July 22, 2013

At the Last Minute

A supporter sent me this quote from the book, The Circle Maker, saying, "God is a God of making things happen at the last minute. God loves to play chicken to see how we will react." How true is that! We have seen that over and over as we have served here, from the moment we decided to come to Zimbabwe, until today. It started when our house in the U.S. wouldn't sell. We prayed and prayed for someone to even come look at it. Nothing happened month after month no matter what we did. Then we decided to rent it and within a month, our house was rented, we packed, and left for Zimbabwe. For some reason it was not time for us to sell our home.


From the very start I think God was saying, "I have some things to teach you and to refine in you. BUT I will be with you, I WILL PROVIDE, just walk and trust ME."


As you've traveled this journey with us, we've asked you to pray for things, and God always answers. His answers are not always what we are wanting or when we want them, but He always answers. Just a month ago we were praying for our water issue as 4 of our 5 boreholes had dried up. Many of you were praying, praying even for rain. It has rained a couple days now for a bit, and the water came back on just as we were at the bottom of our water barrel. We've had water every day since for half the day which is a praise!


Also,14 months ago, we asked for prayer for our car we purchased that got confiscated as we were getting it cleared to go into South Africa for a trip. The police said they suspected that it may have been stolen (before we bought it). That has been a long road of hearing we will never get it back, to we may possibly get it back but with a big price tag. This past weekend we went to town to get our monthly groceries, and there in the mission parking lot sat our car that had just been released! PRAISE GOD! We have 3 months left, but we got the car back!!!!! It will be a valuable addition to the hospital for short-term visiting doctors or even those who may come for longer like us. God returned it to us just at the last minute and in the meantime provided us with transportation when we needed it.


I was visited the other day by my friend who almost died after having her baby.  Her life is a miracle because of prayer.  Both she and her little boy are strong and doing well! God is at work, He hears our prayers, He has plans for us that we can't even imagine. I reminded my friend of that.


So hopefully we have grown in this adventure. Zimbabwe will be a part of who we are now for each one of us. As it says in 2 Corinthians 12:9, "But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me."

                                   
                                                
      

These two years have been a time of learning to trust God and allowing Him to use us in our weaknesses.