Episode #29- Waiting patiently on the Lord for direction- Where are the Rogers going next?
Finding hope in the waiting is key. I want you to trust God and be able to find hope in your own season of waiting!
Admittedly as I write this I am on the other side of a season of waiting and uncertainty. Yet, I don’t want to forget how it felt to wait. Simply to brush past the important lessons God taught me in this past season.
I think it’s important to recall the details, over and over again. This is what the Bible does, which is why I read it over and over again. It’s the story of God’s people. How they went through extraordinary and everyday things. How they sometimes listened to God’s call and sometimes didn’t, and most importantly how God never abandoned them. In fact He made sure through the death and resurrection of His Son Jesus. By accepting Him as our Savior our own mistakes would never separate us from Him. Every time we open the pages of scripture we can be reminded of this.
It’s largely why I have a blog and a Podcast. Todays story of God’s faithfulness, I’m shouting from the roof tops, hoping it will encourage you in your own story. I want you to find hope in the waiting. To know deep in your soul that God is faithful, and He is exactly who He says He is!
What lessons can you learn while waiting?
Nobody likes waiting. In fact our society has all sorts of hacks to help you avoid it. God however doesn’t have the same disdain for it. His Word encourages us to “Wait on the Lord, and renew our strength”. Not as easy as it sounds. You can listen to the Podcast all the links are here, but if you prefer to read…
Here is our story:
On the day the world as we all knew it changed, we were in one of the sweetest seasons. My hubby was working as a Walt Disney Imagineer on a project for Disney California Adventure’s new, Avengers Campus.
He was doing overnights and I was staying on his schedule. Being up all night long I found it very peaceful and void of many distractions the daytime holds. While spending time with the Lord one of those nights, I had a strange feeling. I couldn’t help but feel like the world was about to change. Thankfully I didn’t understand exactly what that meant, if I had I would not have been able to handle it.
After Disney and the rest of the world shut down, God took such good care of us while we waited. Disney paid my hubby for a time while staying home. Followed by a furlough and they continued to pay for our health insurance. We got un employment which somehow stretched, and we never felt stressed.
After 6 months of furlough my hubby received a sad phone call (along with thousands of other Disney employees). They would be honoring my hubby’s contract and paying him out and covering insurance through the beginning of December. But he would not be returning to work as an Imagineer. His project was almost at opening and any project he would have done had been canceled.
We still had a steadying hope, despite our uncertain future. The entertainment industry would surely be the last one to come back.
Anytime we began to worry we recalled to mind all the other times God had come through for us. (You can read and hear about some here)
Our Florida Story
In early 2021 we got a phone call from a friend who lives in Florida. He asked if my hubby wanted to come out and try to do handy man work there. I wondered if this was God? My hubby didn’t want to be a handy man, but something about going to Florida stuck with me.
I sat at my dining room table one morning while having a chat with the Lord. Out loud said, “Lord, if you want us to go to Florida, we are going to need a bigger sign”. Not long after my request for clarity my hubby received a text. This time a different friend who also lives in Florida. He ran into the head of rigging at the Convention Center in Orlando. They needed riggers and were hiring.
This was definitely something he could do and caught our attention. He called and found out it was an on call position. He would need to have an interview and go through a class to determine his pay rate. They said to let them know when he would be in town for the interview.
We asked, God answered but it wasn’t so cut and dry. But I have to say even those little direct answers to our prayers were little bursts of hope. We knew God was doing something, just weren’t so sure what or when. We continued to live out our days, praying for clarity and once again waiting.
Towards the middle of May we got another call from our Florida friend (the first one). Asking if we could house and dog sit for a month. He needed to fly to Thailand to be with his ailing Father. We flew to Florida in a matter of a couple days. We were fully thinking this was God moving our “Florida” story along.
While staying there hubby interviewed and got hired. Yet again we found ourselves waiting for his orientation and class so he could start working. It didn’t come. We boarded our flight back to California in early July.
While on my Birthday trip to Magnolia and Austin TX (you can read about it here) . Hubby got a call the an orientation would be in late July, so we booked him a round trip ticket.
At his orientation he ran into a friend of ours. We had done an acrobatic show called Cirque de la Mer with him more than 20 years ago. He happened to be a supervisor for the rigging department and is also a believer. This felt like confirmation and gave us hope we were headed in the right direction.
Once his orientation was done we had to wait once again for the class to be scheduled.
A foreshadowing
We continued to do the next right thing, while waiting for the other thing. We made a trip up to Paso Robles, Ca where my hubby grew up. My In Laws still live there and needed some help on the farm.
One day I came into town to do some work on the Podcast at Starbucks. Right before I got out of the car the Lord distinctly said “Mom might need help”. I knew immediately it wasn’t my Mom. My Father In Law has several health struggles. He’s on kidney dialysis 4 times a day at home, my Mother In Law is overwhelmed to say the least.
I took a breath and said out loud, “Lord, I will move here. You are going to have to get Kev a job with the Daniels if you want him to come here”. Tapping the steering wheel, I got out of the car and went into Starbucks.
Also, I did not mention this to my hubby….yet
Who are the Daniels you ask?
The Daniels are twin brothers my hubby went to school with since 6th grade and graduated high school with. They have a company that builds themed treehouses and shooting galleries. They also had a TV show called “Redwood Kings” on animal planet.
At their 20 year high school reunion we won a tiki bench(pictured above) in a raffle. John Daniels (center) had carved it with a chain saw. They invited us to visit their shop and pick up the bench the next day.
My hubby kept saying, ” I want to work here”. over and over again. They kept saying, “great, come work with us”. To which my hubby would reply, “Except, I will never move back to Paso”. That was 11 years ago.
That being said my hubby loves these guys and since that day it’s always been in his mind. I knew a job with them would be the only way he would ever consider moving back home.
Back to Florida
My hubby takes his class and gets a decent pay rate. (The first part of this episode was recorded while he was taking the class). Spoiler alert, again we wait because there are no hours to give him. We now no longer have un employment, but are hopeful still. Some odd jobs are popping up, but Florida still seems to be the only thing in our path.
We fly back to Florida to help our friend renovate his Air B&B.
While there we get together with our friend Mike (from the convention center and acrobatic work). He asks what we are up to? We tell him how it’s hard to pull the trigger to move. Since the convention center is on call work.
Mike tells us the work is about to pick up at the convention center and he has a solution. He was about to go on a 6 month to a year contract out of the country. He bought a house and needed someone to live there!
We can’t deny that this was totally God, and it helped us with finding hope in the waiting.
New wheels
We would be leaving our stuff and car in our house in LA. We realized we would need a vehicle while in Florida. I call my brother Dakota who is a car salesman at a Ford Dealership in Tennessee. I tell him we want the Ford, Bronco in area 51 blue, and he recommends a trim package.
He tells me it will have to be ordered and will take at least two months. They are in such high demand, so he sends me the website link to build and order it.
Knowing we need a car soon. Trusting that God had orchestrated everything else I say to him, “Or God will just deliver it to your dealership”.
He is a believer too, but chuckles and tells me they aren’t really delivering them right now. About 20 min later he calls me back. Saying, “Nine, (that’s my nickname) they are delivering the exact one you want to my dealership on December 1st!”.
Won’t God do it!
I put a deposit down, it even arrived early! We found $27 tickets to Nashville from Orlando for Black Friday. We flew out to pick it up and drive back to Florida!
Why God brought us to Florida
Mike was correct and work was picking up at the convention center. My hubby was setting up for the IAAPA convention, he noticed the Daniels Wood Land booth. He takes a pic and shoots them a text. They said to come by and say hi when they arrive.
On November 17, I drop hubby at the convention center to pop in to say hi. They update him on all the new cool things they are doing including a ride in Monterey Bay. My hubby tells them, “I want in”. When he gets back in the car he tells me all about it. I still don’t mention what God told me back in the summer.
A couple weeks later he gets a text from Ron the brother who handles the money side of things. Asking if he was serious about wanting in, my hubby answers yes.
The following weeks are scattered with questions being texted then waiting. Like what he wants to do for them and what his salary requirement is.
I now mention what God had told me months prior and what I told God.
Then we don’t hear anything. It’s now Christmas and New Years, we are clinging to hope while we wait. I”m sure hearing the story now it seems pretty clear, it felt foggy at the time.
On January 7 2022, we buy Florida resident Disney World passes. Enjoying life is one way to find hope in your waiting. We head into Epcot, our favorite park.
We get a virtual spot at the end of the day to ride the new Ratatouille ride. We get off the ride my hubby had a missed call from Joh Daniels. He is the brother who handles all of the creative side of things. The message was asking if Kev could come out to Ca to help them out, and be a project manager. My hubby calls back and he gets the details, and tells him he is interested. John says Ron will call with all the money details.
Then we don’t hear anything for 38 days. We had to remind ourselves that God hadn’t failed us yet. If this was His will, it wouldn’t be stopped. We had hope filled moments, mixed with feelings of wondering if we missed a step.
Finally on February 18, they send my hubby a link to apply for the position on Indeed. The following week is filled with phone calls and lots of prayer on our part. Then on February 25 an official interview, followed an hour later by an offer!
California here we come, right back where we started from
We decide it’s important to get out to California pretty quickly. We spend a couple days in the Disney Parks and a couple days tying up loose ends.
Because my hubby’s job in Florida was on call it was very easy to leave. Our friend Mike of course was happy for us to have such a great opportunity and direction from the Lord!
We packed up our 5 suitcases in our new Bronco and drove back to Ca.
Since the recording of this Podcast, we have moved most of our stuff into our new apartment in Paso Robles. Hubby is settling into his new position at Daniels Wood Land. He has a slew of projects I’m not even allowed to talk about for theme parks across the country. I’m loving making our new apartment our home. I can’t wait to get to know and explore more of our new city!
How can you find hope in your waiting?
It’s been a long season of waiting for us, God was still working in the waiting, I’m sure of it. The waiting and praying made us more sure of making a decision.
God spoke something to my heart while we were still in Florida:
There will always be something else to wait for, even after you get an answer to this thing.
As I sit in our new apartment, partially unpacked. I had to take a break to write this blog post, I took a breath. I reminded myself we will always have things that are un finished and have to wait to do. Really until heaven we will also be unfinished.
Remember to live life while you wait, don’t allow the distraction of the unanswered steal your joy and hope.
I hope our story will give you hope and remind you, God is writing a beautiful story for you. If you surrender to His will. It may not always be comfortable or clear, you will walk through seasons of waiting. But it will be the greatest adventure, and hope and peace will well up inside you.
But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.
Isaiah 40:31
Contact and Music
Follow and interact with Caroline on social platforms at:
Instagram: @marriedrogersneighborhood
Facebook: @marriedrogersneighborhood
Twitter: @marriedrogers
Clubhouse: @marriedrogers
YouTube Channel: Married Rogers Neighborhood
You can subscribe to receive and email newsletter keeping you informed of coming content.
(We promise not to spam you)
Podcast Music Composed and performed by Jamie Miller
If you would like more information on Jamie’s Song Writing and performing services you can ask Caroline on any of the above platforms listed for her official contact info.
