22 Days Later

Brothers and sisters,

We are blessed to share our lives with you.  We would not be married and living in Pittsburgh if it were not for the community of believers (y'all) that have surrounded us and who continuously show us the love of Christ in the most ridiculous and humbling ways.  Thank you for everything you do for the kingdom - we love you.  Let us know if you ever need anything. Seriously.

Since we have not been able to communicate personally with most of your since the wedding, I want to catch all of you up on how marriage, moving, and ministry has been for us.  If you don't mind, I will be very frank about everything.  Our marriage belongs to the Lord and to the church, and I am not shy.

If I had to put into one word what Nic and I have experienced in our short time as a married couple, it would be this: trial.  This is not the space for unnecessary details about our personal lives, but I am more than comfortable saying that we have had everything but a "honeymoon phase," and we are so thankful for that.  Any sin we have hidden from ourselves and one another - known and unknown - crawled out of the depths of our heart the moment we said "I do."  For real, though, I feel like the past few weeks have consisted of us fighting our monsters together, one at a time, and through hours of prayer and tears. This time of our life that everyone told us would be the easiest has been the most difficult, but, praise Yahweh! he knows what we need.  In our weakness, Christ has been our strength.  We love each other more than ever, and that love has been sharpened through our fiercest arguments, darkest moments of despair, disappointments in one another and ourselves, but mostly these: humility, repentance, forgiveness, and love.  Nic and I are stubborn, selfish people, and it is fitting that our marriage began the way it did.  Jesus knew what we needed, and we would not have made it without him. Hallelujah.  We are excited to see how the Lord is going to continue to shape us and grow us together in and through our marriage.  If you could pray for us, that'd be wonderful.

We are also hopeful of what Jesus is doing here in Pittsburgh.  We love this city and the people here already (even though they honk at me a lot when I am driving).  The culture here is so different from anything we have encountered, and even though we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into by moving here, we know that God has been forming us specifically for this place. It's beautiful. If you could pray that the hearts of the people here would be opened to the Gospel, that'd be fantastic.

This morning we met with Julie and Austin to discuss the mission, values, and heart of The Vue.  We are reworking everything; it will take time.  I do not have much to say about that currently, but I assure you that there will be much more to tell very soon.  If you could pray that the Lord's desires would be our own, that'd be great.

Nic and I are in the process of looking for jobs.  We do not know where to look, but we know the Lord has jobs for us here. If y'all could be in serious prayer about this for us, that'd be dope (Tom Haverford, anyone?).

And that's all I really have to say right now! Once again, thank you for your prayers and support and for loving us.  We are blessed beyond belief and we don't deserve it at all.  I hope to have this blog updated regularly, so look out for more updates weekly (or monthly... maybe).



Grace and peace... we love you.

N&K