Merry Christmas

I know I haven't blogged about Emileigh's birthday yet. All the pictures are on my mom's camera so I have to get those off before I can. But I do promise I will! I pray that everyone knows the true meaning for Christmas. Seeing how God has moved in our lives this year makes this Christmas a little more special to me. We sent out a letter and picture this year to many people. There are still some people we missed I know so below is our letter and picture :)


Merry Christmas!! As we think about the birth of our Savior and all it means, that He came to earth for us, we can’t help but reflect on how the Lord has richly blessed us over the past year. Yes, we had our ups and downs as everyone did, but through the downs we see God’s hand on our family and are very thankful for that.
This past year we welcomed Emileigh to our family, a beautiful little girl with loads of personality. We cannot wait to see what God has in store for her life. Noah started Pre-K this year, which was harder for mommy than it was for him! And God moved in our lives to direct us further in ministry.
In June of this year Mark began putting resumes out to churches. Most of the churches were outside of the state because we knew that God was calling us away. We have learned that many times in scripture when God calls someone to serve Him, He calls them to move. He did it with Abraham, Moses, David, Paul, and so on, and we felt He was calling us to do just that, move!
Many times while speaking to others the subject of school came up. Things like: Have you gone to seminary? Have you thought about going to seminary? Have you looked in to schools/seminaries? We know that God can use someone that doesn’t have a formal education, but as the questions came we considered more and more the possibility that God was calling us to school and not to serve in a church right now. So the research began.
After looking into several different schools, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary was mentioned to us. The only thing about seminary is that Mark needed to have an undergraduate education first. Well, Southwestern has the College at Southwestern where he can do just that. At the end of September we made a trip to Texas to see if this was in fact where God was leading us. We fell in love with it. We just knew that is exactly where God was leading us. So, in January Mark will start his education at the College at Southwestern continuing on to the Seminary.
Why are we telling you this? Well, we need support. We would love for you to join us as prayer partners in this next journey of our lives. Things will be changing greatly for our family. Not only are we moving fourteen hours from everything we have ever known but Brandi will hopefully be going back to work in a formal setting. Mark will be starting school for the first time in twelve years, and Noah will have such a change with school and church. Below is a list of things you can pray with us about:

• The move- we will be traveling fourteen hours- pray everything goes smoothly
• Jobs- currently neither one of us has a job- you can pray specifically that Brandi gets a full time job on campus as this will help with our tuition costs
• Tuition- the cost for tuition is roughly $3000 per semester, this is in addition to normal living costs
• The children- Brandi has been staying at home with the kids for the past year. Changing and going to a daycare setting will be hard on them- and Brandi!!
• Focus- that Mark can focus on his school and make good grades
• Church- pray that God will provide a new church home quickly
• Comfort- we will be far away from all of our family, pray that we will feel God’s protection and presence each day that we are there.
Tuition money is one of the biggest needs right now. We are applying for different scholarships that are available to Mark, but many of those we won’t hear back from until later. If you feel led to donate to Mark’s tuition costs there is a way. We are not asking you to fund us for the next few years by any means. But if you feel the Lord leading you to give please send your gifts to

SWBTS
Financial Aid
PO BOX 22000
Fort Worth, TX 76122
Please put on the check memo or in a note Mark Thomas Student ID#0466100

The school will send you an acknowledgement of your gift. You can also designate if you would like your gift to go towards tuition, housing, or just leave it blank and they will get it to us. Thank you so much for joining with us in this journey through prayer and support. Brandi has started a blog about our story that she will update while we are in Texas with what is going on in our lives. We would love for you to read it so you can keep up with us! You can visit the blog at www.genesis121.blogspot.com . Thank you again for your prayers and support. We love you!


In Christ,
Mark, Brandi, Noah and Emileigh Thomas
Genesis 12:1


Thank you for following along and for praying for us and with us!

Our new address is 4110 William Fleming Ct Apt H, Fort Worth, TX 76115

A New Home

We finally got our housing assignment!!!! I am so excited I can't stand it. As of Monday all we knew is that we were going to school. Didn't know where we would be living, working, where the kids will be going, where we will be going to church, so many unknowns. But Praise the Lord for an answered prayer!!!

Just to know that we will have on campus housing brings such relief alongside so many unanswered questions. I won't say unanswered prayers because they are answered God knows the exact answer for all the question we have, He has just chosen not to reveal those answers to us yet. The time will come though and we wait expectantly for those answers.

The really awesome part of the story is, Mark and I were both starting to get a little worried about where we would live. I even started looking at apartments off of campus. Well Saturday morning Mark went hunting- which means he went and talked to God. He came home and told me very matter of factly, that the reason we hadn't heard is because the school was trying to get us in our first choice of places and that we would hear this week sometime. I trusted that is what would happen. Of course that is EXACTLY what happened. We got our first choice, a town home that has laundry hookups- this was HUGE to me- and a dishwasher! And obviously we found out this week!! We serve a mighty God.

I am so excited to be able to share how all the little pieces are falling into place. This weekend we are having Emileigh's first birthday party- yes it is a week early! So once I get through that and get all the pictures I will blog about it and how much fun we had! Thank you again for your continued prayers.

Big Prayers, Little Answers

Well it's that time of year again. Christmas. This is my favorite time of year. I love all the decorations, lights, parties, and family time. Most of all I love the reminder that Jesus Christ came to this Earth for me! How humbling. We are still waiting on our housing assignment which makes us very nervous.

I was able to email the human resources department about jobs that we both had applied for. So far for me there hasn't been any success. Mark on the other hand got a very promising email from the "shop". They are looking for a small engine mechanic!! If you didn't know that is exactly what Mark grew up doing and knows better than anything. They are very interested in him and want to interview him. Praise the Lord for answered prayers, even if they are little!

So right now we are just packing things, getting ready for Emileigh's first birthday party, getting ready for Christmas and trying to find the most economical way to move! I will post about Emileigh's birthday so you can see all the fun!!! In the meantime please pray that we will continue to get answers. That God will provide financially for the move and the first month or two while we are out there. That God will provide the best job for both Mark and I, and that we will have clear direction on these matters. Thanks for following along on our journey!

Hurry up and Wait

So I know I haven't blogged in a couple of weeks but we are in a holding pattern. Ever heard the term hurry up and wait? Well, that is EXACTLY where we are. God had revealed that we should go to Texas and Mark should start school. We have been accepted and have put in a housing application. So now we wait.

I have filled out a job application for a administrative associate position at the school. Prayerfully this will be the job that the Lord provides for me. See if either one of get a full time job at the school then Mark's tuition will be paid!! So our very selfish prayer right now is that the Lord will provide. but again we are waiting!!

So now here we are knowing that at the end of the holidays we will be moving fourteen hours away but have no clue to what! Yes we know to the school but everything- and I mean EVERYTHING else is still to be determined. Thinking of all these things has made this week an emotional one for me. I know that this will be one of many though.

With saying all of these things I sincerely hope that that you see God in all of this. This is not about Mark and I and our family. Yes there is a big change coming, but more that that this is about what God is teaching us. This is about how God still talks with His children, answers their prayers, guides and directs them, and gives comfort even in the emotional times!

Thank you Lord for still speaking to me and revealing Your character in all new ways!

Called Out and following thru!

So let's recap. We both now KNOW Jesus and have answered the call to full time ministry, but have done NOTHING about it! Well in January of this year my brother in law- Mark's middle brother- called and confronted Mark. See God had been talking to Mark's brother. God laid Mark and our family on his heart so much so that he couldn't sleep. He spent many hours in prayer over Mark and our family. Finally he felt he needed to say something.

Let me tell you, Mark DID NOT like getting called out. Blake asked Mark out right what he was doing to fulfill God's calling on our lives. He point blank asked Mark do you fell God has called you to the ministry- yes Blake God has called me, then what are you doing about it? Mark couldn't answer that cause we weren't doing anything. Yes we were Sunday school teachers and that is a calling in itself but what were we actually doing to find out exactly where God wanted us. Nothing.

It's not fun to hear what you already know. Blake helped Mark realize things that we really already knew. See if God has never called you to anything you don't know the feeling of running. Or what God will allow to happen to you while you run. Slowly but surely material things started being taken from us. So much so that we wondered if we were going to loose our house or not. Did I feel like we were running- well of course not we answered the call., Surely that's not running! But what did we do to follow through on the call- nothing- that's as good as running.

So with new resolve and desire to do what God wants us to do we started seeking His face. Our church has these wonderful things called HIMpossible cards, they are cards you can write a prayer request on that you know that only through HIM can it be answered. Well we certainly had some HIMpossible things that need to be done. First we needed to know what our first step should be, then where do you really want us, then how do we go about doing anything. The questions went on and on. So we started filling out cards.

Our first step would be to fill out applications. Mark applied to 85, yes that's right 85, different churches from Miami, FL to Alaska and everywhere in between. We felt this was the right thing to do, but for several weeks heaven was quiet! That is very agonizing. We knew that God was calling us away from Commerce, GA. That we both felt deep in our hearts that God wanted us out of our comfort zone. But heaven was quiet, and it was painful and seemed to last forever!!

At this point we thought well maybe God wants us to move and Mark go to school. So we started investigating schools. See Mark only went to technical school after high school so he would be starting from scratch, which meant he couldn't just go to Seminary he has to get a Bachelors first. This narrows his options big time. Finally one night after silence that seemed to last forever, Mark prayed and listened and prayed and listened. He was up for six hours one night just talking with God. He asked God for some direction that if we were doing the right thing by him filling out applications then please let just one church respond back in some way. They could be telling us thanks for the application but no thanks and that would be fine. It would be an answer.

God works in very mysterious ways! Well the next morning was a Sunday so we went to church as always. Mark had his phone with him to keep time so we could get out for service at the right time. Well right in the middle of him teaching his phone goes off. He didn't realize that it was his phone until later. Well it was an email from a church saying thank you so much for submitting your application, and telling us about the area the church was in!! Praise God Heaven wasn't being quiet anymore!!! If this wasn't an answer from God then we were going crazy!!

For the next several weeks Mark continued to get email after email from churches, most of them saying thank you but no thank you. But it was still answers!! Finally a church from Missouri sent an email stating they had lots if interest in us. Wow! God really could be calling us to a church. In order to make sure we were pursuing all the possibilities that God may be calling us to, Mark meet with our pastor.

It's now August, and Mark had decided that we would wait for one month. If we had no further contact from any churches or we didn't get called to a church within a month then God was calling us to school. We had decided that New Orleans Baptist Seminary was where we needed to go, because it would be most cost effective for our family. Easiest to afford. Well while meeting with our pastor he suggested that Mark look into Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. We didn't even realize that there was one!

We started doing lots of research on Southwestern. It was in a good area- much safer- and wasn't that much more money. It is further away from our family. But if God is calling us and we don't go things will get worse! So we called and made an appointment to visit the campus. Oh yeah, the church in Missouri- well they had sent Mark a questionnaire to answer. He did and sent it back and we heard nothing for three weeks. Did you here that three weeks- just under the month timeline that we had put on things!! God works in wonderful ways! They wanted to do a phone interview. So on a Thursday night the church called Mark and engaged in an hour and a half phone interview. Then nothing again!

It was finally time for our campus visit to Southwestern. Mark's parents kept the kids for the weekend and allowed us to drive their bug out to Texas. Yes I said drive! Thursday afternoon we left around 2:30 p.m. and arrived in Texas at 3:30 a.m. Friday morning! While driving out there the church from Missouri called! They felt that God was not leading us to their church right now. Again an answer from the Lord!! Friday we do a campus tour and absolutely fall in love with the campus and the surrounding area. At one point I looked at Mark and said it feels like home!

Now we are up to date for the most part. Wednesday of this week, Mark got the email. We have been accepted to the College at Southwestern, a division of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary!! Wow!! God has been preparing us for this every step of the way. If we said we didn't see how God was working then we must be blind. See even the bible study I have been a part of at church has gone right along with what God is doing in our lives. The bible study is Beth Moore's The Patriarchs, Encountering the God if Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob- you know what the first chapters are on? Abraham being called away to leave his family!! Wow God was speaking!!

So, what now? Well I will chronicle our move and what God is doing in our lives over the next few years. This is one way I feel I can stay in touch with people! I hope you can see God moving as much as we have and that it will encourage you. I am so excited to see what else He has in store for us. For now.....


LOOK OUT TEXAS THE THOMAS' ARE COMING!!!!!

The Call

Let's continue our story.....
We are both now followers of Jesus Christ. Mark was driving down the road one day and had a strange feeling. He immediately started praying. He felt like there was something major going on and couldn't put his finger on it. Well after much prayer we both realized that God was calling our family into full time ministry. Great! Wonderful let's do this. We were glad to know what God wanted from us and to answer the call. We made it a public announcement at our church that God was calling us into ministry. Awesome! Now what?

So what do we do now? That was our biggest question. Well we were already serving in our church as Sunday school teachers so that had to be moving in the right direction, right?! Basically after answering the call to ministry we did nothing! Not one thing! We just kept right on doing exactly what we had been doing before we answered the call. So this is when God starts moving in ways we may not be to excited about.

This is all happening the summer of 2007. Well that summer Mark lost his job. After looking for a couple of months he found something but it was kinda far away and he hated it. So then he left that job and went to work in a lawnmower shop. The whole time he is looking there is a company near our house that he has applied to and continues to call even though they have no openings. Finally in the Spring of 2008 Mark gets the job at the company close by. What an answer to prayer. Shortly after that though I lost my job! This is where our finances really really start to suffer.

They say hindsight is 20/20, and boy are they right! We both believe that through the loss of both our jobs and the financial hardships that we went through the past four years that God was teaching us and preparing us. He was teaching us a lesson for not following through on what He called us to do. He was also preparing us for all the He has for us to do. So that is a brief history bringing us up to Janurary of this year. Again instead of going on forever in one blog, I will write again!

Brandi

First and foremost, my name is Brandi and I am a bad blogger! There now that's done lets get started. This is my view of this wonderful whirlwind called life that I am living with my family. God has taught me a lot over the past seven years but most of the learning has taken place over the last four. So that is where we will start.

Four and a half years ago I gave birth to our first child a beautiful little boy named Noah. So we had a child now and everything about life changed. The way that we did things the way that we saw things, everything changed. In this change we saw the love God was showing us by sending His son to die for us. Will we ever fully understand it, NO WAY but we got a glimpse that's for sure. That is when Mark and I realized that we didn't have a relationship with God. We had known Him most of our life. But I know who George Bush is also! God desires us to have a relationship with Him. So we both started our relationship with Christ.

So four years ago our life totally changed. God started this mighty work in our lives and hasn't stopped since. Instead of making this one blog last forever I thought I would break things up. It may take a while but hang on for the ride and watch with us as God moves in our life. My desire is to keep track of how God is working in our life and to let those we love in on everything to. Hope you enjoy.


Brandi