"So, when are you moving?"

“So, when are you moving?...”

This is the most-asked Snead question since our last post in February (only slightly more popular than other FAQ's like "Are you a day care?" And, "Do you need help out with these?"  ... Which always confuses me cause I'm not sure if they mean the groceries or the kids....course, the answer's the same for either....)

Anyway, after 6 months of not being quite sure ourselves, we can finally say "As soon as we find a house!"  Art began his new job as Director of Lifeway's Ridgecrest Conference Center and Summer Camps over a week ago, so we have hit the ground running preparing for a move to Asheville, NC!  As we said previously, we lived there from 1996-2006, so although we will miss our Nashville area friends soooo much, we are also excited about this opportunity as we begin this next leg on our family's faith adventure!

I (Shelly) have had a lot of time to think and reflect over our journey this far, and stand amazed at where God has taken us - individually and as a family - as we have begun to yield each area of our lives to him.  It hasn’t been an “all-at-once-surrender” but as we’ve given (and sometimes taken back, then “re-given”) Christ control (of what he already owns anyway), from agendas to finances, from fears to family, we’ve had the privilege of experiencing some pretty cool things!  Geographically we’ve been able to live in places where experiences have included Kayaking the rivers of Tennessee and North Carolina to exploring ancient ruins and snow skiing in New Mexico.  We've had the honor of meeting and serving some neat people, from orphans in Haiti and Uganda, to flood victims in Mississippi and Alabama.  We have been blessed by and allowed God to use us however he saw fit in our church families of Biltmore, Christ Church and Long Hollow.

We’ve seen our family grow physically and culturally as we were able to adopt two (quite active!) children from Rwanda, and be able to help others in small ways who were adopting as well.  Even the struggles along our journey have produced great opportunities, like the wonderful relationships with our son’s nurses over the 5 years that he required home health care, including a precious native American grandmother who read the Bible for the first time in our home while caring for Josiah.

We have waded the rougher waters of marriage and child-rearing among friends, family and mentors who have made our family so much richer, and taken risks that have deepened our faith in God and increased our awareness of his amazing love for us.

It really has been an endless “string” of adventures, which is why I look forward to this move with great expectancy.  His faithfulness and sovereignty in the life of our family leaves us no other response than gratitude and trust.  And we can say with the prophet, Habakkuk, “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.  The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, HE ENABLES ME TO TREAD ON THE HEIGHTS.” (Hab. 3:18-19)

So now I’ll turn the question back on you!  When are you moving?....  Maybe He’s not calling you to pick up and move across the country.  But maybe it’s time to take a risk and go out of the comforts of your “safe zone”… this could be across the ocean or across the street.  It could be releasing your hold on some resources or releasing some spare time.  The result will be SO WORTH the RISK!  He will enable YOU to tread on the heights as you seek first HIS Kingdom!

Many Blessings, and thanks for stopping by!

The Snead Family 6

(Art and the 4 kids taking the plunge at Cummins Falls)