The next step
Okay, so, this is what it feels like to step out on faith!!??
We are less than two weeks away from moving out of our house. A big concern for us in this decision to move to Swaziland has been what to do with our house. We were pretty sure that we would not be able to do well with selling in the current market. So we started to talk about renting. And pray about renting. Literally from a Friday to a Monday afternoon we found out about 4 different families that were needing to rent a home. By the next weekend we had spoken to several and one family in particular was very interested. Talking to them, we realized God was working in both our lives and the more we talked, the more obvious it became that renting our home was an answer to their prayers as well as ours.
The “trouble” was that they needed to be out of their house by 6/18/10. Steve and I talked and prayed and decided that would be ok. I mean, weren’t we still counting on God to get us to Swaziland soon? We could trust Him in this. Then, I had a panic attack!! It dawned on me that we were moving out but had NO WHERE to go! What if….we didn’t leave for Swazi as soon as we hoped? What if…..people thought we were total idiots for leaving our home with no place to go? What if…. What if….. What if…..
The girls were in bed and Steve was closing so wouldn’t be home ’til after 11:00 pm. It was just me and God, alone in my panic. So I decided to catch up on my Esther Bible Study. (I just can’t seem to keep up with Beth Moore’s expectations of daily homework!) And wouldn’t you know???? God spoke to me! He used his living and Holy Word to speak to ME! Why does it surprise me when He does this? After all these years of His faithfulness and ministry to me, why do I get surprised that He cares? The very lesson I started working on was one about trusting God. And WHAT IF’s……. Beth’s take on it is that the i.f. in “what if…” stands for I Fear. Hmm. Well. She went on to have me list my worst fears…..and then called me out….did I not think God could handle finding us a place to stay til we leave for Africa? Did I really need to worry what others would think about our decision making process, as long as we knew this was what God had for us to do?
I had no doubt that God was comforting me through His word. He was assuring me, beyond any doubt, that He was in this. That this was the step He wanted us to take.
So. Here we are. I was pretty much hoping that He wanted us to go ahead and move out because He was planning on getting us to Swaziland in June. But, as usual, His timing is not our timing.
We are not able to finalize plans to leave until we have enough support in the bank for 2 months, all the one time expenses, and then at least a year’s worth of our monthly support “pledged”. We are very short on the monthly support. We still need a couple of thousand dollars a month in pledges. THis seems so impossible. So……well, impossible!!
But my Father is the King. He owns it all. He is more than capable of providing what we need in HIS timing. So. We are just taking the next step. Pressing on. Doing what we know we are to do, and trusting Him for the rest.
As I was cleaning out boxes and drawers, I found this quote by Joni Erickson Tada, one of my childhood heroes of the faith: “Faith isn’t the ability to believe long and far into the misty future. it’s simply taking God at His word and taking the next step.”
So here we go. The next step.
