In His Time (Our New Location)

      I read a phrase recently in my daily devotional and it's just kind of stuck with me. It said "God dwells outside of time. His purposes surpass our plans." Timing has never been my forte. I'm late pretty much everywhere I go, most nights I go to bed around 1:30 am (which is terrible timing when I have to be up 5 hours later), and I all too often say or do the wrong things at the wrong time and am just left feeling socially awkward. But thank goodness we have a God who has "made everything appropriate in its time" (Ecclesiastes 3:11). And thank goodness it's not up to me and my timing because that'd just be a disaster for everyone. I know this in my head and in my heart, but man I still struggle in my flesh constantly with wanting things to be done and carried out according to my timetable and my plans.
     Jordan and I moved to Brooklyn the beginning of June 2016. We found our apartment in July of 2016. It took 2 full months to work out all the negotiations before we even had a signed contract in hand saying the apartment would eventually be ours. And then even after the signed contract it would still be a full 3 months before we could close, get the keys, and begin moving in. That was definitely not in my time. But at least it would still be a couple months before having a baby so we would have time to get moved in and somewhat settled before our lives were forever changed with the addition of a new baby right?! Then said baby decides to come 2 months early. Definitely not in my time either. So Jordan and I and our 2 kids moved into Brady Court in January of 2017. It is a co-op so we had to be interviewed before moving in and we had done that interview sometime in the Fall of 2016. We told the board during our interview that we were starting a church and we will forever remember their response of excitement and anticipation as they described plans to renovate a store front owned by the co-op and get it ready to lease out to some sort of organization who wants to reach our neighborhood/community and do some good for the people (such a God ordained open door and one that Jordan and I could not have even fathomed on our own). We left our interview with the board feeling super excited, expectant, and eager just to move in to the Pelham Parkway community and get going with the vision God had laid on our hearts. The facility should be done around early Fall 2017. Fall 2017 comes and goes. Now the facility should be done by year end. Then 2017 rolls into 2018, along with the big bomb cyclone snowstorms and still no completed facility. Talks turn to spring 2018, then summer 2018, then finally we have a date of September 1st that the facility should be completed. What a waiting game, or I guess I should say lesson in trusting this time has been.

     In the meantime we had to find some place for this small family of God to start gathering and we are just so very thankful for Michael Simmons and Full Element Martial Arts (www.fullelementkarate.com). He graciously allowed us to meet on Sundays for our services for over a year and even recently allowed us to use the facility for movie nights to reach out to families in our community. If you are in the NYC area and looking for a martial arts school go see him, they're the best! They have classes for all ages. However, in God's own timing this past Sunday we had our very first service in the newly renovated community center that is owned by our apartment complex! All praise and glory go to God because He is making all things new in His time. This church planting journey has been such a lesson in waiting, patience, and trust. Most of the time it's so hard to see the big picture of what God is doing here and I get so wrapped up in the day to day chaos, pressures, and demands that I have trouble keeping the doubts and fears away. BUT when I look back to January of last year when our family moved to the Bronx and knew absolutely no one and then to this past Sunday when we had 25 people gathered together to worship our Savior and Lord I'm humbled and so grateful that God would allow us to join Him on this journey.

     However, we still have a long way to go with this new space. It's basically a big concrete box and there are definitely some kinks we need to work out. Sound was all over the place, it was loud, everything echoed, kids area needs some big and creative ideas to work well; but we are believing God that all will come together in His time. By the way if you or your church want to help provide for Everlasting Church please contact us at jordansauceda@hotmail.com! There is quite a bit we are asking the Lord to provide for us so that might just be through YOU. 😁 We are praising the Lord though that we can now eat and break bread together at church and let me tell you we did that on Sunday with a ton of donuts (shout out to the Dence family)! Our church family can now have communion together. The Lord's supper is such a sacred and worshipful time, and it's something our church family has not done at all since we started meeting together (there is no food allowed on karate mats). So we are making plans to do that in the very near future. We can have fellowships and holiday meals and movie nights with popcorn and hotdogs! Maybe we will even have a potluck fellowship with casseroles and pimento cheese sandwiches, because honestly when I think of my days growing up in church no church meal was complete without the pimento cheese sandwiches.

     Y'all we obviously don't know all the "whys" behind God's plans and purposes for our lives. And when God chooses to delay things or just work on a different schedule than what I think should happen, I am still so guilty of living according to the flesh. I give in to my anxiety and stress and all the "what ifs". So while I'm talking about God's timing I must include a little bit about our friends Gabe, Lexi, and Jael Dence. They are in the midst of trusting in God's timing and I am convinced we have the best prayer warriors and prayer support so I want you guys to know specifically how you can be praying. Would you be praying for them to find a place to live near us in Pelham Parkway? They are still currently in the same temporary housing that Jordan, Maria, and my pregnant self moved into in Brooklyn. They have had several leads on apartments but none of them have worked out, so they're back at square one. Most of you probably don't remember all the Facebook live videos we did back then, but as the 6 months wore on that we lived there we definitely got crazier and the walls began closing in and all 3 of us went a little nuts. When you are putting your kid to bed and then the bathroom becomes your spare room where you eat dinner/try to relax/whatever, it just becomes depressing after awhile. So we are all trying to figure out God's timing on this and it's getting discouraging for them and us as well because they are not here with us to do ministry during the week. Look at this picture below....they are the sweetest family and a huge answer to prayer to come serve alongside us. But now we need them actually here in the Bronx with us. Please pray for that to happen soon!

     Isaiah is one of my favorite books in the Bible so I'll leave you with Isaiah 43:19 which says "Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert." God is definitely doing a new thing right here in the middle of the Bronx. Side note: I don't think I've ever heard the song Nu Thang by DC Talk but Jordan's been singing it lately and it's kind of become my jam. Listen to it at Nu Thang and just try not to dance. Anyway, look at the pictures below to see what our new church facility looked like in the past, compared to what it looks like now. God is on the move and all glory goes to Him! Sometimes the Bronx feels like the wilderness to me compared to Owasso, Oklahoma where I grew up. But we believe God will make a way right here. Please pray for Jesus - "THE WAY" - to be made known through this new facility and people to come to know him. Thank you for reading, thank you for praying, and thank you for loving us and our Everlasting Church family!