Dad... DAD! Are We There Yet??

Hello Family

 It’s time for an update for you and I’m taking this as a great opportunity to talk about something that has been on my heart for quite a few months. I know it has been on the hearts of our team as a whole in one way or another. I want to talk about all of the waiting. 

  The Five Lights team came together almost 5 years ago with this HUGE dream that God has given us to become a ministry team. A team that would equip and empower others in a beautiful country that has taken a piece of each of our hearts- South Africa. 

  When we first started out, I think it’s safe to say that none of us could have imagined the journey ahead and the things that God was planning in order to prepare each of us to walk out this dream.  We also could never have guessed how long it would all take! 

   I mean, when Dad says “It’s time to go out on an adventure!”, as His children we all excitedly run for the car. Right? 

“But wait-“ he call to us, with a smile. “Where are your shoes?”. 

  And so we begin the frantic search for shoes. Like many little ones are known to do, we may come back with shoes on but maybe they’re our favorite ratty old flip-flops. Maybe they’re on the wrong feet even. Maybe it’s not even a matched pair.     The Father smiles and laughs. “Nope. Go back inside and find some sturdy running shoes. Where we’re going, you will need them. There will be a lot of walking, over hills and through tall grass. Maybe even through some rough and rocky places. You need GOOD shoes. The RIGHT shoes.” 

  And so, with much groaning, we run back inside to get the proper shoes. Once again we bound to the driveway- full of excitement and anticipation. The Father stops us again. “Wait, you will also need your jacket. It may get cold later. I don’t want you to freeze.”

  And so it goes, back and forth from the house to the car until we have finally collected all of the things we will need to be prepared for our journey. The Father knows where we are going. He knows the things we will need for this adventure. He knows that if we leave without some of those things, we will find ourselves in situations we aren’t able to handle with what little we do have. 

We cannot equip and empower others until we ourselves have been equipped and empowered by our creator. Our Father in Heaven. 

 At the beginning of this journey, we were all SO ready to just make the move. To drop everything and leave the U.S. to get to our final destination. Backward flip flops, no jacket and all. But each step of the way, The Father has gently (and sometimes not-so-gently) shown us the next thing we need to work on. Wether it be our team dynamics, our communication, our lifestyles or our marriages. And looking back knowing what we have learned thus far, we are SO grateful that we’re not the ones holding the car keys. HE knows what we need. HE will get us there. HE will make sure everything works out. 

    We have been busy with quite a few things these past few months. In June we received our official nonprofit status. Then in July, our board members had our first quarterly board meeting. Currently we are also doing as much research as possible on banking and international banking for nonprofits. We have been speaking with different banks to be able to find the one that will best suit the needs of our ministry and will require the least amount of funds to be used on things like Point Of Sale fees and withdrawal fees overseas. In the next couple of weeks, we plan to have everyone meet with the bank we have chosen and we will set up our stateside account.

  Our team has also continued to meet together weekly. These meetings give us valuable time to pray and worship together, to pray for one another, to keep our team connection solid and to make prayerful plans for the future of 5 Lights.

  Oh and one other thing... We have shirts! Our team members Chris and Leslie Young were able to come up with a really awesome T-shirt design. They have our order submitted and we should be receiving them soon. We can’t wait to show them to you! 

    And so as far as all of the waiting goes, we’re still the antsy kids ready to jump in the car to adventure with Dad. 

“Are we there yet??”

“Almost.”

We’re still being sent back inside for things, and we’re still doing everything we can to be able to follow His direction so we can finally leave. 

Please continue to be in prayer with us so that we can finally see this dream become reality!

Love you guys!

-Andrea