Author: calliebostrom

Annie Dillard once said, “How you spend your days is how you spend your life,” and my, are our days flying by! Last week Mark turned 6 months old, another semester for our students has come and gone, and a beautiful, flowery Summer is right around the corner. Rather than give you a play-by-play of our year, here are some highlights… plus, Mark is pretty adorable, so enjoy some extra photos of him at the end!

Whitworth Fridays

We mentioned in a previous update that every Friday we head north to Whitworth University’s campus to eat lunch and discuss theology and life with students. This is always a highlight of our ministry as week after week we meet with these students and have the opportunity to enter in and walk beside them as they work through what every college student deals with: roommate drama, dating struggles, career decisions, etc.

This semester we got to introduce Mark to Whitworth Fridays and needless to say, he quickly became the school’s mascot, garnering oohs and aahs from all of the students.

 

Easter

This Easter we invited the college and young adults that were in town without a place to go over to our home for a large lunch. We had 13 around our table along with delicious food and sweeter conversation.

Coram Deo

Each Sunday Matt gets the opportunity to teach children’s Sunday School. He typically has about 15 students, ages ranging from 5 to 11, and has enjoyed watching them grow in knowledge and love of Jesus, though he doesn’t like breaking up the occasional marker war!

 

One added benefit to meeting in an elementary school is that the park and playground provide a great place for after-church cookouts. This April, a team of volunteers cooked up some hot dogs and everyone brought some sides to contribute for a fun Sunday lunch.

 

End of Year Bowling

Every Thursday night Matt and I host a bible study at our home for college and young adults. This semester we studied the book of Galatians. It was a joy to discuss our right standing with God despite our efforts; He brings us into His family and then teaches us how to live. One Thursday night we all met up for a night of bowling. We had a great time, and most of us even got a strike or two!

 

Low Country Boil

On Memorial Day a member of our church hosted Coram Deo’s Third Annual Low Country Boil to kick off the summer. Complete with crawfish, tractor rides, yawn games and delicious food, the Boil is an event that everyone looks forward to each year!

 

Our Family

Matt and I love being parents – most of the time we have no idea what we’re doing, but we hear that’s normal! Mark is easy-going, loves to laugh and enjoys being around people (we have no idea where he gets that!)

 

 

We love you all and cannot fully express our gratitude for your prayers, encouragements and support of us. Come visit us in Spokane! Summer and Fall are pretty great in Spokane!

Happy 2016! I can’t believe we are already halfway through January. Where does the time go? Matt and I hoped to have some time to catch up over the holidays while students were home, but the holidays came and went so quickly and now it’s already January 13th!

While our holidays weren’t exactly quiet, it was such a sweet time! My parents came from Texas to visit my brother’s family and us. We ate a lot of yummy food, watched football, played with our one-year-old niece and just enjoyed being together. Then, the day my parents left, Matt’s dad flew in to celebrate Matt’s grandma’s 95th birthday. What a time of fun celebrations with family it was!

Now that the holidays have quieted down, I wanted to take some time to reflect on the past year and share with you our prayers for 2016:

2015 – the Lord will provide

• In April, we flew out to Spokane for the first time. The trip was exhausting. We left with more questions than answers, and knew if we were going to move to Spokane God was going to have to work mightily.

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  In May, Matt graduated from Reformed Theological Seminary in Charlotte. After three and a half years of hard work and the grace of God, he had his Masters in Divinity.

• In June, Matt was offered the assistant pastor job in Spokane. God was at work providing a position for Matt that we never could have dreamed up — to live in the same state as my brother, to have the opportunity to minister to college students, to learn from a seasoned pastor, to be a part of a church plant. This position didn’t look easy – we would have to raise our own support, but God was at work.
• In July, we began support raising. Matt and I had raised support before, so we were prepared for the feelings of defeat, the worries of wondering if God would provide, the fear of “what if….” Oh y’all, how the Lord provided! How he used YOU to work out his plan for us!
• In August, we moved out of our apartment and into a basement apartment that a church family provided. Again, the Lord knew exactly what we needed in his time.

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  In September, we left Charlotte and began our three-week trek across the US. The Lord used those three weeks to prepare me for Spokane. When we left Charlotte, I was not ready. I was not ready to leave our sweet, life-giving friends. I was not ready to settle into a new church, a new city with new people. And yet the Lord knew my heart, my fears, and so he used those three weeks to help me adjust. By the time we reached Jackson, WY, I was ready. I was still full of fear, but I was ready to get to Spokane.

• October 1st we arrived in Spokane with our suitcases and no place to live. Matt’s aunt and uncle took us in for nearly three weeks while we searched and searched and searched for a home. I felt like we were never going to find a place to live. Each time we sent in our application, there were two more people in front of us. In mid-October, God placed a beautiful home in our hands. It’s better than we could have dreamed. Oh how you would think I would learn to trust him and rest?! Unfortunately I’m too much like the Israelites in their wanderings.
• In November and December, we watched God work as he provided students for us to meet with, friends for us to share life with, and a sweet church in which to grow and serve.

In many ways, God has met all my fears with an abundance of blessing. Isn’t that how he works? He loves to give good gifts to his children — he meets me where I am and provides in ways I never could have imagined.

2016 – a prayerful year

• Coram Deo: We are thankful for how the Lord is bringing visitors to the church each Sunday. Our prayer for 2016 is that the Lord would raise up men to be elders and deacons, and for continued strength and encouragement for Kyle, the senior pastor, and Matt as they lead and make decisions.
• Matt’s Ordination: Matt has started studying for licensure and ordination. This coming spring he will take 5 written exams and two oral exams. We are hoping for him to be ordained at the May presbytery meeting. Please pray for time and diligence to study now even when it seems far off.
• Students: We currently have students from three college campuses and Fairchild Air Force base. We spent the last few months getting to know them. Our goal this semester is to deepen those relationships and be more present on the campuses. Pray that the students would see their need for Jesus and love him more.
• Support: As mentioned above, God has been so faithful in providing support for us to be in Spokane. Please pray for our remaining monthly support to come in and as we continue to support raise this spring and summer. We need about $500 more in monthly support. If you would like to support us monthly, please click here.

Seeing how the Lord provides and reflecting on his goodness to us is a balm to my fearful heart. We forget so easily, don’t we? How did the Lord provide for you in 2015? Share of his gifts in the comments!

Hello from the Inland Northwest!

I’m sorry it’s been a while since I last updated the blog. As I mentioned last time, we arrived in Spokane and hit the ground running… and it hasn’t stopped! I’m hopeful that as life becomes more stable, I will be able to update the blog more regularly. So keep checking it!

We are thankful for ways the Lord has provided for us and how He continues to affirm our call to Spokane.

• He provided a house! God gave us a great home in an awesome neighborhood. (To those sending out Christmas cards, please see our new address in the footer below!) The picture above was taken at Manito Park, two blocks from our house, and there is a cute coffee shop only three blocks away. I think I’m quickly becoming a “regular” there! Pray we will use our home well, that it would be a place of comfort, encouragement and grace to those in our life.
• He has provided an abundance of college students! Matt and I are so thankful for the opportunity to be meeting with so many university students. Matt typically has 2 to 5 meetings a day, and God has been kind to let me participate in discipling several college ladies. A few weeks ago, Matt started a guys’ Bible study in our home on Thursday nights. They are reading through “A New Man” by Dan Doriani on biblical manhood. We are thankful that in just a short month the students have been open and honest in their questions, battles with sin and desires to grow. Please pray that the Lord would give Matt and me wisdom, boldness and compassion to love them well, meet them where they are and challenge them to maturity in Christ.
• He has been very present in the transition to Spokane. Transitions are hard; moving is hard; figuring out this new community and the new normal is hard. We miss our Charlotte friends and the familiarity of the known, but as we’ve said over and over, “Hard is not bad, it’s just hard,” and in those hard times, God has been near to us and kind to surround us with sweet new friends at Coram Deo. Please pray for our continued transition. We are trying to figure out what this new normal looks like, how we can love each other well and be engaged in our new community.

Thank you for your continued prayers, encouraging text messages, and phone calls! It’s such a blessing to know that we do not go out each day alone, but that your prayers go before us. The Lord is building his church in Spokane, and I’m so thankful to you for supporting us to be a part of it! If you would like to support us monthly, please visit the Support Us page.

When Matt and I were newly married, he gave me The Daily Light on the Daily Path devotional. It’s this sweet devotional that combines various themes in scripture into one passage. It is helpful in seeing how one verse relates to another – how themes, like grace, prayer, guidance, dependence, faithfulness, go throughout all of the Bible.

This morning as I read the day’s passage, God in his perfect providence spoke to my nervous, wavering heart. You see, this morning is my last day at Accrinet, a job I’ve worked at since we’ve been in Charlotte. A job that feels less like work and more like home. A job that is full of coworkers who are really more like brothers and sisters. It’s comfortable; it’s known; it’s safe.

This is the day that I leave what “make sense” for something unknown. Leaving a good job to support raise and move across the country doesn’t make sense to most – in fact it often doesn’t make sense to me. But, God has called us to trust – to trust him in the unknown, in the scary, in the uncomfortable as he leads.

So, we go forth. Today is a bittersweet day. I’m sad to leave my family of coworkers, but I’m so excited for our next adventure, and I’m incredibly grateful to my Lord who speaks sweetly to my soul with these words from this morning’s Daily Light:

“The ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them three days’ journey, to seek out a resting place for them.

My times are in your hand.—He chose our heritage for us.—Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness;… make your way straight before me.—Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.—In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.—Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.—As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.—“The Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.”—Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.”