God Provides

So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Matthew 6:31-33

How skilled are you at "not worrying"? Joel tends to be better at it than I am. I am the type who prays and then starts wondering how God may answer this prayer and how I could "help out". After all, the real answer to fundraising must lie in our capability, right? Wrong! And of course I know that in my head but Joel often has to remind me to "trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight." (Proverbs 3:5-6)

As God uses marriage to grow us, applying this verse has become easier over the years. Joel and I have had to trust God a number of times throughout our journey - and truly, we all have to trust Him, whether we realize it or  not. We have seen God provide and use His church to meet our needs, so neither Joel or I had any doubts that God would provide a home for us in Michigan. We received a few questioning looks as to why we were not more frantically looking for a house or apartment to move into, but while we made our need known and did some research of our own, we had full confidence and peace that God would provide a home for our move scheduled on October 12th.

You know what I am getting at (and maybe have already peeked at the picture below). Yes, we will be moving into this duplex that a family from First Baptist Church is allowing us to rent for the approximate cost of utilities. The home is actually more spacious than our current apartment, and will allow us to set up an office for Joel. We have been in desperate need for this. As you can imagine, it's hard to be productive or have a coherent phone or Skype conversation with a toddler and baby in the room. We will also be able to set up a play area for the kids. Needless to say, we expect this home will make both of our jobs easier!

 

The lower living expenses are providential as we plan to fund-raise full-time instead of seeking a new job. Please, pray for 40 hours of fundraising for our family every week - time to Skype or meet with potential supporters, to get involved at First Baptist Church and allow them to truly get to know us, and to connect with other area churches that may be willing to become financial supporters. We still have quite a bit left to raise and specifically hope that God will provide another 15-20% of support through individuals and families. That is $1300-$1700 and yes, that takes a lot of faith! Ask God to supply not only the needed finances to get us to Eastern Germany but also the faith for the journey!


We appreciate your prayers as we seek to use our remaining time in Illinois wisely. If you live in the Chicago-land area and we don't see you on a regular basis, we would love to get together with you before we leave. Please, let us know if you are available to do so. A few weeks ago, we had a special visitor: Lorraine Holt, who lead me to the Lord 13 1/2 years ago and who is the inspiration for Johanna's middle name. We hope to add plenty of other pictures of precious moments like these during our last weeks living here.