The Road to Boise

I think it started two years ago... no wait, it started 39.8 years ago, when Mark was born. That's when God first put the desire to move out of California in Mark's heart, the moment he took his first breath. As he grew up, California never felt home to Mark. It never sat well, it didn't feel right, he wasn't settled. Multiple times growing up Mark asked his parents to move out of state. To mountains. To space. To God's country. But the answer was no.

Fast forward to me.

I LOVE California.

 I love it here! I love the mountains and the foothills and the deserts and the oceans, OH how I love the oceans. Leaving California has never been a thought in my mind, never occurred to me as a possibility, never, ever, EVER a desire.

And then we met, me and Mark, California alien and California poster-child.

God is funny, no?

I think, in God's graciousness to me, I was given the most patient man on the planet to be my husband. Though his heart has always been anxious to leave this state, he has been patient to wait until God made the way clear. If Mark is anything, he is faithful. Faithful to God's way-making. Faithful to my tender heart. Faithful.

2016 saw big (colossal, really) changes in Mark's business roots in California. Pruning after pruning we found ourselves completely uprooted from any ties to WORK in the OC. And Mark's desire to move away intensified.

Boise

We had friends moving to Boise, for whatever reason, and they LOVED it there. They'd talk about it like it was the Promised Land.

Mark started talking about it like it was the Promised Land too.

By May of 2017 I had heard enough. "Take me there, if you love it so much. Convince me." I said,

Aaaaaaaaand, we left that weekend.

The two of us spent four days immersing ourselves in the Treasure Valley. Every city, every town, every pocket of people, we tried our best to see it all. At the end of the trip Mark was sold. He LOVED it! He wanted to stay for good. "Send for the kids!" he (quasi) joked. Me?...

Almost,

but not quite.

I liked it, a lot. More than I expected to.

But my heart. My California living, ocean breeze loving,  Cali-people NEEDING heart... wasn't ready to leave.

But, and this is a big but, but I was ready to pray. Mark is a God fearing man. I knew he would never just blindly lead our family into an unknown place for no rhyme or reason. But I knew we hadn't really given God a chance to tell us WHY. Not that God needs to always gives us a why... but in May of 2017 we committed to praying, and to asking God why.

Why Boise?

Was there a good reason God wanted us there? Not just a "grass is greener reason", but a real, God ordained, Kingdom growing, faith building, gospel spreading reason?

So, I set an alarm on my phone for every day, every afternoon, at 3:09pm. (random time, no significance... just a time I'd 1.) Be awake and 2.) Have time to pray.)

3:09pm. Tim Timmons' song "Everywhere I Go" would blare out and the screen would flash "PFB" - Pray For Boise. So I'd pray. Everyday.

"Lord, I pray for Boise, what are you doing there? Do you want us there? Open or shut the door quickly, Lord."

"God, I pray for Boise, I'm not sure what to pray, but I know you are doing something there. Do you want us there? Make the 'why' obvious."

"God, I pray for Boise. Are you moving there? Are you moving US there? Open doors, Lord.

And so on.  I'd pray this for five months.

And then one day...