Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.
What does it mean to trust in the Lord with all your
heart? Heart, in Hebrews, refers to
one’s emotions, intellect, or will. This
means we have to first realize that our wisdom, or insight, is no match for
God’s. God’s ways are sometimes meant
for us to understand and sometimes they are not, but we must follow because He
is trustworthy. The second part of this
verse says we are to acknowledge God and He will make our path straight. Strong’s Concordance defines the word
acknowledge, in this passage, as submit.
We are to submit our ways to God and trust in Him to lead the way, and
then the pathway will be clearer to see.
God gave us a call and the first thing we decided to do was
to acknowledge that it was something we needed to answer, and answer we
did. Answering meant we had to sell our
home and most of our belongings in order to free ourselves of unnecessary
possessions and unnecessary debt. This
task seemed to come easy, because God provided a buyer for the house. The belongings went pretty fast as well; who
doesn’t love a yard sale.
The second part of answering led us to leaving the security
of our jobs. Telling our bosses that we
were leaving to serve God was an emotional strain because of the friendships
built, and a leap of faith because we would no longer be living on a typical
salary. We would be living on what
little bit of savings we had until we arrive in Africa and begin to use the
money we have been raising for support.
We have had the privilege of learning to trust in God and to
submit to Him in ways that are unfamiliar to us. Over the past 28 years, we have relied on God
to provide for us through the jobs we held, and on the finances we earned
ourselves. We seemed to have some
control. Our life, now, is totally in
God’s control.
We planned on being in Africa by the end of February, but
God had other plans. Living with our
children and granddaughter was a joy, but after living together for over 5
months it was time for us to give them a break.
They love us tons, but in smaller doses.
So, we prayed we’d find a place to stay for the month of April. We gave it to the Lord and trusted in Him to
provide for us. God is faithful and
trustworthy! God provided a beautiful cottage for us on Lake Michigan,
through generous believers we had never met before. He gave us a
place far better than we even imagined.
God also used this situation as a time for preparation. The house has no Internet, cable, or cell
phone coverage. Wow! This is how it will be when we move to
Africa.
Because of our downsizing, and living in a small house with
our kids, we lost our ability to exercise and we needed to get back in shape
after such a long drawn out winter of being cooped up inside. God provided a month or more of free memberships
at a local gym. Time to pump it up!
Friends of ours offered us their frequent flyer miles to
purchase our airline tickets for the flight to Africa. We were in awe that someone would do that for
us! This was a very generous offer, but
was a bit difficult to use due to the fact that we had to keep moving our
departure date out. (Short on support) We shared with our friends that we greatly appreciated the offer, but we were torn
about using them because it would be difficult to lock into a date. If we had to cancel for any reason the miles
could be lost and they would have wasted them on us. We could however, lock
into flights through a missionary organization and cancel at anytime (not using
flyer miles) without penalty. Our
friends asked the amount and then offered to pay for the tickets out of their
pocket. We told them they did not have to
do this. Their response was, "God had told us that He wanted us to get you to the field
in Africa." This brought us to tears.
(Literally)
We share these stories with you not to be boastful, but to
remind us, and you, that God does provide for His people when we call on Him
and are trusting in Him. We may not
understand everything God is doing or why, but we can trust that He is in
control and that He will make our paths straight.
Our Prayer Needs
* God to supply the remaining 30% of support needed
* Our May 22nd departure to happen as scheduled
*Lead us in preparations and packing
*Visas and all paperwork in order
*God prepare us for all the cultural and language challenges we will face
*Our Children and Grandchildren to adjust to our leaving and adjust to family separation
*Protection
*Keep walking in Obedience and humility the path marked out for us!
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Views from the house we are Blessed to stay in for the month of April |
