Trusting God's Timing Through Change, Loss, and Provision Life gets busy, and I didn’t realize how quickly time had passed until I looked back and saw all that God had done. As a Christian, I’ve experienced plenty of moments the world might call negative—hardship, uncertainty, frustration. I’ll be honest, I haven’t always enjoyed those seasons. But what I’ve seen over and over again is that God uses those moments to bring about far greater blessings than I could have ever imagined. My wife and I were youth leaders at our church when God called us to become the pastoral family at a different church—a new beginning that just happened to bring us full circle, back to my childhood church. I was officially named senior pastor in October 2024. At the time, we lived 40 minutes from the church and about an hour from the community the church primarily serves. It’s a small, country church, and we were adjusting well while seriously considering moving closer. I was also working full-time outside of ministry while my wife and I were also raising our six children. In January of this year, I was told I would need to return to the office in the Twin Cities five days a week if I wanted to keep my job—a 7-hour round trip daily if we didn’t move. It felt impossible. But God opened a door: a local job became available, and I made the difficult decision to leave the company I had been with for 15 years. That job wasn’t what I was used to—I was selling ice fishing houses and managing a hunting/fishing retail store with very little experience in either. I was out of my element, but God had me there for a reason. I kept praying and looking for a job in my previous field, information security. Two months later, God provided again: I was offered a full-time job right in the town near our church. Praise God! That shift reignited our desire to move closer. We found a house, but lost it to a cash offer. We were discouraged and considered putting the move on hold again. But God wasn’t done. The perfect house came on the market—and this time, everything fell into place. Even when a low appraisal threatened the closing, God made a way. We moved in May and listed our old house in June. My wife had prayed specifically—not for a bidding war, but for the right offer. And wouldn’t you know it? A family across the street from our old house had been searching for a home for their aging parents to live nearby. It was a perfect fit. We close next month, and we are so thankful to God for His faithfulness. Most recently, a powerful storm hit our new area. Our home took some damage, and while that was disappointing, what mattered most was this: not one person in our entire community, including our church, was injured. We had prayed for safety—and God answered. Through every setback, every delay, and every moment of doubt, God has shown up. He’s been faithful in the big things and the small, in the timing and the placement, in the waiting and the provision. I just want to say: Praise God our Father in Heaven. His plans are so much better than mine ever could be. Edit to add: We've wanted to live in the country for a long time (A part of the reason we started watching Big Family Homestead so long ago). At our new house we are living in the country on several acres with chickens and an opportunity to show our children how to be even more dependent on God. Amen!

I pray that you recover significantly from this illness!

Thank you very much!

God always has a better plan. It's easy to see His hand in the past. I'm excited for the future!

I'll try to keep this short. We believed that God had called us to a rural area. He gave me a job that allowed us to move and a house, as we were going to move in with my wife's grandparents and save all of us money and help them full-time. June 2019 - My wife and I agree that I'm going to re-up with the Air National Guard for 4 more years, for the purpose of transferring my GI Bill to my children. Two weeks later my MIL passed away and devastated my wife. August 2019 - A couple months later we are talking about moving from the cities to a rural area where my wife's grandparents live, now that their caretaker has passed. March 2020 - We decided in Feb to sell and move and broke the news to local family in March. We put our house on the market and the ****demic begins. May 2020 - God blesses us as our house closes and sells and we find ourselves in the rural area. Within 2 or 3 weeks the entire ANG is called to action for, what our governor called, peaceful protests. August 2020 - November 2020 - We take care of grandparents and their property. Grandpa passes away from dementia in September and Grandma turns on us and decides we are disingenuous. November 2020 - May 2022 - Grandma tries to use a certain news stations claims that show we are terrible people. May 2022 - My wife finds out that Grandma just had a pacemaker put in and we didn't know about the operation. My wife confronts Grandma saying that it's clear she doesn't want us in her life. Grandma, humbled, cries and says she doesn't know why she is so mean to us. May 2022 - June 2024 - The relationship is greatly strengthened and seeds are being planted. June 2024 - Grandma sells her house and moves. We pack her up, help clean and clear her house, and set everything up at her new apartment an hour away. The point - God "lured" us up north with a human's promise of no mortgage/rent and the ability to take care of grandparents. This got us to a rural area. Would we have listened otherwise? I don't know. Instead, we were able to show Jesus to my wife's grandparents. Through thick and thin, we showed we weren't disingenuous and that we were there to help and not "take" from them. My wife said it best, as she felt the Lord saying: "What if, you never get anything from your grandma but you showed up when she needed you most and she could lean on you and trust you? What if you gave her another example of a Christian?" We aren't living in the woods, in a mortgage-free house, nor are we living in the town that I would've picked but we have made great friends, been blessed with ministry opportunities, and our children are growing up in a safer environment than we were living in the cities. We didn't get what we "wanted" but we got what we needed. Praise God! Thank You for Your provision.

Of course! Thank you for being a good friend I can chat with on this forum and on youtube! I don't agree with everything in that position paper that the AoG has. I know you are aware of the Covenants, I was only trying to clarify what I had originally said and to answer your question! New Covenant, (Age) the time since the new covenant which covers both the Jews and Gentiles. I only mentioned that originally because it's referring to New testament verses. Thank you Moni, I appreciate you. God bless you!

Good morning Moni! Before I "word-vomit" on you in this post, I just want to say that I'm trying to clarify what I meant, answer your questions, and generally engage in this great place of community and fellowship! I am teachable and willing to learn and I will NOT ever claim to be finished understanding the word of God. BLUF: Pastor - over a congregation versus Pastor - a piece of paper claiming education and training. I'm not suggesting that women become lead pastors. Only that they can help in ministries such as lead pastoring with their husbands. I grew up in a non-denominational church (formerly Lutheran, WAY before my time) but as an adult I have been a part of several Assemblies of God denomination (actually Cooperative Fellowship) church bodies. So I'll use them in my examples. When you said "attaching titles to their wives such as Pastor" this is a term given to any person who has completed one of three levels of credentials in the AoG. My wife could be a Pastor if she wanted but just as Brad explained last week, it's just a piece of paper showing that she's completed the minimum education and training required to have that title. I know members who are "Pastors" who mow the lawn once a week in service for their church and are not heads of congregations. If, when you say Pastor, you mean the head of a congregation then this is a position elected by the local congregation (again not in the style of some denominations). I'm sure there are some churches out there, even in the Cooperative Fellowship of the AoG, that have elected a female Pastor but I'm not defending that as a practice I believe is biblical. However, a wife of a Pastor can serve in this ministry alongside her husband (whether or not she has the piece of paper showing she has the minimum education and training) and, in my humble opinion, serve in a similar role for the women of the congregation as the Pastor does for the entire congregation. Growing up, my Pastor and his wife went on missions trips and on one of the trips my Pastor passed away. For a short time his wife continued to operate in the church until her son became the Lead Pastor and she helped him and his wife, as a widow, similarly to how she had helped her husband. She was and is a great example of a Servant, just like Jesus. Are you saying culturally it was not uncommon for a wife to minister with her husband? I'm saying that today it's not uncommon for a wife to minister. Not familiar with the term “new covenant age” what Biblical time period would you consider this? The new Covenant is immediately following Jesus' death on the cross: The New Covenant is a promise made by God to forgive sin and restore fellowship with those whose hearts are turned towards Him. Jesus Christ is the mediator of the New Covenant, and His death on the cross is the basis of the promise. Key Features of the New Covenant • God’s laws will be written on the hearts of His people, rather than on tablets of stone (Jeremiah 31:33). • God will put His laws into the minds of His people, and they will be able to live according to His will (Hebrews 8:10). • The New Covenant is a covenant of forgiveness, where God promises to forgive the sins of those who turn to Him (Jeremiah 31:34). • The New Covenant is a covenant of empowerment, where God gives His people the power to live according to His will (Ezekiel 36:27). To help me understand where you are coming from, what would you say is the next item on the Eschatological Calendar? I'm not sure exactly what you mean? I will say that we are in the last days, since Jesus died on the cross. Many Pentecostal leaders that I come across these days are attaching titles to their wives such as Pastor. However I have not come across a female Pastor in any Biblical Scripture, just the opposite... Culturally, in the old testament, there were women who lead. Miriam was a prophet to Israel during the Exodus, alongside her brothers Moses and Aaron (Exodus 15:20). Deborah, both a prophet and a judge, directed Barak to lead the army of Israel into successful combat against Israel’s oppressors (Judges 4 to 5). Huldah, also a prophet, authenticated the scroll of the Law found in the temple and helped spark religious reform in the days of Josiah (2 Kings 22:14–20; 2 Chronicles 34:22–28). In the new testament: “Your sons and daughters will prophesy... Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days” (Joel 2:28,29; cf. Acts 2:16–18).1 That women as well as men are to prophesy is indicative of their inclusion in the ministries of the new covenant age. Tabitha (Dorcas) initiated an effective benevolence ministry (Acts 9:36). Philip’s four unmarried daughters were recognized prophets (Acts 21:8,9). Paul singled out two women, Euodia and Syntyche, as “women who have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers” (Philippians 4:2,3). Priscilla was another of Paul’s exemplary “fellow workers in Christ Jesus” (Romans 16:3,4). In Romans 16, Paul greets numerous ministry colleagues, a large number of them women. In these greetings, the word Paul uses to speak of the work (kopiao), or labor, of Mary, Tryphena, Tryphosa, and Persis (Romans 16:6,12) is one he uses extensively for the labor of ministry (1 Corinthians 16:16; 1 Thessalonians 5:12; 1 Timothy 5:17). The AoG says in their position paper: "These instances of women filling leadership roles in the Bible should be taken as a divinely approved pattern, not as exceptions to divine decrees. Even a limited number of women with scripturally commended leadership roles affirm that God does indeed call women to spiritual leadership."

Bottom-Line-Up-Front (BLUF): We may have differences in our view of scripture but I know our goal is to learn together what the Bible teaches. I love everyone who comments here as Christ loves me. 😃 I'd like to restate, respectfully, what I said in the Youtube chat. I don't think we disagree completely, necessarily, but I want to make my "opinion" plain. 😁 A woman can be a leader among a group of women, among of group of men and women (specifically a role model for women in that group) and in ministry alongside her husband. "It was not uncommon for a married woman to minister in partnership with her husband." “Your sons and daughters will prophesy... Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days” (Joel 2:28,29; Acts 2:16–18). That women as well as men are to prophesy is indicative of their inclusion in the ministries of the new covenant age. Miriam was a prophet to Israel during the Exodus, alongside her brothers Moses and Aaron (Exodus 15:20). Deborah, both a prophet and a judge, directed Barak to lead the army of Israel into successful combat against Israel’s oppressors (Judges 4 to 5). Conclusion/Summary: Pentecostals believe that unmarried women can still lead (be a servant like Jesus' example) and the Assemblies of God has a position paper on it. I don't necessarily agree with everything they say but it's a good read and has more biblical points to make) My wife is a leader with me at our church and primarily focuses on relationships with the women in this ministry.

Jesus was betrayed by His people. The people of Israel. Not unlike how Joseph was betrayed. It's not a 1:1 comparison but even when we turned our back and betrayed God's chosen, God takes what we have decided is the least of us and puts that chosen person in positions of power to accomplish God's will! Praise God for taking the humble and raising them up. Lord keep me humble, in Jesus' Name Amen.

That is a lot of storm. I hope it's okay to post a youtube link for a great song you probably know already. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YUGwUgBvTU) I'll say that I don't know everything going on in your life nor do I know everything period, but God has a better plan for you than you can see right now. Thank you for your testimony. I pray that you find fellowship and friendship here. I also pray LORD God that Will finds that local church community that becomes his church family and he can realize even moreso how much Your hand is on his life. Amen!

Thank you Moni! I'm thankful for Brad telling me about this channel yesterday in his main channel. 😁 https://youtu.be/Y_vrzx9KFpM?si=MHscPO8mO1CB90ji

My testimony: All Glory to God and none to myself. I was born out of wedlock to a 20 year old first time Mom. My mom has never married. She gave her life to Christ when I was 3. I grew up in a great church with many godly father figures who included me both in church and at their homes. I was friends with their kids and I learned how to be a good father. God is a better Father than any earthly father and has had His hand over me my entire life. I have been married 10+ years and have 6 kids (and counting). He has provided and He is glorified by my testimony because without Him I would be lost and hurting. Praise God forever!