Marching Forward….
Over the years, Mark and I have read and heard stories about the German evangelist, George Mueller. There was one story in particular that stood out to us. In addition to being an evangelist, George operated an orphanage for 300 children. One morning, he was informed that there was no food for the children to have breakfast. George took all 300 children down to the dining room and had them sit at the tables. George thanked God for the food He would supply and then they waited. Mr. Mueller knew that the Lord would provide food for the children just as He always had.
Within minutes, a baker knocked on the door to the orphanage. He told Mr. Mueller how last night he could not sleep. Somehow the baker knew that the orphanage would need bread in the morning, so he got up and baked three batches of bread. Moments later there was another knock at the door. It was the milkman. His cart had broken down in front of the orphanage. The milk would spoil before the cart would be fixed. He asked George if they would like the free milk? It was just enough for the 300 thirsty children.
It was several years ago that we heard that story and we both commented and prayed that we wanted to have that type of faith and trust in God. On March 1st, Mark gave his one month notice at work and will finish his job at the bank this week. This will allow us to focus all of our time on partnership development. Mark has loved this job and loved the many coworkers he has had over the years. If we weren’t 100% convinced that the Lord was calling us to this ministry, this month would have been much harder for Mark. I am so proud of my husband, and we are literally watching the Lord answer those prayers for faith and trust as we take this step of faith. This faith isn’t founded on us, but on the fact that God has already taken care of our biggest problem which was our sin that separated us from Him. We love Romans 8:5 that says, “ He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” If God didn’t withhold Christ in order to save us, we can know beyond a shadow of a doubt that EVERY NEED HE WILL PROVIDE!
At our church, our pastor has been going through the book of Romans in his Sunday morning sermons. Just this last study, he was preaching on Romans 12:3-8 which talks about spiritual gifts. One of the gifts mentioned is the gift of encouragement in the things of God. I was just overcome with immense joy as I realized that Mark and I get to use our gifting of encouragement with our global partners. A great example of that is a trip that Mark and I will be taking in May to Bosnia. We have a beloved pastor and church there, and we will be participating in their mission conference. Bosnia is a hard place to live with only .01% of the population being Christian. We will also be scouting out potential areas to return with a short-term team to do a sports outreach. We long to see them and in a Romans 1:11-12 kind of way to impart to them “some spiritual gift to strengthen them- that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.” Please pray for us as we go.
Praises:
The Lord providing for us what we need to do the work He has called us to do.
The Lord giving Mark such a wonderful job with so many wonderful people for so many years.Our church and the tremendous support and care that they continually give us! We are so blessed!
Mark and I have gotten into a really good rhythm of reading the Bible and praying together nightly.
Prayers:
As we contact churches and individuals, please pray that they would see the value in partnering with us in this ministry.
As we go to Bosnia in May, please pray that the Lord will use our time to encourage our partners and their church and that we would be able to gather the information needed for future trips.
Please pray that there would be unbelievers who attend the mission conference and here the good news of what Jesus has done for them.
Pray for Kim and the team from South going to Romania in October to do women’s Bible training. There will be mostly unbelievers at one of the conferences. Praying that God reveals himself to all who come.
