Let me make the news official. We are shifting our base out of Prague. We have been based here for 3 years and have really loved the country and culture. It has been a home to us. I have mentioned during the year that we are looking for another base. Last summer we were looking in England and Spain but didn't see anything pop up.
Why are we leaving?
First and foremost, because we believe God is moving us out. People we trust to be close to God have advised us strongly to move.
Example from one email:
"Your work is done in Czech Republic, this is why the land is spitting you out. If you remain there, things will get worse and it is actually physically dangerous! . . ."
It is like God is saying that what you planted there will remain and bear witness and do its job, and He wanted you to know well done! And what you leave there will bear much fruit, but He is about to lift the curse off that land, and this is not your job there. It is time to go! This is why He has been allowing increased warfare against your family, and it will get worse if you don't leave, or if you make your decision as to where to go based on religious pressure or advice of the world.
The witness you laid will go on witnessing! If you stay it will actually perpetuate the curse on that land while He wants to lift it."
What do we make of these prophecies?
A whole lot because we know the people who sent them - they have been helping us stay on course for many years and are deeply committed to us.
But there have also been a lot of people suggesting we leave for other reasons, one of them being Abigail's diabetes condition that just developed and the lack of covering that this country offers foreigners with medical conditions.
So. Here we are in the middle of the transition. We are leaving but we don't have another house to move into We also have a house in Prague to fall back on for a few more months. Thank you bloggers Artie and Elizabeth!
We feel the favor of God for us has shifted and we are no longer under the protective covering that we normally thrive under.
What does that feel like? Scary - like you dont want to take any risks, like something could go wrong any moment, like being vulnerable to disease, like being watched, like an orphan in a big city.
What does that say about my theology?
Well, it partially contradicts what I have held to - that God is somewhat disinterested in location, or at least that He is more concerned with how we are rather than where we are.
Perhaps geopgraphy is more important tahn I have previously thought.I will put it this way:
God is still with us, but his favor is waiting in another place. The biblical stories are full of people who got stuck (remember Lot and his wife) and God needed to prod them to get them moving.
Jesus tells us to Go but sometimes we also need to Go again, or Go somewhere else. We always need to keep in step with the Spirit, and we feel that God is telling us to Go, and that going is more important right now than arriving somewhere else.
Nuff said.
