout the entire process, one thing that kept coming up in Nathan’s personal reading and meditation was that when Abraham, the Father of Faith, was asked to sacrifice his son Isaac, he got up early in the morning and went in that direction, believing that if God let him go through with the sacrifice, God would raise Isaac from the dead to fulfil the promise of children like the sands of the sea and the stars of the sky.

 Nathan: One night, when we were reading together before bed, we opened to James 2. Michelle had just started reading through the book of James that morning and read James 1.  James 1 had come up for Nathan a few days earlier, with the last verse speaking to him, “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” James 2 talks about showing our faith by our works, and uses the example of Abraham offering Isaac.

Michelle: At this point I was still struggling to feel direction. I felt at peace. I knew God was with us and that he meant the process for good. But, I was struggling to find anything concrete in what I read or heard pointing me in a specific direction.  

Nathan: The next morning, after reading James 2, was Trent & Tiffany’s wedding in Peoria. We had a very rough morning trying to get the kids ready, (Michelle interjects: think chasing kids down to stuff them in diapers to turn around and see the other one is making a complete mess of something, and while you are dealing with that, kid 1 has wrangled themselves away again and is less dressed than previously) and didn’t get to church until after the first reading. When we sat down, the minister was talking about how Abraham was called by God to move to a new country, and he got up early in the morning and left. He also talked about Abraham offering Isaac, and pursuing God in faith without hesitating, negotiating, questioning, or debating. The second minister got up and talked again about Abraham offering Isaac, being obedient to God in doing things we don’t want to do, and having faith when we’re called to do something. He talked about a young couple from his congregation who recently left for Haiti. He specifically stated, “I don’t believe that they did that or chose that on their own. They were called to that, and they had to have faith to do it, to leave family and all the things that they’re familiar with, not knowing what was before them.” This was when Nathan decided we had to keep moving forward towards Gateway and put in an application, whether it was accepted or not.

Michelle: After that sermon I knew that whether I felt direction (in the way I wanted to) or not, I needed to step out in faith with Nathan and keep moving forward. I believed that if this was not God’s will, he could easily change our direction, but we needed to step forward. So, together we did.  We didn’t send in the application right away, but it was then we decided to go ahead.

Michelle: And a strange thing happened. The peace persisted and I started to receive more direction. A couple mornings later while reading James 4, verse 17 hit me like a ton of bricks: “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” This was the good we were supposed to do. And to not do it, would be sin.

Michelle: We went out to eat with Nathan’s parents to talk more. We share our story up to that point and as Nathan shared about the Jehoshaphat sermon, I was surprised. Nathan had learned early on to not share everything with me. As much as I was willing to submit to what ever he decided, it was hard to see him receiving direction when I wasn’t. So, this was the first time I had heard of what that sermon had meant to him. And, then I shared that just that morning, I had listed to a Bible story podcast with Gideon about that exact story. I remember how it hit me. I knew that all of it- our fears, all of our doubts, our sorrow over what we would be leaving, missing our parents, the sorrow our parents would have, their fears and concerns- all of it was not my battle, I didn’t need to be afraid, It was God’s. It was incredible to see how God used the same story with both of us at different times.

Michelle: It was also then that I realized how grateful I was that Nathan had brought it up first, that Nathan had more direction than I, and that he was the one ‘ahead’ of me in the process. It’s my natural passion to care for the hurting, to work with kids, and want to DO something. I’m the one with passion and excitement and emotion driving me.  I am so grateful God caused me to be held back, so there is no question if this was our desire, my desire, or God’s desire.

Michelle: We talked with Gateway and asked questions and since my parents were on vacation, I spoke with them on the phone.   And then we turned in the application.  We went out to an interview at the beginning of September. On the drive home, I mentioned to Nathan how odd it was that I had little direction until after we had agreed to move forward. We laughed that I’m just a slow poke at this kind of decision (lets remember the 3 month proposal…but that’s for another time.) But then we turned on a sermon chosen at random. In it the minister spoke about how often we need to take a step of faith before God shows us. How we need to step out in faith despite the fears and follow and then God will lead. He then brought up examples of Abraham leaving his home, Abraham sacrificing Isaac, and Jehosaphat… It was such a confirmation of all we had been through.

In Christ

~Nathan and Michelle