God Provides

We learned from our accounting department last week that we have reached 51% of our monthly support pledges. Best part about the support pledges, so far, is that these dear people have begun to support our ministry NOW and each month their support accumulates toward our ministry launching funds. Others have donated special one-time gifts to the ministry launching fund. We have over 1/3 of the ministry launching fund accumulated and it is quickly approaching 50% as well. Praise God for his abundant provision.

We are also deeply grateful for the numerous times friends or family have given us a special gift for personal use. These gifts have met needs for printing and shipping ministry resources, meals on the road, hotel costs, gas, even our routine 3,000 mile oil changes. Yes, we have been on the road long enough to require an oil change every other month. Thank you for trusting God to provide and trusting us to use these resources wisely.

We are also blessed to have stayed with many hosts in cities across the US. We are so grateful for the ways you have lavished love on us: feeding us, allowing us to do laundry, treating us to activities and events, cleaning up after your house guests move on. Thank you for all the dollars you have saved in hotel costs. We have only spent one night in a motel in 12 weeks of travel. We have spent far less than necessary on food and groceries because of your generosity and hospitality. Thank you for taking care of the two of us like family. We love you all!

We feel like we are living among believers like Paul addressed in 2 Corinthians 9:6-15,

"Remember this—a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop. 7 You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.” 8 And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others. 9 As the Scriptures say,

“They share freely and give generously to the poor.
Their good deeds will be remembered forever.”

10 For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you.
11 Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous. And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God. 12 So two good things will result from this ministry of giving—the needs of the believers in Jerusalem will be met, and they will joyfully express their thanks to God.
13 As a result of your ministry, they will give glory to God. For your generosity to them and to all believers will prove that you are obedient to the Good News of Christ. 14 And they will pray for you with deep affection because of the overflowing grace God has given to you. 15 Thank God for this gift too wonderful for words!"

Yes, we thank God for His gifts (you) too wonderful for words!

A Whirlwind of Events

February is almost over and I have a concession to make. Yes, a concession... I concede that I have writer's block. So many thought swirls through my head but how do you construct any sensible words to share with the world?
The best thought at the moment is to share with you how we have experienced God's presence in the last two months on the road.

• We left home to begin full-time partnership development December 27th, 2014. Today is February 27th, 2015. God has provided 48.72% of our support already. We are eager to see how quickly he will bring us to full support and send us to Ohio!
• Allison's dad wondered how we managed to begin our travels right at the time that gas prices dropped the lowest they have been in years. We thank God for reasoning with the oil merchants on our behalf. :o)
• We also noticed that God has arranged the weather to allow sunny days and clear roads for each of our major travel days! Touring the MidWest in January and February may seem a little crazy but we have experienced God's favor each step of the way. Last Friday, we left Bloomington while snow was flying, but it stopped before we had been on the road 5 minutes.
• We are constantly encouraged when we meet face to face with other believers and share the work God is doing in the world to bring the gospel to people who need Jesus. We love sharing our story of God's grace and his transformation in our lives. We are even more blessed to hear your stories of God's grace! My favorite moments are sitting around someone's kitchen table or living room and praying for one another. It is truly a blessing to communicate with God and intercede for each other.
• New Mexico highlights: Being in Albuquerque for a cousin's wedding, showing up at church on the same Sunday as a high school friend when he gave an update about ministry in Turkey, staying with hosts who have become like family, sharing the Lord's Supper with church family in Los Alamos (potluck style!)
• Calvary Bible College and Missions Emphasis Week: We loved the fellowship with all generations: missionary representatives (from all corners of the world and stages of life), college students, faculty and staff (preparing students to serve in their community and the world). It was a privilege to be counted among those who have given the majority of their lives to advance the gospel. It was an honor to challenge students to see every activity and every major decision as an opportunity for God to use their lives to advance the gospel.
• Missouri highlights: staying with my college mentor and fellow missionary representative, reconnecting with friends from Calvary, attending ODBC (Allison's MO home church), catching up with a young woman Allison mentored four years ago
• We have been so blessed to stay with family and friends across the country. We have had 7 families host us in the last two months. 
• Illinois highlights: watching toddlers learn to walk, "speaking" a tonal language with a 2 year old, helping my dad out on the family farm, 40 minutes of sharing our story and praying for God's work among the nations at a church in Bloomington, drinking hot chocolate and eating pizza without cow's milk!
• We recently learned about a non-profit, Corporate Angel Network, that organizes transportation for cancer patients so they can receive the best care possible.  Their motto: "Cancer patients fly free in empty seats on corporate jets."  Later that week, we were at a church where someone mentioned a coworker whose young son has cancer. What a blessing to share this information with a family who would greatly benefit from this service.  

We head out from Illinois next week to meet God on the third leg of our journey: Michigan, Wisconsin, Tennessee and beyond!

Daring to Fail

I wrote the following note during the summer of 2012. Care to take a trip down memory lane with me?

[“God wants to send us to dangerous places to do difficult things.” Mark Batterson  Wild Goose Chase

At the beginning of the year, Jeannie Roth (a Cadence missionary and old friend), gave me the book, Wild Goose Chase, by Mark Batterson.  At the time, I was struggling with making a decision about the direction of my future. Mark Batterson’s book dealt with understanding and following the Holy Spirit’s guidance to obey God’s will.  I felt trapped between trying to obey God and having the faith to dare to obey what he actually wanted me to do. Neither my friend nor I understood at the time how this book would travel with me through the adventure that, so far, has been the greatest of my lifetime.

To start the year, I had been facing constant struggle and grief in my heart about whether to continue working a secular job or to pursue full-time ministry. It has been my heart’s desire for several years to be in youth ministry. I became a volunteer youth leader at my home church shortly after graduating Bible college 6 years ago. However, the division of my time and attention between work and ministry was a constant source of frustration.  As the demands to develop a career and gain further training at work built, I became faced with this problem: my growth as an employee required training that was completely opposite the strengths God had given me to develop. There was no option available within the workplace to grow as I felt God desired.

I took a trip to see family and visit some friends whose counsel I have always known to be godly and wise. It became clear after that journey that I had stayed long enough in my current employment and proved myself faithful. I knew leaving my workplace meant losing consistent, reliable income; I was also leaving an employer who had always cared about my needs. I will never have another opportunity like that again. However, I knew that God was closing the door at my current workplace. It was time to let go of the security and wait for the next opportunity.

I have since been on a roller coaster of ministry development and opportunities to share my faith and my story of God’s faithfulness.  I left my job in May. As I was preparing for unemployment, my home church offered to hire me as a part-time assistant to the pastoral staff. I mainly serve under the associate pastor who is responsible for both the children and youth ministries. My duties vary almost as widely as his areas of administration. I have taken the opportunity of fewer work constraints to travel on two mission trips. My first trip was with a group of youth, college students, and adults from our church. I traveled with 14 team members to San Jose, Costa Rica. We spent 8 days constructing a chicken coop, witnessing, and playing with children from an area daycare. Upon returning, my family traveled to South Dakota to visit my brother and his wife in their new home. The month of July has been full of preparations for Vacation Bible School; I have assisted our associate pastor as director.  The preparations were interrupted only by a week-long youth camp in Durango. I was able to participate as youth leader, chaperone, and family group leader-Bible teacher. VBS began immediately after camp. One week later, I am on a train traveling through the German countryside to Berlin to participate in a conversational English camp that exposes teenagers in Germany to the power and reality of a relationship with Christ.

Each of these opportunities has given me challenges, deepened my faith, and forced me to depend on God’s faithfulness. A couple years ago, I was diagnosed with Celiac’s disease which requires me to completely avoid gluten, primarily found in wheat. Eating on the road, much less in another country, is a daring feat. It is hard to trust the safety of your health, through your stomach, to people who may not understand or even speak the same language. God understands and has guarded me from any severe reactions should I have eaten wheat unknowingly.  God has also blessed my travels with many opportunities to tell of his greatness and his faithful love. I have had deep conversations with teenagers and adults, members of my mission team, complete strangers, and young believers from Deer Park, TX.

If anyone should ask whether I have been following God’s will, I cannot say with certainty that every decision I have made in the last six months followed God’s will. I do not think perfect obedience is what we are to obtain yet. It is obedience that demonstrates we know God. The Bible teaches that we must know God through the ways he has revealed himself, the Bible and his Son, Jesus Christ. Yet, how often do we see in the Bible point blank instructions about what the future holds? No one has read in the pages of Scripture, “thou shalt take this job opportunity” or “thou shalt marry __________.”  I believe it is how we obey the revealed will of God amidst the changing circumstances or decisions which have not been so clearly revealed that demonstrates obedience. In Hebrews 11, the men and women recorded are recognized for their obedience to what they knew God told them to do and their faith in who they knew God to be. It was the faith they had in God’s character, his faithful covenant love, that gave them confidence to risk so much in obedience to his will.

I will not be so bold to say that I have been demonstrating the faith these renowned men and women had. But I will not exclude myself from seeking to obey what I know about God-his character and purpose-in the effort to please him with my obedience.  I have relied on the knowledge that he will give me the strength, health, and courage to do what he commands me to do. I also have taken daring steps forward to advance the glory of his name and his kingdom because I know that is his purpose for the church on earth. How can I refuse to be part of such an adventure?

Mark Batterson writes that “More often than not, the will of God will involve a daring decision that seems unsafe or even insane.” I have wondered if I am insane many times throughout the summer. If this is insanity, you may want to find an institution to commit me to. Until someone comes to take me away, I commit myself to the care of a God who is powerful enough to sustain the earth and everything in it. I pray that this journey grows in me a desire to constantly live on the edge of insanity. 1 Corinthians 1:18 says, “For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”  Paul also writes of himself and his companions in 2 Corinthians 5:13-15 “For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are of sound mind, it is for you. For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and he died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who died and rose again on their behalf.” If God sent his Son to die as a living demonstration of his foolish, extravagant, lavish love for us, why not live a life that mirrors his insanity? I want to show love to those he loved and that might look just as crazy.

One of the adventures God has introduced into my life this summer has been through a man who may someday soon become my husband. God is only beginning to show me the amount of grace and love he is pouring out on me through this relationship. I don’t know if it is God’s will that I marry this man. I know that if I do, the journey of loving and being loved by God is going to become a whole new learning experience. I am thankful for the crowd of witnesses who have walked this road before me. They have a lot of wisdom to share!]

It is a strange experience to look back on the thoughts and questions we had years ago. I am grateful for the faithfulness of God as I look back and see his protection and leading in those years. He is the same God today. Even now, married to "this man" and following God's direction to serve him as a full-time missionary, I am choosing to trust and daring to step out in faith that God remains faithful.