For those of you who have prayed for us, supported us, co-labored with us, sent us dinners, sweet desserts, gift cards, weird postcards, funny encouraging text messages and have loved us through our crazy journey I feel we have some esssplaining to do with what's going on with us and where the Mo's are headed.
Through many signs and wisdom and encouragements of great friends and mentors in our lives, God has led us to understand our time with Antioch LA has come to an end. This was a very difficult decision to make and we have been praying, fasting and seeking wisdom through it since last October. We had some real financial reasons for needing to make this decision; Symphony being born and our health insurance ending were some of the top reasons.
What God has done with us personally in these last two years has been AMAZING and I have no doubt that our sanctification and growth is why He called us out of our comfort in beautiful-land-flowing-with-wine-and-honey Temecula to smog-and-traffic-infested-sucker-of-hopes-and-dreams LA.
We've moved five times in five years. And until now, we loved it. Not the actual moving part. That part stinks. But the change of scenery and new places has always excited us.
When we moved to LA in 2012, we really thought this was it. This was home. We loved the city more than we anticipated; both being from suburbia and all. But our perfect little corner apartment was our paradise for the last year and a half. (Minus the occasional cockroach sighting.)
We were happy. We were content. We were working hard. And then God moved something. My heart began to see LA as a fire in which we were about to be thrown. But not in the destructive way one might assume of a fire. Sure it's the city of broken dreams, and yes life is different here, but we fell in love with this cement jungle. This place became our refining fiery furnace.
God showed me so much about my flesh and my own personal sinfulness, pride and arrogance and has used these hard years to begin stripping that away from me. I am seeing more clearly that God is the one who brings hope, not my gifting, not my voice or playing or song writing, not my preaching or my ability. GOD DOES THE WORK.
Jules and I both believe these last two years were preparation for a long tenure serving God's people and building his church! So what comes next for us? After two months of sleepless nights, endless applications filled, resumes sent out, about 10 skype interviews and an airplane ride across the country, we have prayerfully decided to take a worship leading/writing/guitar playing job in Austin, Texas at an amazing church called Shoreline.
I am not speaking in any hyperbole when I say that God has clearly and definitively called us to Austin to join this great staff at Shoreline and continue to bless the Church, both locally in Austin and nationally as we continue to write and record songs.
We cannot thank ya'll (getting used to that one!) enough for all your love and support and we know that God will continue to build his church as his servants are faithful to hear his voice and follow his calling!
If you want to stay updated on Mo Life, you have three options:
With GRACE and TRUTH,
Ty
We've moved five times in five years. And until now, we loved it. Not the actual moving part. That part stinks. But the change of scenery and new places has always excited us.
When we moved to LA in 2012, we really thought this was it. This was home. We loved the city more than we anticipated; both being from suburbia and all. But our perfect little corner apartment was our paradise for the last year and a half. (Minus the occasional cockroach sighting.)
We were happy. We were content. We were working hard. And then God moved something. My heart began to see LA as a fire in which we were about to be thrown. But not in the destructive way one might assume of a fire. Sure it's the city of broken dreams, and yes life is different here, but we fell in love with this cement jungle. This place became our refining fiery furnace.
We began to feel the permanence of our time here lifting and to be honest, we were freaking out. This is where we want to be. This is where we want to grow. These people are who we want to be our family. But God said no. Time and time again. So we prayed and fasted and looked for every reason to discount what was happening in the Mo Family.
But it became glaringly clear that our time here was coming to an end.
We had no idea what was next. We didn't have a "next move." But isn't that how God works sometimes?
He asks us to step forward when we're not exactly sure where we're going.
My mom use to say, "Honey, just do the next right thing. Even if it's putting the toothbrush back in the toothbrush holder."
One step at a time.
We've been stepping, one step at a time, for the last three months and the path we couldn't make out amidst the deep fog, was leading us to a beautiful place called Shoreline Church in Austin, Texas. Tyson and I will both be on staff in their worship department, working with an amazing team of creatives and leadership.
The story is one for the history books and I hope to write it someday, because trust me, it took nothing short of miraculous to get Ty to move to the country. If you've met him, you know there's nothing country about that boy. #andnowmycowboydreamscometrue
To the friends we've made here in LA, you helped us weather the storm, even though you didn't realize the severity of it. The late night book clubs, dinner parties on our front patio, the donut and Target runs, church every week and babysitting nights, those memories have been branded into our souls.
To the family and friends that supported us back at home, Ty said it all. You loved us through the crazy. And we love you back. Always.
We are different people than the two wide-eyed kids who drove down Sunset Blvd two years ago. We've not yet arrived, and we don't really ever want to. Because that means we stop moving.
And if we could sum up our time here in one sentence it'd be just that: We want to be where God wants us to be; even if it means always moving.
With love,
Jules
