Recently, I sat here staring at 6,000 schillings the equivalent to about $3.00 USD, yes three dollars! I said OK Lord, this is your ministry, so it is your move. What else do you want me to do? I told God that I will have faith and not worry about it. Now, I know our commitments and what it takes to run this place, and it is pretty hard to just shut those things off like they don't exist. So I became more intrigued on how He was going to do it, because I did have Faith in Him. There were all these thoughts on how He has never left us without food, He has always come through. Over the past five years, since the beginning of this ministry, there would always be an unexpected donation from the least expected person to cover our needs.
This time I did have different thoughts go through my mind. Here I am, all the way on the other side of the world, alone (as Robyn is in the US right now), sitting here with these children that the Lord has entrusted to me with a meagerly $3.00. What kind of caretaker am I? I don't have big financial backers behind me. We have our few faithful sponsors that contribute each month to make this happen. Is He testing my faith again? OK, if He is then it means He has plans for us. Because as all this was taking place, the Lord was telling me to grow the ministry!
GROW THE MINISTRY? Yea right, take on more kids Lord? OK you want blind faith? Then you got it!! This was all your idea from the beginning and I am only following your command. He has taken over the keys now as I am writing and I don't know where we are going, as I am in the Spirit right now. What is He telling me? Where are we going? I should complete my testimony to you. As I was sitting there with the $3.00 I knew we were behind in payments at the school and we are preparing for the next term with a financial obligation that is compounded by what we were already in debt for. Robyn and I decided that we would not go further into debt and just trust God. Then an unexpected donation came in from a church, who we didn't even know, for $490.00. That totals nearly all of the school fees that we need right now to cover this past term and this new term. Within that few days other sponsor money had come through and we were able to once again meet our day to day obligations. But that was a major pivoting point for sure!
Do you know what that is like to see God working right before your eyes? As He comforts you and says "I have it all under control, trust me." I think; What does He have me here for? He can cover all the costs of His projects with one person or a thousand, I think it really depends on His plan, how He will include people, who's life does He want to touch. His miracles are always multifaceted and I don't think we could ever understand the full impact of one of those small things He does in our lives. How amazing it is to be a part of it all!
So as He tells me His plans of expansion to include more children, and evangelism, I still have to wonder how He is going to do it , not out of doubt, but out of amazement. The message I got from all of this is that He wants our faith first, the same message that He has had me preaching lately. He doesn't want the vision, or the huge task that needs to be done, because He can do that easy enough. But He wants our faith and He will manifest off of that. I often think of how Peter was to step out of the boat and walk on the water towards the Lord, and I realize that is some pretty heavy and awesome faith! Am I ready? Here I am Lord!
Now I am looking to where I am suppose to insert commas and do a few humanly things to make this legible.
I have been re-reading Rick Warren's book The Purpose Driven Life, the same book that helped get us here in Uganda in the first place. In chapter ten he talks of totally surrendering our lives to God. He tells a few stories of how some well known people, especially in Christian circles, had surrendered their life to God. In Romans 6:13 it sums it up by saying we should surrender our whole selves to the service of God to be used for a righteous purpose! How awesome is that?
I surrender my life to you God, a slave to our Lord Jesus Christ!
Amen
4 comments:
Thanks for your comment on my blog a couple of weeks back. I appreciate your compliment. Writing is something I enjoy doing for fun and really love having a blog where I can express myself. I am actually not taking an English class this semester, but if I were you could be sure I could use the extra credit!
~Kylee (kylee-inmylife.blogspot.com)
Praying for God to show up in unexpected ways! My husband started Breakthrough Ministries last year. A ministry to help the homeless here in MN. We have had to completely surrender to Him. We have had to trust in Him. He continues to amaze us. Just as I think things are going well...usually when I'm thinking that WE are doing well...the Lord changes things up. He does things to show us the He is indeed in control. Bless you!
Stopping from Mom Loop! I think he calls us to seek Him in all things.
I'm teaching our ladies bible study this week on 'coming into the rest' (Hebrews 3 and 4) It's as simple as trust in Him and as hard as giving up control (without leaning on and trusting Him).
Who wants to be stuck in a desert, marching around that same mountain
40 years! (Hebrews 3:10) I'd rather come into 'the rest', trust in Him (mix it with faith)believing I receive when I pray.
Hebrews 4:16 Amplified
version: "Let us then fearlessly and confidently and boldly draw near to the throne of grace (the throne of God's unmerited favor to us sinners), that we may receive mercy [for our failures] and find grace to help in good time for every need [appropriate help and well-timed help, coming just when we need it]"
Keep on believing in His love for you!
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