Tribute To My Very Dear Friends: The Ferguson's
It’s been an emotionally charged weekend. Some very dear friends of mine were officially launched out from our church to pioneer a church in Minnesota. While this was a direction I knew would eventually happen, and had been bathed in prayer by many it was still hard to say goodbye. Knowing something is the will of God doesn’t always make it easy. I had thought I was going to be okay. I was so excited for them to be stepping into what is God’s will, but I started to get emotional on Saturday when their dining room table went into the moving van, and all I could think about is how much Natasha negotiated with the sales person when she bought it. I watched as we loaded the truck and saw the stool I made for one of their kids before he was born. It was if I was moving because I could see years of memories in that truck.
When Dan and I moved across the country to FL in 2000 God led us to Freedom Life Church. Dan and I had no family here and no friends. We were unknown. It was a difficult time in our lives. There was a core of people that were raised up and trained in the church about the same time. The Fergusons are part of that core. I have come to look over the years to them as my big brother and big sister in the Lord. I consider them as part of my family. On Easter one year Natasha knew we were bummed about missing our family in the North, so she wrote us a cheesy song and came over to sing it to us. Ever since that year we’ve spent Easter at their house. There was a time when we first moved here that I went through a very dark period. Few people know that I spent days at the Ferguson’s house. Where she talked to me, counseled me, and I always say she helped me become a better wife and mother. She helped me to truly learn that ministry comes after my husband and children. There were days were Dan struggled in some areas and Jeff became a sounding board for him. Since I don’t have family in the area they were the next in line to call if my kids had an issue in school and the school couldn’t reach us.
I wrote in a book once that it was as if people leave you pieces of fabric in your life and in turn you leave pieces with them. Its as if together all those pieces will make up a quilt of who you are as a person. Sometimes people leave a larger or smaller piece than what you think they should, but all in all it makes up you. Jeff and Natasha have left a very large piece of fabric in the quilt of my life.
Saying goodbye to them has been, as one woman put it, the very definition of bitter sweet. I am both excited to see what God is doing and sad to see them go.
Proverbs 18:24 (MSG)
“Friends come and friends go, but a true friend sticks by you like family.”
The beauty of all of this is knowing that there is a bunch of people in MN that are going to be so blessed to get such awesome pastors. This is God’s will and He’s bringing it to pass. I know we’ll see each other again. I am excited for what God is doing. It’s kind of like this core group of people are all starting to graduate from school, if you will, and stepping into the places God has ordained for them. It’s exciting to watch.
So I close you with the thought if you’re ever in Alexandria, Minnesota and you need to find a good church in the area, look up Spirit Life Church with senior pastors Jeff and Natasha Ferguson. I promise you that you’ll be glad you did.
When Dan and I moved across the country to FL in 2000 God led us to Freedom Life Church. Dan and I had no family here and no friends. We were unknown. It was a difficult time in our lives. There was a core of people that were raised up and trained in the church about the same time. The Fergusons are part of that core. I have come to look over the years to them as my big brother and big sister in the Lord. I consider them as part of my family. On Easter one year Natasha knew we were bummed about missing our family in the North, so she wrote us a cheesy song and came over to sing it to us. Ever since that year we’ve spent Easter at their house. There was a time when we first moved here that I went through a very dark period. Few people know that I spent days at the Ferguson’s house. Where she talked to me, counseled me, and I always say she helped me become a better wife and mother. She helped me to truly learn that ministry comes after my husband and children. There were days were Dan struggled in some areas and Jeff became a sounding board for him. Since I don’t have family in the area they were the next in line to call if my kids had an issue in school and the school couldn’t reach us.
I wrote in a book once that it was as if people leave you pieces of fabric in your life and in turn you leave pieces with them. Its as if together all those pieces will make up a quilt of who you are as a person. Sometimes people leave a larger or smaller piece than what you think they should, but all in all it makes up you. Jeff and Natasha have left a very large piece of fabric in the quilt of my life.
Saying goodbye to them has been, as one woman put it, the very definition of bitter sweet. I am both excited to see what God is doing and sad to see them go.
Proverbs 18:24 (MSG)
“Friends come and friends go, but a true friend sticks by you like family.”
The beauty of all of this is knowing that there is a bunch of people in MN that are going to be so blessed to get such awesome pastors. This is God’s will and He’s bringing it to pass. I know we’ll see each other again. I am excited for what God is doing. It’s kind of like this core group of people are all starting to graduate from school, if you will, and stepping into the places God has ordained for them. It’s exciting to watch.
So I close you with the thought if you’re ever in Alexandria, Minnesota and you need to find a good church in the area, look up Spirit Life Church with senior pastors Jeff and Natasha Ferguson. I promise you that you’ll be glad you did.
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