Hey everyone! This is a life update on the Coker’s.
We have a big change coming into our lives by Christmas and we wanted to be able to share it with you all. I have just stepped into a new position as a long-term substitute at my kid’s school after being a stay-at-home mom for over eight years. I have been subbing as a Resource Teacher with the goal to help 3rd, 4th and 5th graders with their reading. I have LOVED this job and I have only been doing this for a week and a half. My husband works for a house flipping business and has been in this role for a little over a year. Prior to this job as COO he was working as a pastor at our church.
This past summer I asked Michael if he was happy and he told me that he was and he wondered why I was asking him this question. I asked because I could sense an unsettled wave within him and since taking this new role he has experienced high blood pressure that has not gone away. I could sense a rub but he said that he was happy so I said, “Great! But if you ever are not happy, do not feel like you have to work in this job forever. We will figure things out. I want you to be happy and healthy. I would rather be poor with you than rich and alone.”
At the end of October 2021 we went to the Ohio State game with some friends, two of which are the owners of the company Michael works for. We had a blast! We had lots of laughs, great food and great, competitive fun.
On Sunday, we went to First Watch for breakfast with our friends who are the owners. The men were discussing business and the prospect of moving a portion of the business to Columbus in order to expand in the next 3-4 years. Tyler, the owner and CEO, then asked me if I would rather move sooner or later. I responded by saying that I would rather move sooner or later and what I meant by that was “sooner” because in 3-4 years the girls would be in middle school. Pre-teen years are an awkward age with raging hormones and then to add moving away from school friends, church friends and not being near any family…their very foundation would be shaken. I understand God’s will is not always logical and if He asks us to move during middle school age then we would, but if we are planning things out then I would rather move sooner or later meaning after all our children graduate from high school.
Well, unbeknownst to me, Michael took those words around the breakfast table to heart. He came home from work on Friday, November 5th and told me he had been thinking of my “are you happy” question from the summer and he realized that he was not feeling settled. He told me that he had never felt more strongly that our time here in Charleston, WV was finished and that it was time to move back home to Dayton, OH. He felt and believed that it was time to go back to our hometown - our “huddle” - and regroup.
I said, “Can we find jobs first? It is not just the two of us anymore; we have kids now” (as if he did not already know this). He responded by saying that he did not think it would be too hard to find a job and that it was just time to go. We hashed it out and prayed fervently over the weekend.
On Sunday we had a guest speaker at our church. He taught us about stepping into the unknown. God had already been speaking to me on this topic prior to starting my job at the school. He also spoke about going and fighting for a new group of people. All that he was saying was confirming what we had been internalizing over the weekend. We had been trying to make our time in Charleston work after Michael left Southridge Church because we love the family we built within our friendships. We had given it our best effort by Michael volunteering with the worship ministry and me helping with women’s ministry and joining the speaking team. But it was like squeezing a puzzle piece into a place that it didn’t belong. Despite our effort, we could not make our time there feel right again. After church we sat in silence and knew our season in Charleston was complete.
We came home from church that day and asked each other, “Why did we come to Charleston?”
“To work at Southridge Church.”
“Now that we are done; why are we still here?” And with those two questions being answered we began taking steps to move.
On Monday at 10 am Michael would tell Tyler he is finished and I would tell the school that I would be wrapping up my time there as well. I called my mom bawling. Even when you know the call is to go, it does not make it easy, especially now knowing all of the goodbyes we would be making. My mom prayed with me after I wailed with her on the steps. She asked me what I was going to do before work and I told her I would read my Bible and pray.
I am in the book of Judges in the Bible so I did not believe that I would find any encouragement but I needed something to be consistent in my life with all of this change and “that something” could be my Bible study time. Samson is who I just read about and he was a horrible, barbaric man. I sat down in tears asking God to please speak to me and in the midst of Judges between the wars and deaths were these hopeful verses in Judges 18:5-6, “Inquire of God that we may know whether the mission we are undertaking will succeed.” The priest replied, “Go in peace. The mission you are on is under the eye of the LORD.”
“The land is broad-God has indeed given it into your hands-a place where there is no lack of anything on earth.” Judges 18:10
“They rebuilt the city, and lived in it.” Judges 18:28
I needed these very words in the depths of my deep sadness, fear and perplexity to know that this mission was indeed under the eyes of the LORD and He would indeed go with us and before us. I find myself scared at times as we prepare to place the house on the market not knowing where we will live or work. I then open these verses back up and remind myself that God is preparing a place for us even when we cannot see it. Please pray that God will open up the doors that He would have for us to walk through and that we would have the faith, stamina and obedience to follow through.
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