Christmas Letter 2022

The Unknown Path

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart.  Do not depend on your own understanding.Seek His will in all you do and He will show you which path to take.Commit your ways to the Lord and your plans will be established.” (in His way) Proverbs. 3:5-6, 16:3

            Let me tell you a little story.  Well, not so little so you might want to get a cup of coffee or tea and grab a snack and settle in for awhile. 

          One fine day, when John and I were heading to a wedding, he told me something that knock-your-socks-off shocked me. Let me back up a bit.  Now we were perfectly happy and content in our little one hundred year old farm house south of Sentinel Butte, North Dakota.  We had very close friends, a wonderful church family and a very supportive community “family”.  We were set, ready to hunker down and spend our last days, either till God called us home or until we heard that trumpet call.  In fact John had just told me a few days earlier, “I guess I’ve outgrown my wanderlust.”  Well I was all for that.  A little bit of maturity and stability never hurt anyone!

          So then that fine day, the end of August, he hit me with a bomb.  “So I saw this job online that would be perfect for us. It’s a caretaker job, on a non-working ranch in the mountains.” 

          Well save it to say, my mouth dropped open and I was, for once, speechless.  “Of course, we wouldn’t want to do it,” he continued, “I mean we have such a nice place to live right here.” 

          “Where is it?” I finally choked out.

          “In Oregon.”  “OREGON!” I cried.  Ha that seals the deal, John said he never wanted to go back to Oregon.  Then he added, “Eastern Oregon, the northern corner, in the Blue Mountains, its very remote. But of course we wouldn’t want to move since we have such good friends here.”

          Well like I said I was in shock so not much came out of my mouth at that point.  I should have let sleeping dogs lie. But I kept thinking that maybe, just maybe this was something God had for us.  Something He wanted us to do so maybe we needed to seek His will in this. So I brought up this point to John. That was all he needed to pursue the job.  “I’ll just send a message that we are interested,” Did I say we were interested?  “But I doubt they will get back to us.”

          Well one thing led to another and soon he was sending a resume.  “I don’t think anything will come of it,” John said.  Meanwhile I was trying to subtly or not so subtly say, “I DO NOT WANT TO MOVE.  I think John got the point but God had other ideas.

          Well we did hear back from the owners and John soon had a phone interview.  Wait a minute, stop this train and let me off!  Of course all this time we were praying about this.  John was praying if God does not want us to do this, He would shut the door. I was praying, Lord please SHUT THE DOOR.

          I came up with red flags and questions that John should ask during the interview, the deal beakers that would stop this project in its tracks.  But God was going before us, preparing the way, leveling the mountains and smashing gates of bronze.  All the red flags I had and all the deal breakers were positive, no road blocks, no closed doors.  

          Now this was getting serious.  I really did not want to leave my dear sweet friends.  I prayed that if it was His will, God would change my heart and give me the desire to move to the Blue Mountains in Oregon and that John and I would be on the same page, which we were not at this point.                

After looking at some pictures of Grant County online, I could see it was beautiful.  A few things happened at our place to make me think moving might not be a bad idea.  The secluded, quiet ranch we had lived on for 13 years was not quite so secluded and peaceful as it had been.  So when the owner in Oregon called and said he was seriously considering us for the job, I was beginning to warm up to the idea. 

          Then John did an about face.  He said he didn’t want to uproot us and make such a big change at our age. We were settled, we were comfortable, we were in a good place. He wrote a message to Tom, the owner saying we had changed our minds and decided to stay in North Dakota.  Oh phew! I was relieved, our friends were relieved, everyone celebrated!

          So we closed the door with a big sigh.  However, when God tells you to move you gotta move!  He wouldn’t let the door stay closed.  I just didn’t feel good about that decision.  I kept thinking, what if God wants us to do this? What if it’s a blessing He has for us? What if He has a reason for wanting us in John Day Oregon?  Then the biggie:  If we trust Him shouldn’t we trust Him even in this, even in our old age, even when the way seems impossible?

          For you see, “The Lord directs the steps of the godly.  He DELIGHTS in EVERY DETAIL of their lives.  Though they stumble they will never fall for the Lord holds them by the hand.”  Ps. 37:23-24    So do we trust Him or do we not?

           Come to find out John had been thinking along the same lines.  Then, twice Tom wrote and asked us to reconsider and at least go out and see the place and meet him.  We had been planning a camping trip heading east in ND so we decided to go west instead.

          When we saw the area of John Day and Grant county, we felt like we had come home, back to mountains like we had lived in most of our lives.  When we met the owners and saw the ranch, there were no red flags and all concerns were met positively.

God seemed to be saying: “I will go before you, Cyrus, (Wendy and John) and level the mountains. I will smash gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron. And I will give you treasures hidden in the darkness and secret riches” (where you do not see them) Is. 45:2-3

          So suffice it to say we decided to take the leap of faith, not really knowing what was down the road.  We have done that several times since we’ve been married but this time it seemed much more daunting.  It was very hard to say goodbye to dear friends and church family. Its scary to go from the known that is good to the unknown that you have no clue of.   

I remember months earlier when we didn’t even have an inkling we would be leaving, I was sitting on one of “my” hills and praising God for giving us such wonderful place to live, as I often did.  I remember thinking, “if we ever had to leave here it would break my heart.” Right on the heels of that thought came, “But if I close a door I will always open another one just as good or better.”  Then I remembered when we were moving to North Dakota, where I definitely did not want to go, how God led us to Boyd’s place and living there turned out to be a most wonderful blessing. Also, He brought us to a great church family and provided close friends.   If He did it once, He would do it again.

“Remember things I have done in the past.  For I alone am God!  I am God and there is no one like Me!  Only I can tell the future before it even happens.  Everything I plan will come to pass.  I do whatever I wish.” Isaiah 46:9-10 

After making that leap of faith, the job before us of packing and moving everything a thousand miles seemed overwhelming.  So many lasts; last time to go to church, last ladies Bible study, last trip to Wild Vines coffee shop, last time to have a meal with friends, last goodbyes.  So many tears and fears and much trembling. Often following God’s will means sacrifice and leaving our true and good friends was a sacrifice.

However, friends are friends forever if God is the Lord of them! Here there or in the air!  became our mantra.

“I am fearless because God is faithful!” Is on my wall.  Reading those words and relying on my faithful God gave me strength and courage to keep going.    

          You see when God leads, He straightens crooked paths and gives light in the darkness. I’m not saying He makes it easy, but He makes it possible.  He might illuminate only a small part of the path and the rest is dark and unknown, but we have to take that one step and then another as He leads.  Our job is to trust.  His is to get us through.  He levels the mountains that are impossible to climb. 

          It was amazing!  Every little detail fell into place. Even concerning my horse, but that’s another story.  Many things were sold, boxes were slowly filled, friends offered to help drive a rig to Oregon, a u-haul truck was available for the date we needed, kitties were given a home (in the same house) friends helped load the truck, in a snow storm no less, rigs started even though it was -15 the morning we left Beach. 

And we were on our way.  A thousand miles with a pickup pulling a loaded stock trailer, a large u-haul truck pulling a car hauler, and my Edge and we had no trouble, no flat tires, no problems whatsoever.  The miles ticked away for three days until we reached our new home in the Blue Mountains near Mt. Vernon Oregon.

          Since we’ve been here, just short of 4 weeks, God has led us to a wonderful welcoming church.  Amazing how we can go from one family to another and feel at home. We have met neighbors and are getting to know friends in the church.  We love the milder weather although we still have winter, just not driving wind, deep drifts and bitter cold.  We are falling in love with the mountains all over again and I can’t get enough of the view of the Strawberries just across the valley, as some of you know from my photos on facebook.  He has shown us many treasures in the darkness already. I can’t wait to see what more He has in store.  All I can say is God is good! All the time!

          “There is no one like the God of Israel, He rides across the sky to help you, across the skies in majestic splendor.  The eternal God is your refuge and His ever lasting arms are under you.” Duet. 33:26-27

          Do not fret! Do not forget!   Have a very blessed Christmas and New Year!

We also want to say thankyou to everyone who helped get boxes, load the truck, provide meals and most importantly, provide prayer support!

Love John and Wendy