For years I have longed for and dreamed a lot of semi-vague visions that coalesced somewhere around farming, stewardship, and nature. Gathering and producing good food from the earth for people, and gathering and producing good people for Earth. ‘The Farm’ has always felt like a call on my life. I was never sure quite how, or if, it would manifest, and with the complicating factor of an international marriage, even an idea of which hemisphere it would be in felt unclear.
The biggest hurdle felt like the cost of land, totally unaffordable for us. The next biggest hurdle was the difficulty of choosing where to settle as a family with extended family on both sides of the globe. Any choice was going to be painful, and it always felt like either my wife or I would ‘lose’ if the other got to settle in their home country.
In early 2023 I remember having long conversations with my family that essentially boiled down to the conclusion that land was so unaffordable in Scotland that it would be impossible to buy, and that even buying in Australia would take years of saving and probably a loan to make work. We recognised that buying farm land was unrealistic, and I genuinely resigned myself to approximately 10 years of saving a deposit for land in Australia, or a miracle of land, likely in Australia. I was admittedly excited about the Australia part.
We still talked about it, and hoped about it, but we started praying more for short-term plans rather than continuing to look to the vision of ‘The Farm’.
Only a few months later, a real possibility popped up in the north of Scotland, with the finances sorted, seemingly out of nowhere. I distinctly remember my immediate thought was ‘please don’t make me move there’. I started praying in earnest, mostly that it wouldn’t happen so that I could eventually move back to Australia. But I still felt a real sense of calling, and a duty of obedience to trust and follow God where He led, especially if it was exactly the vision and desire that I had, except not in the country I’d prefer.
So we said ‘let's look at’, and I prayed and resolved not to shut the door on the idea before God did. And honestly, a door hasn’t been more open in my whole life.
So we bought a 65 acre croft in Ardvannie. We bought ‘The Farm’.
The theme of struggling to emotionally leave my home country and go where I’m guided has continued, and I’ve been really blessed by our God, who has been compassionate and patient and kind with me as I’ve worked through that, and I’ve been blessed by Re:Hope church and its prayer ministry support in the same way.
I feel buoyed up and confident, walking in a faith that has been met at every turn by a God who has consistently provided more abundantly than I ever imagined or hoped for.
Jamie Sweet
Re:Hope Southside
Are you open to God answering prayers from this season in ways you might not expect? Commit to keeping your eyes open to answers, ready to follow and obey wherever God may lead.
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