Tonight at dinner Chad and I were having a silly discussion about the details we shared on our match.com profiles. We laugh now every time we see a commercial for match.com because we are usually sitting in a living room crowded with our children. Seven years later neither of us is wanting a refund. Anyway, I got sentimental and busted out with my SCRAP BOOK. Much to Chad's dismay I had printed our "correspondence" from the first email to the wedding invites. :)
Among all my psycho clippings and photgraphs was the Citychurch newsletter where we had each written articles announcing our engagement. I was moved as I read our articles out loud. They confirm the purpose in what we are doing now and encourage me to look ahead at what God has in store. I thought I'd share them.
Where Will You Live
By Anna Lea Lane
April 2003
Chad and I have been dating for six months and the children I minister to have noticed that I have to travel to see Chad. Last week I took my Tulia kids on a special outing and told them I was engaged to a man who lives in Dallas. Their first question was, “Where will you live, Miss Anna?”
Through much planning a discussion Chad and I have decided that after we are married I will move to Ft. Worth to live with Chad. I my heart I had the same question as the children. I have a close family and we’ve never been apart. When I talked to God about what to do he reminded me to stay where I have always lived; within the sound of His voice.
I was born in Arlington, Texas at Arlington Memorial Hospital. As a young girl sitting in the pew of the church where my dad was preaching an out of town revival I gave my heart to Jesus. We went home to Caddo Mills, Tx where Dad was pastor and two weeks later I was baptized. As a youth my family lived in Burleson, Texas where Dad pastored Crestmont Baptist church. I was eleven years old at children’s camp when God called me to be a missionary and I surrendered my life.
At one point my mother added up all the places I have lived. If you count all the different houses I had moved 27 times by the time my family moved to downtown Amarillo. Moving from east Texas to Alaska and back to Texas. We lived in houses, on farms and in apartments.
There were not many consistent elements to my life growing up except those things most important. I always knew my family loved me, and we found strength in our relationship with one another. The other constant in my life was the immoveable Rock of God as my foundation.
I prayed to Him as a little girl on the mountain top in Alaska. I would ride my horse to the middle of our hay fields, cry out to Him and thank him for sustaining my life in such beautiful ways. Dad was terminally ill my Senior year of High School. I would fall asleep every night thanking God for helping us through each day. I would pray for my father’s healing and for my mom to feel the presence of God around her. Three months later I rejoiced with my family and praised God for Dad’s successful liver transplant.
In college I would run to pay phones to praise God with my parents each time I had successfully registered for another semester. I prayed everyday walking across campus that I would be a student worthy of the sacrifice it took for me to stay in school. I also prayed for God’s protection from any destructive relationship.
As a family, we prayed around our dining room table for God to send us on mission. God directed our eyes us to the worst neighborhoods of Amarillo. I have had the joy of praying with children as they receive Salvation in a rooms under construction in a broke down building on Polk street, in the middle of city parks and in Tulia’s town square.
Last year I graduated from Wayland Baptist University. I moved back home, unpacked my dorm boxes and settled into our building to wait for the rest of my life to unfold. I became frustrated wondering what God would have for me to do next.
I enjoy the ministry to children, but I became lonely for a companion. So many nights I would sit on the stage in our new park, watch the sunset and pray for God’s man to find me.
Last November I met that man. We will be married in the park on July 12, 2003. We plan to move to Ft. Worth for a while and follow God wherever He leads us from there. I do not know the future from here, but our desire is to return to Amarillo. I do know where I can find life to it’s fullest and it is in the presence of my Faithful Lord.
“The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were least of all peoples; but because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharoah king of Egypt. Therefore, know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments.” Deuteronomy 7:7-9
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