Home

Home has been a complicated word for our family this year. In Uganda, home is the place you were born. It’s the place where you came from. It’s your ancestors’ home and where your roots are. In the states, home is where we relax, go to after work or school, and where we feel settled and at rest. It’s our haven from the rest of the world. 

While in Uganda, and for the first time since we’ve been married, we felt settled and content. So in late March this year, when God woke Jared in the middle of the night telling him to “go home,” we were seriously conflicted. Uganda had only been our home for a little less than two years, but it had been in our hearts for over 10 years.  Nonetheless, we obeyed Him and left the home where we felt settled and came back to where our roots are.

We’ve made tentative plans to return to Uganda several times in the last 8 months, but each time we felt God shake His head no. So here we have remained. We’ve tried to plan and orchestrate our next season in Uganda, but nothing has worked out or came to fruition. So we’ve chosen to just be where we are.

After months of this frustrating, and at times depressing back and forth, God wrote the most unexpected plot twist into our story. A move to Oklahoma. We know. You’re just as surprised as we are.

As we think back over this year, we can now see that He’s been leading us in this direction the whole time, but we were so stuck on our idea of “home is where the heart is,” that we couldn’t see it. When we finally released our plans to Him, we were able to see where to plant our feet for the next steps. And each step has led us to the same area of Oklahoma. 

Without going into all the fun details, God has provided an amazing place for us to settle into for the next chapter of our adventure. We don’t completely know what this chapter will look like, however, we know His plans are for us to continue investing in the lives of our Ugandan family and the village surrounding our Ugandan home. Our hope is to still have the freedom to travel to Uganda and beyond frequently to visit with, encourage, and empower our family there to reach out to the lost and most vulnerable around them.

This move will also enable us to be closer to Kimberly’s family so we can be in community and do life with them like we’ve never been able to before. It allows the kids to be closer to cousins and friends that are so dear to them. But the bottom line is, it’s where God has told us to go.

Home isn’t where you’re from or where you feel settled. It isn’t even where your heart is. 

Home is where He leads.