Our family has finally started feeling some of the sacrifice that comes with obedience. In the past week we have found new homes for our chickens, Ethan's pet snake, and our dog, Bear. There have been many emotions running through our household. Yesterday, as I snuggled with Bear for the last time before handing him over to his new family (see photo), I took comfort in the following verses:
"Everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or property, for my sake, will receive a hundred times as much in return and will have eternal life." (Matthew 19:29)
"You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book." (Psalm 56:8)
"I cry out to God Most High, to God who will fulfill His purpose in me." (Psalm 57:2)
All of our children have been really struggling with the idea of moving to Kenya lately. Last week, Ethan told me, "I know you feel like God is calling you and Dad to Kenya. But He hasn't spoken to me. I don' think He's calling me to go." I tried to assure him that if God is calling Jason and me, He is calling Ethan too. That didn't really seem to help. In fact, he even suggested several families that he might live with for the next three years!
Milton Jones, our former pastor and new President of Christian Relief Fund, preached this morning -- a powerful lesson on trusting God and the good gifts He gives to His children. He told the story of when he was in Kenya last summer, meeting with Dr. Hezron, a Kenyan doctor. Milton, Larry, and Julie (all CRF Board Members) were trying to convince Dr. Hezron to accept a position working at the Voluntary Counseling and Testing center for HIV/AIDS in Kisumu, Kenya. Before the meeting began, Dr. Hezron asked if he could get them anything. Julie requested water. Expecting bottled water, they were all surprised when water was brought in a pitcher with three cups. Knowing that a cholera epidemic was ravaging the area at the time (in addition to the usual travel sicknesses that accompany unfiltered water), Milt, Larry, and Julie gave each other knowing glances that warned, "Don't drink the water!" They continued their meeting with dry lips and parched throats, and Dr. Hezron did in fact agree to work at the VCT.
As the group was leaving, Dr. Hezron said to them, "You didn't drink the water." So Julie politely walked back to the table, handed a cup to Milt and to Larry, and took one for herself. Nervously, they all three drank the water. As they finished, Dr. Hezron asked, "Do you really think I would give you bad water? I am a doctor, and if I am going to be your doctor, you are going to have to trust me."
Milton Jones, our former pastor and new President of Christian Relief Fund, preached this morning -- a powerful lesson on trusting God and the good gifts He gives to His children. He told the story of when he was in Kenya last summer, meeting with Dr. Hezron, a Kenyan doctor. Milton, Larry, and Julie (all CRF Board Members) were trying to convince Dr. Hezron to accept a position working at the Voluntary Counseling and Testing center for HIV/AIDS in Kisumu, Kenya. Before the meeting began, Dr. Hezron asked if he could get them anything. Julie requested water. Expecting bottled water, they were all surprised when water was brought in a pitcher with three cups. Knowing that a cholera epidemic was ravaging the area at the time (in addition to the usual travel sicknesses that accompany unfiltered water), Milt, Larry, and Julie gave each other knowing glances that warned, "Don't drink the water!" They continued their meeting with dry lips and parched throats, and Dr. Hezron did in fact agree to work at the VCT.
As the group was leaving, Dr. Hezron said to them, "You didn't drink the water." So Julie politely walked back to the table, handed a cup to Milt and to Larry, and took one for herself. Nervously, they all three drank the water. As they finished, Dr. Hezron asked, "Do you really think I would give you bad water? I am a doctor, and if I am going to be your doctor, you are going to have to trust me."
This morning, Ethan sat with us in service, which is unusual, because he usually sits with the teens. As soon as service was over, he looked at me with tears in his eyes and an amazing look of enlightenment on his face. He said, "Mom, I think God just spoke to me."
"What did He say?" I asked.
He told me, "It was when Milton told about Dr. Hezron saying, 'Do you really think I would give you bad water??' God just told me it was going to be okay. I'm at peace about moving to Kenya now."
And so we leave you for now with this thought from Luke 11: "And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will be given what you ask for. Keep on looking and you will find. Keep on knocking and the door will be opened. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And the door is opened to everyone who knocks.
You fathers - if your children ask for a fish, do you give them a snake instead? Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion? Of course not! If you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him."
