The Winds of Change - Following God's Direction

God has been speaking to us quite a lot since our return to South Africa 4 months ago. And while we don't always understand His direction, we do trust in His mighty plan. 

We returned to our home in South Africa in January excited and glad to be back. Our furlough was a wonderful time to catch up with friends and family, and to promote The Fold. But we missed our 15 Fold kiddos, Paul and Micky, our apartment, and just our life here in general, plus adjusting to America again was hard.

About a month after our return here I began to hear God whispering that our chapter here was done. That He has another plan. We've experienced this before several years ago on our journey to the mission field and it is confusing. We have plans for The Fold, hopes and dreams. Yet God continued to assure me that change was coming. About a month later, we were in Durban. Trying to refresh after a very busy furlough and get back into the groove of African life. One day while sitting on the beach, God spoke to me as I watched my family play in the sand and waves. He told me this was our only family trip in Africa and to make most of it. Again, utter confusion. I began to pray fervently, very much believing this could be Satan at work.

A couple of weeks later, just as our situation several years ago, I sat down with Adam for dinner while Ethan and Caeley were at youth group and found that we had been having the same promptings from the Lord. What could they mean? This chapter finished? We had no desire to return to life as it was, and no desire to leave here. But that night, God said trust me, and He gave us peace. A peace we have only experienced 2 other times in our lives. When He redirected our missions path several years ago, and when he sent us here to The Fold. We had no direction, no timing, no comprehension of what God had in store. Maybe a change in our roles here? Maybe a different ministry focus in this area? Maybe we wouldn't know for years. So we waited and we prayed and we went to scripture. But we kept living life as normal.

The last few months we have had quite a bit of crime in our area. Text messages warning us about axe murderers on our road. Rapists that could be headed our direction on our road. Lots of trespassers on our property at night. And the people, strangers, in the nearby towns are even looking at us differently than ever before. Looks that seem say they want us dead. An American friend and I were together last Saturday, and she began to describe this happening with her family. They are here 6 months a year and just returned in December. They have never dealt with this in the past. Neither had we.

We were scared. The crimes that are being committed are urged by the government. Things were holding together better when Nelson Mandela was alive, but as soon as He died, some of the people were glad to no longer honor him with his wishes for harmony. Many do not want white people here, owning their land, effecting the economy they think they would like to have. We are considered farmers, because we live on a farm (large parcel of land in the bush). The crimes that are happening are hate crimes against farmers. Horrendous acts meant to hurt, destroy, dehumanize, and kill white people.

What does this mean for us? Certainly God calls people to live in and serve Him in dangerous places. But does this match up with God's promptings for us the past couple of months? Adam has had the most stress of his life as he has been dealing with his responsibility of protecting us, his family. He has spent a lot of time in prayer and reading scripture. God began to give him direction that moving us back to the states was His way of protecting us at this time.

Adam was still unsure, and continued to seek God's divine wisdom and direction. And God continued to confirm His direction for us. We sat down with our kids and began to share with them everything that God had put on our hearts. We found out that they both had been feeling like God was preparing them to return to the states the last couple of months. They didn't understand it, and hadn't talked to us about it, but had confided in one another. Ethan shared with me that God told him in Durban that our time there would be our only trip like that here. The same thing He told me. We all four prayed and continued to seek God. He gave Adam Proverbs 2:1-11. And that same day, as I began a study of Making Wise Choices and Following God's Direction, He gave me the exact same scripture:

1 My son, if you accept my words
    and store up my commands within
   you,
2 turning your ear to wisdom
    and applying your heart to
    understanding—
3 indeed, if you call out for insight
    and cry aloud for understanding,
4 and if you look for it as for silver
    and search for it as for hidden
   treasure,
5 then you will understand the fear of the
    Lord
    and find the knowledge of God.
6 For the Lord gives wisdom;
    from his mouth come knowledge and
    understanding.
7 He holds success in store for the
    upright,
    he is a shield to those whose walk is
    blameless,
8 for he guards the course of the just
    and protects the way of his faithful
    ones.
9 Then you will understand what is right
    and just
    and fair—every good path.
10 For wisdom will enter your heart,
    and knowledge will be pleasant to
    your soul.
11 Discretion will protect you,
     and understanding will guard you.

We have been consulting with a couple of our friends/mentors through this process and I just now received this verse from one of them:

God is to us a God of deliverances; And to God the Lord belongs escape from death.
Psalm 68:20

God has given us an urgency to obey Him now. To use the wisdom and discernment to honor Him in closing this chapter at this time and returning to the states. We don't know why exactly, or what His purpose was for our time here - how He's going to use it (although it has been incredibly impactful, and we have been drawn so close to him through this experience, and we are so grateful for this time we have had to shine the LIGHT and share so much love with these children), or at all what is next. But we know that we serve an Almighty God, a Father that knows so much better than us. So we trust him.

We place it all in His hands, as our utmost desire is serve Him and be walking in His will, whether that is in South Africa or Indiana, or who knows where. Thankfully our Father does!

While safety can be an issue here, it is not our reason for leaving, our reason for leaving is obedience to God's direction, and He is telling us that this is how He is choosing to protect us amidst the violence. Does that mean that people should not be missionaries in South Africa? Absolutely not. We believe that God calls people to live and minister in places all over the world that aren't "safe", but we also believe that the safest place to be is in God's will!

Paul and Micky will be continuing on. And we are praying for the people God calls to work with them. It is a wonderful ministry and we trust and know that God is even more in love with it than we are, and He will provide.

If you have questions for us, please ask. We are a bit in shock with this veer off the path we were on, but we are at peace.
We will be leaving South Africa this coming Friday, arriving in the states on Saturday, May 9th.

There is a fully furnished apartment in Greencastle that has been graciously offered to us for the next 3 months, and Adam has a job interview in 2 weeks. But beyond that....we are unsure. We trust that God knows what is best and that He will provide for us as we resettle in the US at this time. Resettling will be quite a task as we sold most of our belongings, all of our furniture, and our vehicles before we moved. If you are interested in helping us financially as we "get back on our feet," CTEN will continue to handle donations for us for the next 3 months, which should be through August. You can find our CTEN page at www.cten.org/adamhayes.

Please keep us in your prayers as we mourn the closing of this chapter, and as we step into what God has in store for us next.

With big thanks in advance for your prayers,
Adam, Jennifer, Ethan, and Caeley Hayes