If you know anything about Matt and I, it would probably be that we don't necessarily do anything "normal," for God did not call us to be normal, but extraordinarily faithful! Bold & faithful!
In the last 8 years, we have moved 8 times! 8 TIMES PEOPLE!
And most people would be quick to make the statements....."are you crazy?.... why?...... and what are you running from?" In fact, I said the same thing to myself.
Well, the answers to those questions are: YES... we are crazy, but crazy for Jesus...
Because we never want to be disobedient to the things that Christ is telling us to do; and lastly, we aren't running FROM anything, but I think of it as running TOWARDS Him.
The past 8 years that Matt and I have been married, God has done a HUGE work in our lives.
See, you never realize what baggage someone brings into the marriage until they are in it . We all have junk from our past, whether negative or positive, & if allowed, can drive a wedge between the one's you love.
With that said, God has taken us on a journey that has shaped us and developed us like never before, and that journey is called "Faith."
I thought I had "faith,"... but this is a totally different kind that I wasn't ready for.
God speaks to people differently.
It may be through a vision, a dream, audibly, etc...but when God speaks to us, it's in a specific way and at a specific time of night.
In the summer of 2011, I had yet another melt down. I was so tired of not being able to get pregnant and keep the baby. All my friends around me were pregnant and here I was pretending I was ok, when really I did not understand what was wrong with me.
Then our first experience with "faith" happened.
This experience was after having gone through 3 miscarriages. God gave Matt a word, through scripture, that we would have a child, not just a child, but that we would have a son.
That was on October 27, 2011.
The Scripture God used was Jesus spoke to Matt through was 2 Kings 4:17, "about this time next year you will embrace a son." Matt told me he believed that with his entire heart... But I was not convinced.
It wasn't until January 6, 2012, God woke me up at around 3:40 am with an unction to take a pregnancy test...
As I sat there waiting for the results, with my eyes closed as tight as I could get them, I begged God not to let me go through another year not being able to have a baby. And if he did allow me to be pregnant, that he would PLEASE allow me to keep it.
When I opened my eye (and yes, I peeked with one eye, lol) I couldn't believe it, so I ran in and woke Matt up to tell him that WE WERE PREGNANT!! We laughed really hard & then cried, and then praised Jesus!
We were finally going to have a baby. It seemed like time stood still waiting for the day that we would finally get to see what we were having.
I just knew that we were having a girl! Matt said, "No Jess, God told us that we were having a son!" But I just KNEW it was a girl!!
As they were doing the ultrasound, in my head I thought... God, if this is really a boy, then I'm in awe of the faith Matt had in believing You would do this... and I want that kind of faith.
Matt acted in faith and believed in what God had told him... and you know what we saw??? Something between that baby's legs!!! It was A BOY.
Kyson Gabriel Laughter was born 9/16/12..."about this time next year."
The second experience came just a couple of months ago when we felt it was time for us to sell our house.
I DID NOT want to sell our house. It was a dream home to me....It wasn't just our house, but Kyson's house. It was everything I had wanted & I was completely content there.
Then again, God woke Matt up at 3:40 am and told him, "Go and don't look back." He asked God, "where are we going?" God said, "don't worry about it, just go."
God spoke to Matt through Genesis 19 that morning, and while Matt was away praying, God spoke to me too. He told me that I needed to "live by faith and not by sight."... which is SO MUCH easier said than done and NOT something that I wanted to try.
We both knew that God was speaking though, so we put our house on the market. Five hours of it being on the market, 3 people wanted to see the house. Within 6 days... IT SOLD!!
Faith.... & then obeying.
Now for the ULTIMATE EXPERIENCE! The stepping out of the boat experience.
3 weeks ago, God woke Matt up again. He woke up and said, that if it was 3:40, he knew God had something to tell him.
Matt had been awake for a few minutes before he looked at his phone, but when he looked at his phone, it showed 3:44 am.
He immediately started crying and told me to pray. God pointed him to a book by Mark Batterson called "Circle maker." He told Matt to read chapter 20. The verse of the Chapter was Hebrews 11:8,
"By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going."
The chapter talked about stepping out in faith and doing something that you may not be ready to do, stating you will NEVER be ready, but God doesn't call the qualified, but qualifies the called.
Faith without action is not faith at all. "You may need to quit your job, make a move, etc..." In that moment, God said, "Matt quit your job."
When Matt came in and told me what God told him, we both knew it was time.
Yes, we were scared, but we were more scared of being disobedient.
Matt's words to me, "I will not and cannot be disobedient to God! How will I ever expect my boys to be faithful to God if I am not willing to leave that legacy for them and step out in faith?...I don't know what we are doing, where we are going, and yes, we have a baby on the way, but God has spoken."
3 weeks ago, Matt quit his job, and was obedient to what he knew God was telling him and us to do. We have NO IDEA what is next, but we pray God shows us soon. It's a crazy ride, but I wouldn't trade this crazy, uncomfortable ride for any other COMFORTABLE kind of life :)
