The Next Chapter

Well, I wrote a few weeks ago about how we'd be taking time to pray and ask the Lord to guide us into this next chapter of our life. This season of transition is proving to be a bit more daunting than I anticipated. Some days we miss the Philippines. Some days we're thrilled to be in the U.S. Most days we don't have a clue what we're doing or where to step next. However, our God has been faithful and we believe He's given us direction. While the following plan is not my deepest heart-desire (because I long to be settled), it's what we trust is best in this season and I'm happy to be following what we feel God has spoken to us, because that is my heart-desire. (Is heart-desire even a word or did I just make that up? I think you get the drift). 

So what does the near future for the Borens look like?
Entering into September we set a list of goals for ourselves, mostly a list of questions that needed to be answered. A few of them have been determined while some of them are still in the making.

Will we remain in Nashville?  

Yes, we believe God has led us here for a reason. We love this city and the diversity of people that are here. We plan to stay here until God tells us otherwise. 

We wanted to find a church; a body of believers that we could do life with.
We've found that and are so thankful that we've been warmly welcomed at The Church at Antioch. 

It's a beautiful, multi-ethnic, multi-generational, Gospel-centered church who desires to share Jesus with this community. 

We need a home. 
This has been an adventure, to put it kindly :) Nashville has a huge influx of people, therefore available homes or apartments are hard to come by. And are far above our budget, too. We think that we want to live among the people to whom we plan to minister (refugees and immigrants from  nations where Christ is not known). Because of that we're searching particularly in southeast Nashville, where said people live. We've looked into several places and have (almost) settled on an apartment complex. We had lunch today with another family who lives there and heard more about life in that neighborhood- sounds like it might be a good fit! We plan to take out a lease somewhere by the end of this month. Please pray we'll find the right place and not act in haste. 

Speaking of haste...  
Our current lease ends September 30th, so we've gotta go somewhere and gotta go soon. This past week we spent some time at a park thinking and praying and the idea came to us that we have two very open homes in Mississippi where we could stay until our new home is available (our parents). So, instead of rushing into a place just because we need a home by October 1st we're going to spend the month of October with family and return to Nashville when an apartment becomes available (which looks like the end of October or early November). I have been loooonging to be settled somewhere so this was at first very unsettling to me, ha! But I'm so grateful that we have the ability to do this and I look forward to being with our families. We were already intending to speak to a few churches about our time in the Philippines so this gives us the chance to do all of that before settling in Nashville. We feel like this will give us a good deal of closure to our time overseas. So, Mississippi, here we come! 

And the ever-present question of how we will support ourselves financially.   

This is still coming to fruition. We've had the options of 1. continuing to raise our support and do 

full-time ministry or 2. for Josh to work during the day and we do ministry in our spare time. Or technically we could do both- he work part-time and we raise the rest of our needed budget so that we can have more time to spend among the refugees. I'll be busy being mommy at home with Isaiah, which will include time during the day to build relationships with the refugee women who are also home with their children. But, we've decided since most of the refugee men will be working during the day (that's the goal for them at least) that it makes sense for Josh to work, also. So please pray for Josh as he decides what will be the best job for him as the "breadwinner" for our family. We're trusting that God has a plan and a purpose and we know that He will lead and provide.

So in a nutshell, we'll be in Nashville for a week and a half more, go to Mississippi (plus a Boren family vaca!) in October, move to Nashville 'for good' in November and set the goal of Josh having a job by January.

This first-world life is aggressive. I do miss the simplicity of the Philippines. But, we're praising God for new opportunities and for this next chapter in the book of life. If you'd like to learn more about the refugees/immigrants in America and how the Church can stand in the gap, a good resource to visit is www.worldrelief.org. Or just email us at theborens@mobilizingstudents.com. We'd love to share with you!