a new home...getting closer

      We are about to head to our church this morning. They have asked us to share briefly about Destino and what will entail once we move out to Denver in about a week. It's starting to settle in that we could be traveling across the country in 7 days, the Lord permitting. We LOVE our church family at FBCK...although we have only really been going there for a few months, we know it's our church family here in Knoxville. The Lord so graciously provided it after having to both leave our church homes as singles.  **WOW! It's POURING rain outside, and I haven't heard the sound of thunder it a very long time! Sorry...easily distracted** We guess this will be our last time at church here for a while, but the Body of Christ will always be there wherever we go.
     The McLaughlin's are technically done with our support raising here in Knoxville! We are doing some follow up and tying up of loose ends before we leave, and will hopefully be approved to leave next Wednesday! Please be praying that God will allow for that to happen so we can get on the road.
    As we have looked back on the past few months, God has really gone before us into everything- preparing for us all that we have needed. The oddest situations, relationships, and what we would originally would have seen as "roadblocks", have truly been the greatest blessings that He could have given us.
      We stumbled upon yet another yesterday. As most of you know, we have been planning to live at our Director's condo in Denver while they attempt to sell it. It has been a long road for them in that process, and have had little luck trying to sell it. Our hopes was to have a place to stay while also helping them out with rent, since they recently bought a house not too far away. Our director called us yesterday and told us they had sold the condo early that morning! How amazing! What a burden lifted off their shoulders in the midst of a crazy year. We were so excited for them, but also were fighting to drift into panic mode as we needed to quickly find a place to live. We KNOW the Lord is preparing something great for us in Denver, something that only He knows about and will bring Him the most glory. We will be looking for apartments all this week online in hopes of looking at them once we get there in a week or so. Please be praying for us as we continue that process! And praise God for taking care of the Stewarts in this way. ( For those of you moms who are stressing out about us finding a place to live: they have truly gone to great lengths to take care of us, and the Stewarts are going to let us keep our things with them until we find a place. we are so thankful!)
    That's all for now. We are now off to our sweet church to be with family. A busy week ahead of  preparing to leave. He is faithful to accomplish what He has promised.

A & K

Austin's First Post...A little more bio than blog...

Well, this is the first time that I, Austin, will be posting on the McLaughlin family blog. As you may have read on Kayla's last post, we are going through a large transition at this time. I would be lying if I said it was not really impacting me. In a lot of ways I have numbed myself to the simple idea that we are actually leaving Knoxville in a week or two, because let's be real, this place means a lot to me.

For those of you that do not know me, within two weeks of moving to Knoxville, I trusted Christ as my Savior, and began my walk with Him. It has been quite a journey, one that has led me all over the world from places like Sweden, Senegal and even North Carolina, and now to Denver. These last 4 years and 4ish months have been quite an adventure. One that is full of tales, and one that will not end until I go to my final Home in Heaven to be with Jesus, my Savior, for eternity.


So, as you can imagine, Knoxville has a very special place in my heart. Saying goodbye, though it is only a temporary one, is extremely difficult. If there is one thing that I want to say about Knoxville it is that this city is a testament to the Lord's faithfulness in my life.

During my time at the University of Tennessee (UT), I began to rock climb. UT has a gym that I climbed at very regularly throughout my school years, and after. As the Lord grew me, and opened my eyes to human's need for Christ as in Matthew 9:36,  speaking of Jesus "Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd." Our pastor said something that made this passage very clear, he said, "sheep without a shepherd are as good as dead." Jesus saw these people, He felt compassion for them! Jesus showed me his compassion for the people in the climbing community at UT. Many of them are like sheep without a shepherd.

So, the Lord led me to pray. For a year and a half I prayed about how to reach students in the climbing community. Then the spring semester of my Junior year, doors opened and I began a bible study specifically for Climbing men! Then as my college career ended, I began to pray for someone to lead the bible study after me, and asked my small group at church to join me. Now two of the men from my bible study are leading the study! And, the Lord is doing amazing things through their ministry!

Well, that is a little more about me than I was intending to talk about. I hope though that through this post you have been able to connect with the Lord as the One who answers prayers!

Love you all, and if you have anything you would like for Kayla or I to pray for send us a comment, email, text, phone call, whatever!

-Austin

family

Austin and I are learning a good deal about family. Mostly how to cherish them. And surrender them to the Lord. We had a GREAT weekend with my aunt and cousins, mixed in with some significant time with grandparents and other family. I know that God sovereignly allowed for that time right before we leave. It will be difficult watching all of their lives from far away, especially the kids. I know they will be involved in our life in many ways, but it's hard to think about gaps of distance turning from days to months, and perhaps years. I would rather not deal with that reality.

I am constantly being reminded of Henry Cloud-isms in this stage of life. You know, boundaries...bonding...becoming an adult. It would be so easy to take on the emotional weight of everyone's opinions of our leaving. I want to bear the burden of the sadness and confusion, and protect them from the pain that "I am causing them." I know all of those thoughts are not true. I need boundaries in relationships, to let them feel and learn to let those emotions lead them to growth and trust in Jesus. I have a notion that I will be learning to surrender many relationships over the next few years.

Austin has mentioned lately his sadness in leaving Knoxville, saying that this is truly where he identifies as being his home now. Of course, he has left a home before to travel across the country, but he says it is all very different now. This is his spiritual family...and the first time he has really connected with a family like mine. It has made him appreciate his own family in new ways, and miss them all the more.

Pretty soon we will both pack up our bins of clothes, and pack it away with all the other boxes in the storage unit we have waiting for us. We are so close to being finished; tying up loose ends around here and finishing up our last push of the initial support raising. [we are currently at about 98% promised support of our goal]

Although our excitement is quickly turning to mixed emotions, how can not be grateful? God has gone before us in everything, and though we may have seen certain circumstances or events as a roadblock, God has turned them out for good. We are so thankful. God puts the lonely in families. always. We will always have a home where there are people following Christ.

"We will climb this mountain, with our hands wide open..."

Lyrics to a song that is quickly becoming our anthem. United Pursuit Band, many of you are probably familiar with, came out with this song on a live album they produced last year- and has grounded us over the past few weeks.

"I'll lean not on my own understanding,
my life is in the hands of the Maker of Heaven...
I'll give it all to you God, trusting that You'll make something Beautiful out of me.

I will climb this mountain with my hands wide open..."

Thanks UPB for allowing the Lord to set a vision before us through your community of worship.
It is now Friday night, and we are still trusting the Lord to bring in the last bit of our financial support. We will keep you updated as He provides...( and He always does).

In the process, we will climb the mountain that God has set before us according to His strength and ability- with our hands wide open to His promises and presence. Come with us!

Jehovah Jireh

Our Provider...

wow. Here we are, some 7 months after joining staff and having our world flipped upside down. Hearing the call to Denver, Colorado to work with Latino college students was a distant dream back in July. Now, the day it becomes a reality is rapidly approaching. We began praying last week to be finished with our initial support raising process by Friday (yes, tomorrow). We sensed God drawing us toward a date that we would pray for His provision to be accomplished by, and that day was tomorrow. The Lord has been our truth this week, communicating and affirming His promises to us despite our drastically inconsistent emotions. He continues to press into us His steadfast love and faithfulness, as He "binds it around our necks, writing them on the tablets of our hearts." He will provide. We can see the finish line. Only 3-4 percent left to raise, and we will be calling U-Haul hoping for the cheapest rate for a cross-country haul. ;)

We are so thankful that the Lord has been building this house (both of spiritual and financial depth). He will not allow for us to work in vain as long as He is holding the hammer. Our foundation is the Rock, Jesus. Praise Him for being the cornerstone that we will always look to and find our stability.

Let me speak some of the words of our Rock over you, as He has done for me over the past few days...

"When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dreamed.
Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy;
then they said among the nations,
"The LORD has done great things for them."
The Lord has done great things for us; we are glad! " [ psalm 126:1-3]

"Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain..." [ Psalm 127:1]

and the verses that He constantly brings me back to,

"Thus says the LORD,
Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength,
whose heart turns away from the LORD.
He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come.
He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land.

Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD.
He is like a stream planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream,
and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit....

The heart is decietful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
' I, the Lord, search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways,
according to the fruit of his deeds.' "  [jeremiah 17: 5-8]


Our hearts will fail us, giving way to not trusting in the Rock as the provider, but the Lord is the strength of our heart and our portion forever. I am so thankful to be journeying with Jesus in this, and with my sweet husband. We pray that God will continue to teach us as he has in this process. We know He will.

Pray for us over the next few days as we trust God to raise the last bit of support and then head to Denver to see what He has prepared.

A&K