A few hours ago, I sat on my bed for the first time in 3 weeks without thinking of where I will be traveling the next day.
My last blog post was on Nov 4th. At that time, we were at 70% of our monthly support goals, living in my friend's basement in Metamora, and traveling every weekend for support appointments. I could, and maybe still will, write a blog post on every week of the month of December since something big happened every few days, but I will spare you for now and update you through pictures.
The Lord provided 100% of our initial support in December! We absolutely cannot praise Him enough for this provision! In August, we started praying to be finished in December, but it felt like one of those prayers that seems impossible. In man's wisdom it honestly was impossible, but only 4 months after starting to meet with people and invite them to join our team, He has provided. The thing we keep reflecting on is how incredibly blessed we feel. We have met so many people who love Jesus and have hearts like we do, to see more people come to know His saving grace. We often read through our list of prayer and financial partners and just praise God for each and every one of them. We will continue to invite people to partner with us as we are planning on doing this as our career and will have fluctuating needs depending on our family growing (someday), ministry needs, etc. Thank you so much for allowing the Lord to use you and your resources to further His kingdom!
On a much sadder note, the second week of December brought the death of my Nonna. She suffered a stroke, and then we spent a couple of days in the hospital with her as she passed away. She was 90 years old and had lived a very full life. We have always been close, but in the last few years have gotten even closer as we loved talking about our faith with each other. I enjoyed many conversations with my Nonna discussing how through Jesus we can have access to God, be free of guilt, and be confident of spending eternity in heaven. This summer she got sick and I asked her how she felt about death. It is so sweet of the Lord that we had this conversation and I can remember her words so well. She responded, "I am not afraid to die because I know where I am going. I will be with Jesus."
The visitation and funeral were sad, but I kept reminding myself of how the Bible says she is now full of more joy, more life, more peace, and more happiness than she ever had here on earth. She was not in heaven because she was a good person or tried her best to do the right thing. She was very loving and very loyal, but that was not why she was in Heaven either. She was in heaven with Jesus because she recognized she could never be good enough for God on her own and needed to accept Christ's payment for her sins. Christ, the only perfect one, took Nonna's punishment. He suffered death so that even though Nonna left her physical body she could have eternal Life. Undeserved Eternal Life, but a Life that was freely given her through her faith in Jesus.
It has been tearful but fun to go through her belongings and see the cards she saved from us as kids, her postcard to her parents after she took a train to New York to elope with my Grandpa, and birthday candles from the 1920's.
We serve an amazing, unconditionally loving, thoughtful God. I have been praying since last January, when I knew we would someday need to move back to Champaign, that God would provide a place to rent with 3 bedrooms, a backyard, and a place that felt like a home for us so it could feel like a home for students. When we were close to finishing support we spent a day in Champaign looking at places. This house is more than we could have ever asked for, but God knew all along He was going to provide it! It has 4 bedrooms, a garage, basement, backyard, and the landlord brought his asking price way down so it would fit into our budget!!!!! We moved in a few days before Christmas but have only spent 3 nights sleeping here due to all of our traveling! It was much sadder than I thought to leave my family in Metamora. I still cry sometimes when I am unpacking knowing that I can't just run over to my parents house to say hello or see my two best friends in that area, Morgan and Catherine, every week. However, I am blessed that an hour and a half is not too far, and they are all only a phone call away.
After celebrating 4 family Christmases in 3 different cities, we headed to IndyCC. Cru's annual winter conference where 2000+ students from Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio come together to be taught from God's word, worship Him, take meals and the Gospel to poor areas of Indianapolis, and pray and worship in the New Year. We had so much fun connecting with the over 100 U of I students there and hearing how God was really transforming them.
And that leads us up to last night, where we celebrated the wedding of 2 of our best friends and the New Year! Chris and Kaiti are some of our closest friends. Alex was best man and I was a bridesmaid along with a very fun wedding party full of some of our best friends of college. It was definitely a New Year's Eve party to remember. As I looked around the room at the rehearsal dinner, and then the next day on the dance floor, I saw almost every single one of my best friends from college. Praise God that we have all stayed very close and well connected post college. (It helps since we almost all married each other!) Chris and Kaiti love Jesus with all of their hearts and we are so excited to see where God takes them as a couple.
Thanks for hanging in there for the update! January is looking like a much more restful month, so I look forward to updating you soon!
Love and blessings for the New Year,
Jess
My last blog post was on Nov 4th. At that time, we were at 70% of our monthly support goals, living in my friend's basement in Metamora, and traveling every weekend for support appointments. I could, and maybe still will, write a blog post on every week of the month of December since something big happened every few days, but I will spare you for now and update you through pictures.
100 is a Beautiful Number
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| We Made It!!! |
Bruna Ghelardini Facker
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| Our last picture with Nonna a couple months ago |
The visitation and funeral were sad, but I kept reminding myself of how the Bible says she is now full of more joy, more life, more peace, and more happiness than she ever had here on earth. She was not in heaven because she was a good person or tried her best to do the right thing. She was very loving and very loyal, but that was not why she was in Heaven either. She was in heaven with Jesus because she recognized she could never be good enough for God on her own and needed to accept Christ's payment for her sins. Christ, the only perfect one, took Nonna's punishment. He suffered death so that even though Nonna left her physical body she could have eternal Life. Undeserved Eternal Life, but a Life that was freely given her through her faith in Jesus.
It has been tearful but fun to go through her belongings and see the cards she saved from us as kids, her postcard to her parents after she took a train to New York to elope with my Grandpa, and birthday candles from the 1920's.
Our New Home
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| There is a guest bedroom inside waiting just for YOU! :) |
IndyCC
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| This picture is from last year, but it gives you an idea of the conference. |
A Wedding and a Party
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| Happy New Year!!! |
Thanks for hanging in there for the update! January is looking like a much more restful month, so I look forward to updating you soon!
Love and blessings for the New Year,
Jess
