God's Hand

I often think back to a time in my life, in my marriage, that God prepared Dillon and me for His plan. Back in the winter and spring months of 2008 we were trying to decide where Dillon should go to seminary the next year after he finished Youth Ministry in Dumas. We traveled to Massachussets and Pennyslvania in the freezing cold of January to tour various schools. I remember the whole time we were in these foreign places, something did not feel right- and it wasn't just the lack of Mexican food. All I can describe about my emotions was that I was not at peace. Dillon and I never argued about the topic but it was tense when we would discuss it, simply because we both felt frustrated and confused as to WHERE God would take us since we felt we had hit a dead-end. Looking back, it's so easy to see that my worries were not only unnecessary, but silly and unhealthy at times.

"Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?"

 We both had our set of prerequisites; "Must teach this kind of theology," or "Must offer this amount of money" or "Not in this city"... We had an agenda and thought we could pave our way just like we wanted. I was ready to take things into my own hands and control the situation, even though I had no idea what I was doing!

 In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.


We finally gave up. For a good few weeks we stopped talking about it and tried to pretend like all was well. We weren't necessarily handing the issue over the the Lord, we were just tired of stressing over it. Towards the end of April we were planning to visit family in Dallas. Right before we left we briefly decided to stop by Westminster Seminary since it was in Dallas and we had heard a little about it. There was really no way Dillon would go there, since it was a small school, and it was in a city I had said I would never live in- but we decided to humor ourselves just for fun.

We both remember the day well that we pulled into the parking lot of the seminary. We literally were just going to pop in, check another seminary off our list, and be on our way. What actually happened, is that we walked into the building and immediately met the Dean who made our first impression a good one. He was warm and bold as he showed us the campus and explained the training. I think we both had that feeling of "this feels right." Students were all around and the environment was exciting, and the setting was intimate. There was no doubt that Dillon would get a great education and financially it wasn't overwhelming. Things were making sense and we both felt peace.

LORD, you establish peace for us; all that we have accomplished you have done for us

Something that Dillon and I will never forget is when the Dean looked us both in the eyes and told us that we should really consider coming to Dallas that Fall (our plan was to come a year later). He said "You never know what could happen between now and then, I really believe you should make plans to start now." We were caught off guard but took heed to his words and Dillon decided to take Greek classes long distance starting in August. He traveled to Dallas from Dumas that whole month and was able to stay with his Mom and Dad who lived in DFW. For September and October he continued his job in Dumas and took classes online

In mid October we found out his mom had cancer. We knew immediately God had orchestrated our lives to where it was time for us to move to Dallas. Things fell into place quickly and smoothly. We sold our home in December and were settled in Dallas by January 2nd. Dillon jumped right into seminary full time that semester, without any hassel since he had taken all of his Greek the previous semester, as his Dean had strongly suggested. We were able to spend priceless time with Cindy that winter and spring and will never have any regrets because God's hand guided us right where He intended for us to be.