Part Tres


So we prayed and waited. We waited and prayed...

 Sometimes, when we pray, we wait for a really, really, REALLY long time. And that's okay because God is a waiter too. He shows the greatest patience of all, no? 
 "The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, 
but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, 
but that all should reach repentance." 
2 Peter 3:9

Waiting, as hard as it is, it's a good thang. It's sanctifying, and it's godly. 
Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you,
and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you.

For the Lord is a God of justice;

blessed are all those who wait for him.

Isaiah 30:18

BUT, sometimes when we pray for something we wait for only a day. 

ONE DAY LATER...

We were at church and Mark was standing out on the patio ̶ ̶b̶e̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶u̶s̶u̶a̶l̶ ̶s̶o̶c̶i̶a̶l̶-̶b̶u̶t̶t̶e̶r̶f̶l̶y̶ ̶s̶e̶l̶f̶  and one of our pastors approached him. 

"Boise." He said. 

Let me be clear, this pastor did not whisper the word. He emphasized the word. He declared the word. There was heart behind it, and anticipation.  

"You in?" He asked, with a big ol' grin.  

There was much more to the conversation, but he had Mark at Boise so there wasn't much need for anything else. The bottom line was: keep praying.

Nothing was set in stone. Still just a maybe. It was like the door was opening and we were given a little peek inside. We could not believe what we were learning! The very place we had visited 5 months earlier, the place I had set an alarm on my phone to be praying for every day, the place we half-joked/half-straight up prayed for Compass Bible Church to be there... and it was actually a possibility?!?!

AND... this conversation was completely unrelated to the conversation I had just had the day before with my friend! It's not like they had a team huddle, arms around each other, heads in, "You take Sarah, I'll take Mark, ready, BREAK!" It was just a moment when God graciously took us one step closer to an answer. 

I love thinking about how God's hand had been orchestrating these moments for months! (Probably longer than that, am I right?) Even if it came back that Boise was not the location for the next CBC we were already praising Him for the work He had done in our prayer life, in growing our patience, and in our increased trust in God's sovereignty. Even if the answer was no, that waiting/praying/growing/ trusting process was absolutely worth it. 

But Sarah, this took place in November, and they didn't make the announcement about the new church until January, is there more to this story???? 

SO nice of you to ask... why yes, yes there is...

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