the nearness: Day 1 with Emily

Today we begin our interview with Emily, who is currently serving as a Grace church missionary in Edinburgh, Scotland with her husband and two children. She will tell us a little bit about her background and family. For more on her and her wonderful family, you can also check out her blog here...

MP: Tell us about where you were born and then where you grew up.
Emily: I was born in New Jersey, moved to Pennsylvania for a few years and then grew up in Northville, Michigan (just outside Detroit). I loved pretending to “live off the land” in my back yard and riding my bike downtown with friends for some candy from Grandma’s Sweets & Treats!

MP: When did you become a Christian?
Emily: My family started going to a gospel-preaching church when I was 10 years old. Soon after I heard the message of Christ dying for my sins to save me from hell I put my faith and trust in Christ.

MP: Where/when/how did you meet your husband? How did you get engaged?
Emily: Mikey and I met the 3rd day of our week of welcome at The Master’s College in 1997. But we didn’t get to know each other until a year and a half later when I started attending Northside Bible Study where he led worship. By the end of the year he asked me to co-lead a missions trip to Scotland. Over the next year as we met for team stuff and with bible study friends attraction blossomed. Our 6-week missions trip confirmed our desire to minister together “long-term.” Following the trip I went back to LA and started an MA in Biblical Counseling at Master’s and Mikey went to study in Israel for a semester. After the holidays we drove out to CA. We stopped at the home of friends outside San Antonio on our way. After a long walk we happened upon a picnic. We enjoyed one of my favorite meals and then sat down by a crackling fire. Mikey produced a blanket out of nowhere and after putting it over my shoulders got down on one knee. He asked me to marry him and then produced his guitar to sing a song he’d written, “Where To From Here.” He also gave me a leather book filled with all the reasons he wanted to marry me and EVERY detail of our relationship-what a treasure!

MP: How many children do you have? What has been the biggest blessing in motherhood? What are some things the Lord has taught you through your children?
Emily: The Lord has blessed us with two wee ones. Anna is an imaginative, motherly nearly 3-year old. Elijah is a smiley nearly one-year old. God has blessed me and taught me so much as He has revealed my heart through being a mother. I had long desired to be a mother and have found it much “harder” than I expected. Moments of exhaustion, impatience, frustration, and anger have been opportunities for me to see how prideful I am and how to become more daily, hourly, minutely dependent on my God! I have also found being able to communicate with my daughter to be amazing. Beginning to interact about the amazing world we live in and the God who created and sustains it all with my ever inquisitive daughter is truly a blessing I daily treasure!