My girlfriends and I were paddle boarding out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The sun was coming up over Mount Hualalai and the ocean was calm as we struck our paddles deep into the blue waters. 

With curiosity in her voice one friend asked me, “Kara what’s your plans now that you are done staffing the Family DTS?” 

Confidently I responded, “Well I’m not exactly sure since God only told us to come back to Kona to do three things and this last Family DTS was the completion of that. But whatever it is I know we will be doing it here in Kona since we are part owners of our home.” 

A few days later I was getting ready for the day and Bruce randomly mentioned that the city Pensacola kept being put on his heart. I looked at him cockeyed and shrugged. Didn’t understand why Pensacola was in his head, I was completely content where we were currently living. 

A couple weeks later friends of ours, who were the ones to launch Family DTS in Kona, were visiting from Arkansas (which is where they now lived). They shared their visions of launching a new YWAM Campus. It sounded intriguing but again I felt content right where we were. 

Only a few short weeks later the people we bought our house with told us they believed it was time to sell our home because they felt led to move to American Samoa to help pastors. 

Shock flooded over me as I looked around our home we had only owned for a year. I wasn’t ready to leave, why did we have to go?  Yet it was clear they felt it was time to sell. Since we were only 35% owners and the bank owned the majority of that there was no way we could buy them out. Then as we prayed we were reminded God had said to do ONLY three things when we came back to Kona and we had done them. 

All this time Bruce kept having the city Pensacola percolating in his heart but it didn’t make sense. There was no YWAM presence there or clarity to why we would even consider going there. So in my mind Pensacola was not an option.

We continued to pray and through a variety of events we decided that God was opening the doors for us to head to Arkansas to help them launch a YWAM campus. And before even leaving Kona God put the desire to launch a hybrid school/co-op in Arkansas in my heart (click here for details). 

So for me the City “Pensacola” got put on the shelf. Yet over the next several months Bruce continued to hear the Word “Pensacola”. So much so that we decided we should go there for a mini getaway when my mom was visiting in 2022. 

As I researched the area I soon realized there was a small beach named Bruce Beach and just a few yards away there was another Beach called Sanders Beach. Two beaches side by side (Bruce Sanders). Hmmmm that was interesting but still nothing else jumped out at me. I still had absolutely no understanding why Bruce kept hearing Pensacola.

Life continued on. We were invested in YWAM Oak Haven but also realized our passion to have a huge family focus ministry with multiple other YWAM Families wasn’t going to materialize in the near future. What was God doing? What were we to do? 

Over and over again Bruce continued to get “Pensacola” and I was hearing crickets. It was so strange. Never have we not heard the same thing about the next location. Time continued on and the intensity of what Bruce was hearing was building. The Lord even began to give him download after download of specific things we were to do in Pensacola and that we were to make it our launching pad. And it was to be a place we were to call home long term (click here).

The tension was building and I was not understanding why he was getting so much and I was getting absolutely nothing. It was mind blowing and frustrating. Finally I began researching trying to figure out if perhaps the Lord just meant Florida. I found a ministry that seemed very interesting in West Palm Beach. In January 2024 Bruce and I went to visit that ministry. 

As we were there we both took a Jesus day and spent time seeking His face. My mind was swirling but the main thing I heard was that my husband was hearing correctly. What did that mean? Were we to move to be a part of the ministry in West Palm Beach or trust that the Lord was going to unfold something in Pensacola? 

We arrived back to Arkansas the night before I was to help lead their DTS. That first few days we had an incredible speaker, Dan Baumann, share. I’ve heard many of his stories multiple times before but one of the stories resonated so deeply and as he shared the Lord spoke to my heart. 

“Kara, I told your husband Pensacola not just Florida.”

It was such a strong statement that I drew my breath in and knew I had just heard the Lord clearly. 

After class I came home and told my husband what had happened. He was thrilled. Finally after two and a half years we were on the same page!!

Now it was all about timing. When did the Lord want us to go? I had made a commitment to staff the DTS in Arkansas and we had hoped to go on outreach. But we had to be out of our home by the end of April (our landlord wanted to put his house back as an airbnb). So what were we to do with all our stuff? Agh, stuff. 

A couple weeks into the DTS and our outreach plans took a sharp turn. One of Bruce’s doctors said there was a new surgery with a specialist being in Florida. The thought of Bruce being able to go the entire day without pain and not having to be on any medication made my heart leap for joy. 

It seemed that timing was of the essence since the doctor said it would be easiest and best if we were in Florida when the surgery took place. And the fact that we needed to be out of our place by the end of April made us start looking at homes in Pensacola. I still did not completely understand what was going to unfold in Pensacola but as we continue to walk out in faith peace has began to surround me and a deep confidence that things are going to unfold has birthed. 

A week later Esperanza and I were looking at houses in Pensacola. We found one and asked our relator to go check it out for us (the realtor we had met over a year and a half prior while we were in Pensacola in 2022). It seemed like a perfect fit for us. We all prayed and felt to put out a fleece by putting in an offer. The offer we put in most people would have never even entertained but with bold confidence from our previous house purchase experience (click here to read) we moved forward. Knowing that if it was the Lord it would all work out because God knew how much we could afford and exactly where we were to put down roots when we arrived. 

The owners agreed to 99% of our requests. We were once again in shock as our lender expressed that she had done around 300 loans and never had someone asked for so much and the owner had agreed. We knew God was saying He was in this especially since while we were in Arkansas we had tried to purchase multiple different homes and all of them had fallen through. God had once again made it perfectly clear that Pensacola was to be where we were to put down roots and not Arkansas. 

Therefore, on April 24th we will put all of our belongings in a U-haul and head into the this next season with excitement. For God has already gone before us. He has opened doors with Kings Kids (a YWAM affiliate) and He’s already connected us with an incredible church family in Pensacola. We know God is opening doors to inspire other families to hear Him and follow Him to the ends of the earth. If that is to serve the local community or abroad we believe God will utilize our last 9 years in missions with YWAM to inspire other families to serve the Lord as a family unit. We know in the next few years Kara will launch a ministry for at-risk women that God put on her heart over eight years ago. Lastly, we believe God has specific people Bruce is to partner with in media to share God’s story in people’s lives. 

We want to follow so close behind the living God that we go EVERYWHERE He wants us to go. For His thoughts are not our thoughts and there may be specific situations we haven’t even thought of yet that He wants us to walk into.

Are you in a season where Jesus is speaking to you about stepping out and it feels scary. Trust Him. Don’t allow yourself to be stuck and unwilling to follow Him. His ways are SO MUCH better than yours!! 

Prayer Request:

• Healing from the brain tumor in Esperanza’s head.

• We desperately need a car. We don’t have one after April 24th. (Click Here to Partner)

• Over the next month and a half my prayer is that we all stay SO present here in Arkansas that we don’t miss out on whatever God is doing today. For it could be easy to start planning and living in the future but the reality is we are here. And our hearts are full with meaningful relationships from Arkansas that we are all going to be very sad to say goodbye to. 

• Favor as we move.

• Healing for Bruce. Bruce’s surgery is not happening. His pain doctor got mixed up on the kind of surgery that Bruce needs. So they still do not have the technology to do a surgery on his sub tailor joint.