Time for Renewal and Change

A lot has happened over these past few months. I have been torn away from my friends and family in Wake Forest/Raleigh, moved back to a less-familiar community, and been thrown into situations to make me grow into the man God desires me to be. It has been a very sweet time of growing closer with my family, something that I have not cherished like I ought. It has been a much-needed season of rest, discipline, and maturing.

Maturity, in my life, has come about through significant changes. I’m sure that you can relate no matter your background. A new job comes along, you meet someone special, school starts, or you move to a totally new area. You and I learn to just roll with whatever comes our way; some have just had more practice.

The Pauley family will no longer be living in the Rocky Mount area. We are awaiting God’s plan and direction to unfold for us. These past 5 years at Englewood Baptist Church have been a sweet time to grow closer to Christ and other believers in the church. I say this all with mixed emotions because this move is full of contradictions. It is simultaneously uncertain and exciting, sorrowful and enlightening. Like many other moves in my life, there will be friends that are sad or hurting. But the best response is a godly response, one that asks honest questions to the All-Knowing God who can answer it in His timing.

 We are growing in Christ while learning to trust him more. Nathan will be a freshman at Liberty University and traveling with a ministry team. I will be in Wake Forest continuing my education at Southeastern Seminary. There will be updates over time; with that, I will close with a passage from Scripture.

¹⁸ For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
²⁶ For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. ²⁷ And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. ²⁸ And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. ²⁹ For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. ³⁰ And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
Romans 8:18, 26-30