Rachel's Viewfinder
“So where will you be living?”
That’s usually the first question after the initial, “Wow! God is so GOOD” comment on my recent engagement. It always catches me off guard, but I suppose it shouldn’t. I’m getting married, and I’ll be following my husband’s lead. So the assumption seems to be that I’ll be leaving Charlotte, and my work with SIM.
The beautiful reality is that God has called Robo to Charlotte and to work with SIM once his school loans are paid off. The Lord has not only brought someone who suits me as a life companion, but who compliments me as a workmate. Right down to the same ministry with the same organization. Praise the Lord!
Our plan as of right now is:
1). We continue living in Charlotte, NC, or somewhere in the near vicinity.
2). Rachel continues to work with SIM USA in the Media Department as a supported missionary.
3). Robo get’s a job and works to pay off his school loans as quickly as possible.
4). Robo joins SIM USA as a supported missionary and together we continue to serve in the Media Department.
A lot of this is in need of PRAYER! The Lord has blessed us with the option of living in the house I currently live in. My roommates are moving out just before the wedding. While this provides us with a place to live, we’re currently experiencing problems with the house that our landlord has preferred not to fix. One of these is the septic tank. Pray that the Lord would either provide us with a new home, or that our landlord would make the necessary repairs.
Another prayer request is for my continued support. Right now, SIM USA has made me a permanent part of the Home Staff. This means my support requirement is higher (about $2700 a month), but I now have health care and retirement! I also have a higher “salary”. Robo and I plan to live on my “salary”, so we can put the entirety of whatever his paycheck will be towards paying off his school loans.
Which brings up another prayer request! Pray that the Lord would bless Robo with a job in the video production/web industry. Reasons for this include the need for Robo to maintain his production skills in a media environment, as well as earning a paycheck big enough to pay his loans.
For those of you giving financial to my ministry, my support account information will still be the same, save for the fact that I will be Rachel BOGAN. :D *excited*
In August last year, I was boogie boarding at Mrytle Beach when I felt the Lord speak to me and tell me “it was time to catch a wave.” At the time, I thought the Lord was referring to SIM’s desire to send me on a 3-6 month short term trip out of the USA. I excitedly shared with my supporters the news and waited for the Lord to move.
But in September, the Lord moved very unexpectedly. At first, it seemed to be a turn in the wrong direction. The trip SIM wanted me to take dissolved into thin air, and about the same time, I said good-bye to a long-time friend and I became depressed. Admittedly, all I wanted to do was call it quits and do something—anything—else. I had a conversation with my Dad right about then. He asked me if I was happy with my life. I stammered out an answer, but deep inside I knew I was not happy at all. Tired, frustrated and broken, I gave up. I was ready for God to build me back up into whatever He wanted.
“Whatever He wanted” turned out to be equally unexpected. God brought a man into my life. I met Robert in May last year, when the Lord brought him to SIM USA to complete his internship requirement to graduate from Cedarville University. We had hit it off, but remained friends only at work. At the end of the summer, he went back to Ohio at the end of his internship. That was it. But in September, God brought Robert back to SIM for a month. We started hanging out more and built a friendship outside of work. So much so that Claude actually took us aside one evening and told us that we needed to be careful in the way we interacted because people would start talking about us at the Office.
It was a slightly embarrassing conversation, to say the least! At that point, I was not admitting to myself how much I liked Robert. But that conversation ended up opening the door to something both Robert and I had thought of and both dismissed as impossible: a relationship between the two of us. Shortly after that conversation with Claude, Robert and I went out to play skeeball together. After our game, he told me he liked me. And I had to tell him that i liked him too. We then started talking every night for at least four hours. And from the talking, we started dating.
And now, in just a few more short weeks, I will become Robert’s wife. Golly, I’m going to be a married woman…the thought keeps hitting me in odd ways. But as I know Robert more and more, I see that the Lord brought the right man into my life. He’s passionate about the Lord, he wants to use his media skills in ministry, and he suits me as a husband and life long companion.
When God told me to catch a wave, I was expecting a completely different ride. I thought I would have a new task, a new place, or a new ministry that I’d be doing. Instead, God brought me something completely unexpected. He brought me my husband.
(To read the original “Catch a Wave” post, click here: http://www.rachelfinder.com/post/964769521)
