What’s Been Going On In Our Life?

I feel like it has been awhile since I have given an overall life update, so here’s what’s been going in the Sterk’s life lately:

Our life these days, has a different “excitement.” There were so many changes and so many circumstances to process, that I felt I could have blogged 3 times a day. So now, when things are a little “less” exciting in that manner, I feel there is less to blog about. At the same time though, God is doing a lot of exciting things in our life. I feel like we almost just needed an emotional break. It has been refreshing. Not that I haven’t wanted to blog – far from that. But I feel we are just processing and soaking this whole moving experience in.

We are loving what God has called us to here. Of course we miss our families. But God has blessed us with “brothers and sisters” here in Minnesota too. We know this is our home right now and we are going to make it our home. Many ask if we will move back to Michigan. Honestly? We said that no matter where God called us to, we would commit 100% to that place because THAT was where God wanted us. We weren’t going to live this “temporary” life. Either we were all in, or nothing at all. Right now, we are trying to live all in. We feel this is home. People have treated us as family. We thank each and every one of you for that. We continue to stand in awe of where God has taken us. We still are in a little bit of shock 6 months later because we never imagined our life to go like this – let alone move to another state. But we are so at peace with it at the same time. That is the joy of the Christian faith – ya never know where God is going to lead – it just takes faith and trust. It hasn’t always been easy, but God has been faithful and we too, want to show that same faithfulness to Him.

Youth group – we love it! We love the kids out here. We treat them as our own. We see them as our own. We look forward to seeing them during the week, get excited when we see them when we are out and about, and praise God for blessing us with such wonderful kids who love the Lord. We see where God is using us and we see where our desires and gifts can coincide with the kids here. It is exciting and we are eager to continue to see how God will challenge and use us here. We still love youth ministry. Dan has been challenged in many ways – he’s been able to preach, teach, and do things he has been wanting to do for years, but never was able to. It has been humbling as his wife, to see him grow and be challenged. I see him flourishing. I see his faith growing. I see his love and passion for youth ministry coming out. I see his self-confidence getting a boost. It was pretty depleted after all that happened, so it is beautiful to see it getting built back up. The pastors and leadership have been so encouraging to him and we praise God for them!

I am LOVING my job! For a refresher, I am a part-time elementary school secretary. It is a perfect fit. Everyday is different (which I need) and everyday, I am reminded of just how cute kids are. They never fail to make me laugh! I am also able to use my social work skills and just offer love to those in tears. Giving a child a hug to make them feel better, to heal a hurt, or even just put a Band-Aid on, brings extra joy to my heart – that is my passion in action. I love loving on people and it feels good to do that again. I think earlier this year, I was almost burned out after all the emotional stress and heartache. It feels good to give love back as I have been filled up again too.

We have been a little busier with youth group back in full swing, with me working, attending sporting/school events, and just living life! Pretty normal, right? Well, “normal” for us earlier this year, looked quite different, so this is a MUCH welcomed change! It feels good to be busy again. It feels good to get back into the swing of life! Mondays and Wednesdays we have youth group, Tuesdays/Thursdays usually consist of some event, Fridays, more low key, and Saturdays we have been taking out docks for people as a youth group fundraiser. We found we love routine, yet we still enjoy our spontaneous side too :).

We are confident that this is what God had planned for our life – we just didn’t know the full story. We still don’t. A year ago, we were on our 10 day getaway. We were encouraged to go on this getaway after all the loss. We thank all those who helped make it possible for us to go! Thinking and looking back on that, it was what we needed. Thinking about our life now, this is what we needed. God knew. God always knows. Why do we ever second guess? In all the hard times though, I believe God uses them to make us more like Him. It takes hard times to conform us to His likeness. We don’t like it, but in the end, it is worth it. We are not at our “end” of struggles – but what we do know, is that through every struggle, God is only chipping away at the old self and helping us put on the “new.” We are better because of it. We understand more of God because of it. How can we not be thankful for that?

I hope this gives you a little glimpse into our life of today. Of course so much more goes on in a given day, but this is a start. Thanks for continuing to walk this path of life with us!