One week until we get to hug these faces and so many more! Though many of them are now teenagers, I will know them when I see them. I will remember their stories and the lives God rescued them from 7+ years ago.
It's amazing to look back on these 3 months of preparing for this trip and to see God's incredible faithfulness. Every specific prayer we have asked God for, He has answered! Today, we revel in more of God's faithfulness unveiled. As of last week, we were a bit disheartened to realize that we actually needed about $1,100 more than we originally expected. This meant that in the next two weeks, the Lord would have to provide $1,900 to cover everything! This also came on the heels of our car and both of Nathan's work trucks having to go in to the shop for some very pricey repairs. Every circumstance around tempted us to get worried and anxious. Yet, we were able to remind each other that the Lord is faithful to His promises, that He doesn't abandon those He calls forward, that He doesn't begin a work He won't provide for. So we clung to faith and prayed... God gave us abundant peace. As the weekend came, I went to check my email and found that someone had donated $1,000 to the trip! Then promptly received another email alert that someone else had donated another $100. One day after that, I received a text from a friend of mine who informed me that he and his wife had sent an $800 money transfer to our bank account! I don't know if you are doing the math here... but that is EXACTLY what we needed to pay for the rest of our trip expenses! Only God does that. Only God can prompt hearts to be faithful to give SO GENEROUSLY to something He is doing. I am still completely in awe of His faithfulness. As I sit and recount all the ways God has answered our prayers in the past three months, all the trials He has brought us through, and all the ways He has broken us to be more humble and dependent on Him, there is no doubt in my mind that this trip is HIS. It is His will, and He has great things He wants to do. I've purposed myself to not have expectations on what the trip will be like specifically, but I do expect God to move mountains and do great things in our time over there. I expect He will draw us so near to His heart as we see His heart poured out for His African children. I expect my heart to be broken in a thousand ways as I let myself feel what He feels with the hardships many of them face, but I also expect to feel His joy in rejoicing at the ways His children are coming to know Him and grow in Him. I've been disappointed in the past... not because God didn't show up or work powerfully, but because I put God in a box with my expectations. I put a timeline and a picture on what it should look like, what I expected would be most impactful. God continues to remind me that my ways are not His ways, nor my thoughts His thoughts. His ways are far higher and much greater. So in this next week, will you pray for God to continue preparing our hearts? Pray for all the little details that now need to be tended to to come together. Pray that we will receive our Mozambican visas in time (they also have our passports which we obviously NEED). We know God is in control... so where we have been anxious and stressed in the last month, where we have not leaned on His grace and put on His armor, we have repented and asked for His grace to let us depend on Him each day. Our struggles have only served to remind us how much we need Jesus... and how, apart from Him, we really have nothing good to offer. He is our everything! Africa, here we come!!!!!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Nathan & LauraHappily married and pursuing God's call on our lives. Archives
May 2016
Categories |