Seven years ago, our family found ourselves living life the only way we knew how. We owned a business, worked really hard, lived in the home of our dreams, and were very involved in our local church. However, like many Americans, we had tons of debt, and the job was literally killing me.
After returning from a business trip, I had an encounter with God that changed my life. It not only changed me, it also changed our family.
Remember the scripture in Matthew 4 where Jesus was walking on the shore of the Sea of Galilee and saw Peter and Andrew casting their nets? Jesus calls out to them and says, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men."
The story continues with the two immediately leaving their nets and following Jesus. This is the kind of encounter I had with God.
He was asking me, my wife, and my two daughters to leave the lives we had, the friends we knew, and the places we loved to follow Him. This meant our girls would have to leave their school and their friends. It meant that we would have to leave our home, sell our business, and leave the church family we had grown to love for over fifteen years.
Change is never easy, but with God's help, we too decided to lay down our nets and follow Jesus.
So seven years ago our family pulled onto the YWAM Tyler campus to start our Discipleship Training School DTS with a minivan packed full of stuff and hearts packed full of hope. We didn't know what the future was going to hold, but we agreed, as a family, we were going to follow God wherever He led.
Remember that debt I was telling you about? It was close to six figures, but in less than two months, God took care of it. The stress of business had sent me into a deep depression for two years, but God took it away.
God gave us the provision we needed to step into His calling for our lives.
The Discipleship Training School (DTS) created space in our lives to go deeper in our relationship with God and really hear from Him. We learned from amazing missionaries from all over the world, which fueled our faith.
For my family, DTS was an invitation to step out of the status quo and step into a faith-filled adventure with God. My daughters had read the miraculous stories in the Bible, but now they were experiencing God do the miraculous. They have seen God make the lame walk. They have seen God make the blind see. How amazing is that?
I encourage you to not settle with a “We can’t do that.” In July 2018, my family is hosting a focused Family DTS at YWAM Tyler you are going to love. Find out more!
Check out these amazing stories of Families in
Insanity of Families Doing Missions
The 2 "P's" of Family Missions
What Every Kid Needs to Know When Their Family Comes to YWAM as Missionaries