I trust because He is trustworthy

I've been wanting to share some things from my heart for awhile now. I am just getting to it because I'm at my Mom's house for the afternoon and am able to catch a few moments to write - uninterrupted! :)

It's been two weeks now since my Grandpa died. That still just feels... weird. I miss him like crazy, and there are days it hasn't even sunk it, than other days I just feel so sad at the reality of it. My Mom and Aunts have been going through Grandpa's house, and have graciously set aside a few things for us to have as momentos of my Grandma and Grandpa. I can't wait to share about what I was given, but that deserves a post of it's own.

Jamie and I are collegiate missionaries at our local University, working for The Navigators. That's just a fancy way of saying that our profession is now telling people about Jesus, helping new Christians grow in their relationships with Jesus and serving the students. Working for an awesome non-profit organization, like the Navigators, is proving to be such a blessing. They are an amazing group and have something like 4000 missionaries working through them, around the world! Our focus on campus is the international students. To do this work, we have to raise 100% of our own salary, money for health insurance and ministry expenses. To do this we have been, and will continue to, petition friends, family, and churches to join our financial team. As you might guess, this can be difficult work, but we feel 100% positive that this is what God wants of us right now.

Fund-raising, as we call it, takes a lot of hours and a lot of work. It's really a full-time job in and of itself. Jamie already has a full-time job, and I'm kept busy with the kids and our home, so we have not been doing so great with the fund-raising. All spring and summer so far, we've been saving our pennies so that Jamie could leave his job at Verizon and we could focus on raising our funds full-time. Our goal is to be 100% there by the middle to end of August so that we can be on campus working when the students arrive.

Well, we've collected a nice little amount of money that we can live off of for a number of months. God has been so good to provide us with extra so that we could save. He's been testing our faith like crazy though! First, it was a shortage on our property tax, which basically meant, totally out of the blue we owed over $500! Then, our breaks needed fixed. There goes another hundred and something. Then, God really brought it on! After a serious rain storm, (you can read about that here and here)we find out two of our basement walls need replaced and while we're at it we need to replace all our basement windows. That is going to take anywhere from 4-7 thousand, though the final estimate is not in yet.

So, we left in the middle of June, to go to a training conference at Navigator HQ in Colorado. We were puzzled at what God was doing. Did He still want Jamie to leave Verizon? How would we make our money cover living expenses and the repairs to our basement? "Trust Me." That's all He was saying to Jamie.

So, here's where the amazing get's started. God never leads where He won't provide. He never calls us to something than leaves us totally stranded (though let's face it, sometimes it feels like that!) For starters, we had decided to drive to Colorado. This was going to cost over $1000 in rental fees. My Mom and I were both praying that God would provide us a van so we didn't have to rent. The DAY BEFORE we leave, my dear sister and her amazing husband offer us their
van to use. They just bought this van. It is very new and it is a long trip to and from Colorado. WOW! We took them up on their genorosity. We didn't want to be accused of stealing a blessing from them. :)

It only continues... A couple of days into our trip, God is again silent, except for, these words - "TRUST ME." We still weren't sure what that meant exactly, so we were just waiting for more. That VERY day, Jamie gets a call from a dear friend back in Ohio. Our local association for our denomination had received some money to give to the Pastors of the association. Jamie used to be supported by this group, but isn't any longer since we've gone full-time with Navs. This dear friend is in charge of dolling out the money. He's decided we should get $1000 to use towards our basement. We never told him about our basement, but God saw fit that someone did. Wow! "Okay, God... we're sure listening now! And, we're really trying to trust."

We return from our trip, early of course, due to my Grandpa's death, and having missed other days of the conference due to the kids being sick. But, did Satan acheive his plan to distract and discourage us? No! God still spoke loud and clear, through His Spirit, through His Word (the Bible!), and through His actions (the gift of money and the van). No matter what, we were to trust Him. And so, in faith, Jamie put his two week notice in at work. His last day is July 15! God has made it possible for Jamie to leave his current job with no drama and with all his managers and co-workers sad to see him go but happy for his next step!

Sunday, we went to our church for the first time in four weeks. What do we receive? An anonymous gift of another $1000 to be put towards our basement!

Jamie only has seven days left at Verizon. We saved over $1000 not having to rent a van, we have $2000 designated for our basement and then we have our savings account. Does it all add up? Not yet. But, God has proven to us, again, that He IS trustworthy, and we don't need to worry about what we will eat, or wear, or where we will lay our heads. He will watch over us and lead us according to His will.

Are the next few months going to be easy? NO! Do I believe that God caused our basement to fall apart during this time in our lives? Absolutely! And why would a good, trustworthy God allow such a thing, even cause it? Because, if He hadn't, then we wouldn't have been leaning into Him so hard and seen His powers of provision at work. We wouldn't need extra money, and we wouldn't need to wait, on our knees, watching as God brought us that money. I don't believe the miracles are anywhere from over yet, either.

Being a missionary is harrowing work. It requires us to have an acute sense of who God IS, and a faith that can withstand, not only frequent financial uncertainty, but attacks from Satan as well, seeing as though he's not all that into the work we'll be doing.

I believe that God caused these recent tests of our faith so that He could prove His trustworthiness to us. He loves us that much! He doesn't just want us to read about His trustworthiness in the Bible, He wants us to experience it! I believe that in months and years to come, when Jamie and I are again tested by fiery trials, we will have these miracles to look back upon, to remind us to calm down, and rest in the assurance of God's faithfulness.

I am sure of two things.

1. More trials will come.

2. God will see us through those too!

It is all for His glory.

I trust, because He is trustworthy.