I wrote Part 1 of a 3 part blog a couple weeks ago about money and life not happening how you envision, which can feel like wandering in the wilderness.You can go back and read Part 1 here.

Washington State

We moved in with my parents, and we thought we would be there for a few months. A few months turned into a year and then another 6 months. During that time the only thing we were paying off was our SUV that we acquired from friends after selling our van. I’d be lying if I said this was an easy time. Dan applied to several churches and they either turned us down or were not a good fit for us. Discouraged, Dan took a job at a golf course mowing while I homeschooled our kids. We both struggled with some depression and were becoming disillusioned with all the rejection. It is easy to start feeling hopeless when life isn’t turning out how you envisioned. We had a plan, but it wasn’t the plan God had for us.

Pastoral Highs and Lows

Eventually, Dan found a part time job as an associate pastor at a small church in Portland, Oregon. The plan was that he would work under the senior pastor until he retired, which was going to be in about 18 months and then step into the role of senior pastor. We were given a house to stay in and $300 a month as compensation. The money we received from selling our house in California came in handy at this point. So we used the money from the house to buy furniture that we had previously sold and to pay bills. Were we crazy accepting a position that offered low pay? Maybe, but God made it evident to us that this was the place He wanted us to serve. After only five months, the senior pastor stepped down, and Dan was voted in as the new senior pastor.

This was a interesting place to live, to say the least. We had homeless people coming to our doors, we lived across the street from retired gang members and their families, and there was something fishy about one of our neighbors who eventually was arrested for murder. We called the police quite a few times for break-ins in the church, a rock thrown through our window, and multiple instances of graffiti. At one point we had enough and tried to leave, but, as I said, God made it clear this was where He wanted us. He was teaching us contentment and how to address the people in our community that were in need as well. At the time, we didn’t know that God was using these situations to prepare us for where Dan would end up in the future.

I kept homeschooling since we didn’t want to send our kids to school in the neighborhood we lived in. Things were tight, but we were determined to not go into debt again. We looked into Dave Ramsey and attended one of his events. We began following his Baby Steps to Financial Freedom, and Dan even taught the Financial Freedom class a few times at our church. Dan and I made a decision that we wouldn’t go into credit card debt ever again! We cut up cards and also agreed that we would just do without some things and save instead. There were times that this was a hard thing. We wanted to give our kids more, but we didn’t want to go into debt either. God was gracious to us and provided.

After 6 years at this church, we had grown to love the people in the church and the community around it. But we were thrown another loop and God decided to close this church. Dan and I didn’t understand what was happening. We were finally content here, and we were concerned about those in the church and what would happen if the positive influence of the church was gone. But God knows best. The other two churches that were renting our building for their weekly services were able to continue their ministries, and God provided a place for us to stay back in my home town in Washington State. A year before we had met a pastor and his wife, whose church came and did some work at our church. He found out about our situation and offered us a house to stay in that the church owned. So off we went back to Washington again with no job, but at least a house to live in.