Please pray for us. We’re not doubting our calling or facing disease. Debts aren’t piling up and collectors aren’t after us. The kids are fine and enjoying summer. Karen’s even at sleep-away camp.
But we’re swamped. We’re in a hectic season that’s very stressful. There are more tasks to do than we can possibly accomplish in and through ourselves. In just twelve days, we have to be out of the house that we bought when we thought God wanted us here forever. The house just across the creek from where I grew up. The house that had room for a workshop so I could be the kind of Dad who made things for his kids. The house I saw while walking late one night twenty-some years ago and thought, “what a neat old house,” and that I saw five years ago and noticed was for sale. The house with stately old trees and a pool, just like I always wanted.
The house that got full of things and that now needs to be emptied.
For weeks, we’ve been sorting everything we own into five categories: a small amount of things to put into long-term storage here, things we’ll take with us to South Africa, things we’ll need in the temporary home we’ll have until we leave, things we need to sell, and things to just purge. This last category has filled the 96-gallon recycling and garbage toters almost every week; my old school papers did it twice.
It’s hard. The books I’ve loved and the ones I’ve never gotten to. The ornately carved piano my parents restored, a piece I’ve always loved and kept and had hoped to pass down as an heirloom… The beds I made for the kids… too big to store in our 6×12 cargo trailer. There are stories to tell here but not the time for them now. I want to tell them but have to get back to other tasks of sorting, purging and packing.
So I’m asking for prayer. I’m asking you to join me in consciously connecting with God, in thanking Him for his blessings and guidance and asking for his strength and wisdom and encouragement. I’m asking you to intercede with Him on our behalf. He taught us He would always listen and He does, especially when we ask Him together, and we have faith that He does and will.
“Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him.”
James 5:14-15, New American Standard Bible
The Heffron Family 
Mr.Heffron when you taught me in my freshman year I was amazed by your sense of humor and overall outlook and approach to life. One of my first classes with you, you told us how your hearing was impaired and could negatively impact your balance. Next you jumped onto a desk from the ground and said “That is even with a hearing impediment” or something to that affect. That confidence was not just invested in yourself but also in Jesus. He guided you from us at Romulus and he is even guiding you now as you leave things behind you so value. Keep your eye on the prize and know you have many people behind you and of course I will pray for you. There is nothing you cannot do with Jesus at the center of your goals. I will pray for guidance and strength to counteract this sadness you are feeling leaving behind the spot of some very sweet memories but knowing that Jesus has a purpose for every difficult task you have and every joy.
I always have difficulty with change. Your children will be most impacted by you and Tracy in their lives each day. Many treasured books can be read online now. Pass the piano to a trusted family member to use and learn to play music. I sometimes find a report I did from college and am amazed that I wrote a document like that. I forget that it is really a part of me and my ongoing growth and I can let the hard copy go. It is hard but it can also be liberating to live simply. We look forward to seeing you soon.
Definitely praying, again, not sure for you or for Mom and Dad.
God will decide on my prayer. I know you and Tracy want this, so I will pray for this for you,
that He keeps you safe wherever you are. Pray that Mom and Dad can listen to you and God
and accept what is to be. God Bless us all.
Praying