Hope Remains Ministries

Coming Full Circle

It was last July when we received the call from Kirk’s dad saying, “Your brother, Cam, has lymphoma.” Not many words were spoken but, in that moment, everything changed…

I was heading back to Michigan early the next morning for a visit. As I left the ranch and looked back toward the mountains, I sensed in my spirit, “This part of your journey is over.” I was overcome with emotion as I felt relief and sadness all at the same time. Not really knowing for sure what that meant, I sensed we would be moving home for a season. I was glad for the next twenty hours of alone time with God to process what might be coming next for Kirk and I and our family.

Many times when I sense a shift coming for us, I sit with God in prayer before I mention it to Kirk. Sometimes it is an emotion all my own, but when Kirk tells me he is feeling the same way, then I feel a confirmation that God is speaking. Four days went by and not a word was mentioned from Kirk. Then he called and said, “Honey, I have a question to ask you (he was very intense), but before I do, I need to know that you trust me and believe that I really hear from God?….I mean, I really need to know this?”

I said, “Of course I trust you and believe you hear from God.”  I asked him what was going on?

He said “Kathy, I believe we are supposed to move back to Michigan for a season. I feel there’s something more for us there with our family.”

Through my tears I said, “I know, God told me the morning I left Colorado….”

Now, five months later, I sit in the kitchen of our ranch home in the midst of many boxes preparing to move back to Michigan on Saturday. Tears are dripping off my chin as I think back on the last six years of our journey. So much has changed…mostly our hearts (for good). There has been so much loss…so much gain…so much healing…

We left Michigan with a hope and a dream to start a ranch ministry. Instead we discovered the truth of the saying, “The joy is not in the reaching of the destination, but in the adventure of the journey.” These are easy words to say, but hard words to live. Still, that is what we are experiencing.

Our dreams of having a family ranch ministry in Colorado have not come together as we had hoped and I’m sad about that. And I’m sad about leaving all of our friends we met in Colorado whom we love so much, not to mention the mountains that have become such a part of us. It makes me teary all over again….

Then I’m reminded of the mystery of God. My friend, Susan, reminded me that we are in that place now, that we really can’t explain it…All we can do is continue to share our journey even when it isn’t so obvious what that journey is. All we know is that it is all about God and about His glory. It is about trusting more and more in him and living more and more in the invisible and less and less in the seen. It is about turning to him; turning over to him EVERYTHING, moment by moment and just staying available and obedient.
And so we rest now in the releasing of our dreams back to Him…

Our hearts can also find rest in our going home to the embrace of family, whom we have dearly missed. We have five grandchildren now who we can’t wait to hang out with (and their parents too). We look forward to the rich family time and the adventures to come. Cam is doing much better now with his health and we are so thankful for the healing that has come for him. We also look forward to spending more time with my parents and giving them the extra TLC that comes with being eighty-seven years old.

We are going to live in Mendon, MI, Kirk’s hometown. We will be surrounded by his family and are really looking forward to that. Kirk is excited about the possibility of his dad being able to teach him how to drive his team of Perchrons with the sleigh that was given to us from a former employer (friend) from the first ranch we worked at in Colorado. He’s hoping his sisters will join him so they can also learn how to pull the team.

We are moving back into the house where it all started for Kirk and I when we were married almost twenty years ago. We sold the house to our daughter Kari who, together with her husband Brent, are now renting to us. (Mysteriously it came available for rent in September.) This will serve to remind us daily of our journey and how our dream began, as we are right next door to the log house we built and where our dream was birthed. We truly are coming full circle and, for today, that’s all we need to know. Though a bit sad, we are very excited too.

A friend of ours in Colorado, John Blasé, shared a picture on his blog of a sleigh going through the woods with the words, “I’m not sure where we are headed but the team is trustworthy and the thermos is filled with hot cocoa.” I asked him if I could use that same picture and words for our newsletter as it really captures the heart of where Kirk and I are headed.

Kirk and I want to thank all of you who have believed with us (and still do). Thank you for not giving up on our dream of a family ranch ministry—whatever that may look like.

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