February 21, 2012
My heart is full of gratitude and praise today. On January 15, 2012, I wrote about When God Calls – God Provides As I re-read that this morning, I realized I'd left a lot of the story out. I'm going to include "The Rest of the Story" here.
We had a great Christmas (2011). The personalized wool Christmas stockings I was going to make in 2006 (but were put on the back burner because of the lawsuit) were completed in just a few weeks time.I was so excited to share them with everyone. After Christmas, I (of course) began to think about next Christmas which will also be when we celebrate our 40th anniversary. I began to think, "Wouldn't it be great to take the entire family on a Florida Disney/Lego Land/Beach vacation?"
I started researching things online. We could put Disney gift cards in their stockings as a surprise, etc. While it all sounded great, how in the world would we be able to afford it? (If you've been reading this journal, you know the financial situation we are in because of the lawsuit filed against us by my sister and brother-in-law.) It seemed impossible, but we decided to try. So, we began our Disney fund. We drastically cut down how many times we ate out. I began to plan my menus for the week, only buying what was needed for those menus, etc. We were going to try to make it happen.
And then comes what I wrote about on January 15, 2012. Are you kidding me? Seriously God? We were going way out on a limb to even consider Disney, and now you are asking us to go on a mission trip? Seriously?
There was no hesitation. The answer was—Yes. We will do it. We will plan for a mission trip. The dream we'd put aside was now something we would plan for even though humanly speaking it seemed impossible. And we would plan to go on the mission trip BEFORE taking the family to Disney. We (my husband and I) both felt we were to plan forward as if it was going to be possible even though it made no sense; even though the lawsuit is still ongoing; and even though it seemed totally out of reach. We would start preparing for the mission trip FIRST and we would also plan on taking our family to Florida. Thinking we would be able to have the money for one was absurd, but for both? Crazy! But, When God Calls – God Provides and we would take the leap of faith and believe.
As I reflect back, I don't think it was merely happenstance that our plans to take a family trip to Disney came before we were challenged to take a mission trip. God wanted to know our response. Would we be willing to give up our dream of what we wanted? Would we be willing to do what He was asking of us FIRST? He knew what our answer would be, but he was giving us an opportunity to continue to grow our faith, and he was also giving us more opportunities to give HIM the Honor, Praise, and Glory for what HE would do.
Our answer was—Yes. We will plan forward. We will believe the impossible. We will do our part. We came to believe that God was NOT asking us to be willing to go on a mission trip instead of taking the family to Disney, but in addition to taking the family on a Florida vacation in celebration of our 40th anniversary. So, we began to plan and prepare as if the impossible would become possible. When God Calls – God Provides.
And HE did, and does!! This morning I received a phone call from our accountant. A unexpected check for $10,000 is coming our way. What ?!?! Impossible!! Guess who is going on a mission trip?!! The rest will be used to pay lawsuit expenses. I fully believe that around March of 2013, I will be writing about our family trip to Florida celebrating our 40 years of marriage and God's faithfulness.
When God Calls – God Provides.
Addendum: God Called...and God Provided. Read about our mission trip here.
Next Entry: Matthew 2:1–23
My heart is full of gratitude and praise today. On January 15, 2012, I wrote about When God Calls – God Provides As I re-read that this morning, I realized I'd left a lot of the story out. I'm going to include "The Rest of the Story" here.
We had a great Christmas (2011). The personalized wool Christmas stockings I was going to make in 2006 (but were put on the back burner because of the lawsuit) were completed in just a few weeks time.I was so excited to share them with everyone. After Christmas, I (of course) began to think about next Christmas which will also be when we celebrate our 40th anniversary. I began to think, "Wouldn't it be great to take the entire family on a Florida Disney/Lego Land/Beach vacation?"
I started researching things online. We could put Disney gift cards in their stockings as a surprise, etc. While it all sounded great, how in the world would we be able to afford it? (If you've been reading this journal, you know the financial situation we are in because of the lawsuit filed against us by my sister and brother-in-law.) It seemed impossible, but we decided to try. So, we began our Disney fund. We drastically cut down how many times we ate out. I began to plan my menus for the week, only buying what was needed for those menus, etc. We were going to try to make it happen.
And then comes what I wrote about on January 15, 2012. Are you kidding me? Seriously God? We were going way out on a limb to even consider Disney, and now you are asking us to go on a mission trip? Seriously?
There was no hesitation. The answer was—Yes. We will do it. We will plan for a mission trip. The dream we'd put aside was now something we would plan for even though humanly speaking it seemed impossible. And we would plan to go on the mission trip BEFORE taking the family to Disney. We (my husband and I) both felt we were to plan forward as if it was going to be possible even though it made no sense; even though the lawsuit is still ongoing; and even though it seemed totally out of reach. We would start preparing for the mission trip FIRST and we would also plan on taking our family to Florida. Thinking we would be able to have the money for one was absurd, but for both? Crazy! But, When God Calls – God Provides and we would take the leap of faith and believe.
As I reflect back, I don't think it was merely happenstance that our plans to take a family trip to Disney came before we were challenged to take a mission trip. God wanted to know our response. Would we be willing to give up our dream of what we wanted? Would we be willing to do what He was asking of us FIRST? He knew what our answer would be, but he was giving us an opportunity to continue to grow our faith, and he was also giving us more opportunities to give HIM the Honor, Praise, and Glory for what HE would do.
Our answer was—Yes. We will plan forward. We will believe the impossible. We will do our part. We came to believe that God was NOT asking us to be willing to go on a mission trip instead of taking the family to Disney, but in addition to taking the family on a Florida vacation in celebration of our 40th anniversary. So, we began to plan and prepare as if the impossible would become possible. When God Calls – God Provides.
And HE did, and does!! This morning I received a phone call from our accountant. A unexpected check for $10,000 is coming our way. What ?!?! Impossible!! Guess who is going on a mission trip?!! The rest will be used to pay lawsuit expenses. I fully believe that around March of 2013, I will be writing about our family trip to Florida celebrating our 40 years of marriage and God's faithfulness.
When God Calls – God Provides.
Addendum: God Called...and God Provided. Read about our mission trip here.
Next Entry: Matthew 2:1–23
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