40 years ago He spoke to a young woman of 32 who already had 6 children, was very poor and had no insurance and said “Have another child”
--that child was me
In His faithfulness
as an 8 year old He got a hold of my heart and caused me to visit the altar many times in conviction.
In His faithfulness
because He had more for us then dead religion, He allowed my parents to get fired from the Christian school where they taught because we visited another church where they believed in the baptism of the Holy Spirit. He led us into a place through difficulty so that we might have more of Him.
In His faithfulness
He saw a young 19 year old girl who fell in love and had plans to get married to a particular young man—He supernaturally broke us up…because He had something better.
In His faithfulness
He found me 2 years later, still reeling from the “divorce” of my heart, having given up hope, gone my own way – looking everywhere for something or someone to stop the pain…He called me away to Himself, He wanted to be that something.
In His faithfulness
He set me aside for six months, called me to quit my job, move back home and then gave me an older woman and a prayer partner who encouraged, prayed with me and helped me to stay on the course of righteousness
He caused me to meet the man He had chosen for me—allowed it to be completely different than anything I had ever known in order to deal with my flesh, my carnal emotions and to grow in trust in Him.
He gave me the best in my marriage and required me to have children before I wanted; causing me to put ministry and other things He had spoken on the back burner.
In His faithfulness He knew the hardships of having children would deal with my selfishness, laziness, apathy, bad attitude and harshness and He knew the joy of having children—would cause me to give and receive love, and laugh like I never had. He knew family would do more to prepare me to minister then just stepping out and “doing ministry”.
He called us to start a church around the same time we started our family---with no money, no real training, no other families with small children…just a word from Him and our obedience. Through our difficulties in the early years of our relationship He gave us a heart to call people to a higher purity in singleness, and to build strong foundations in marriages—through this He added to us many spiritual sons and daughters.
As we began to prosper in
He called me to home school, although I never liked school the first time, and called Chip to stay home when He had been sending him overseas. He did this to bring us rest and bring our family together in a different way…great patience it has produced.
He has kept us through great financial difficulty, relational disappointments, and delayed promises. He has softened our hearts yet strengthened them, focused our vision yet enlarged us, allowed us to die to many of our dreams in order to give us the dreams He has for us; which are much better and larger than ours.
He brought us here to this great people of
He has helped us and kept us as we wandered in a dry desert place. He has loved us so much that He has allowed the bondages and mentalities of Egypt to be purged out of us so that we might truly SEE HIM and step into the fullness of His promises.
He has prepared, refined and brought us to this point, right here, right now to be alive for such a time as this.
In His faithfulness
He is calling us upward, to fly higher, reach farther, and to take hold of our inheritance. He is calling us to have courage and risk again. Because of the great record of His faithfulness, He is beckoning us forward to trust Him for more as we remember how He has led us and kept us this far. He is faithful and true.
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