For such a time as this

Dan and Daddy in front of Lenin's tomb. They went in to view Lenin's body while they were here. The mausoleum sits on Red Square.
I love this picture of St. Basil's. I know you can't see the colors (a visiting priest once said it was hard to believe that a people who could withstand all the crazy colors of St. Basil's actually believed in God), but I like the image of the onion domes set against the gray of the Moscow afternoon. When we leave Moscow this summer, we will miss the onion domes of Orthodox churches very, very much.

For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this? Esther 4:14

It's been a wild week at the Hooks' house. Our van died, Marc came home from Udmurtia with a broken toe that has basically taken him out of commission all week, Hannah got sick on Friday, and Sarah Beth got sick yesterday. We are stuck inside today, trying desperately to get everyone well enough to go to school tomorrow. Perhaps the hardest part of the week was the official word from dear friends that they would not be returning to Moscow from Stateside assignment. There has certainly been no lack of things to think about this week, things to ponder and wonder about as I tended to gimp-man or the sick girls. (Just my little nicknames for various members of my family.)

We're reading Esther with John and Hannah in the mornings. (Sarah Beth is 16, and I'm doing well just to get her out of bed.) I'm studying the book, too, so it's fun to share some of the things I've learned about the book with them. It's important at this juncture in our lives that they both know that God has a plan, even when it's unclear to us what that plan is or that He's even present in our lives. We've learned a lot in the last 16 months about ignoring how we feel in favor of what we know to be true. Of course, that's easier to write than it is to do. And so, "for such a time as this" has been on my mind. God's plan to bring us to Russia for such a time as this was startling to us...completely unexpected and out of the blue. His plan to move us to Prague for the next segment of our lives is no less startling. But as I look back, as I think about the ways He has brought us to today, to this moment in our lives, I am also startled by the ways in which He has carefully prepared us for this time. Marc and I watched Fireproof last night and loved it. I thought one of the best ideas in the movie was that having a fireproof marriage didn't mean that fire never came, but that when it did, the marriage would withstand it. Marc and I have not led perfect lives, nor have we had the perfect marriage. But I can clearly see how every stage of our lives has brought us to this moment and prepared us for what He knew was in store for us. Our first year on the field was one of the most difficult times our marriage has ever withstood. But we got through it because we knew that it was a season. We knew that better times were coming, that transition was making us a little nuts, that living in a two-bedroom apartment with three children was making life even harder, and that the frustration we felt being full-time language students and full-time parents was making us focus critical eyes on each other. And now, I'm glad to say, better times have come. Life has not necessarily gotten tons and tons easier, but we've relearned the value of our marriage, of its strength, of its fortitude. And that will help us withstand the next season, the next thing God has planned "for such a time as this." While we may not have a clue what lies beyond the next year in Prague, we do know that God can be trusted with our future, with our marriage, with our children. And in that, my friends, there is great comfort and peace and excitement about whatever is next.

Wherever you are in the world, I pray today that you are fluorishing wherever God has you "for such a time as this," and that everyone in your home is healthy. Blessings to you and yours!

His,
Kellye