God is Faithful
There are a lot of different ways that God has shown himself faithful, but I wanted to focus on how he has met every financial need with this post. I thought of writing out each story, but you might not read it all, so here are the highlights in a list form. Maybe I’ll share the details if there is interest about any particular point.
When we went to Indonesia God made a way for us to live on one-fourth the promised salary and through an expensive evacuation and a less expensive pre-evacuation.
When we waited to pay off student loans to go to Austria, God orchestrated our home church paying off over $26,000 in loans so that we could arrive in Austria 10 years sooner than if we had tried to pay them off ourselves.
When we were on the cusp of raising our budget in 2004, but still needing over $1500 in pledges God orchestrated a change in speaker at our network conference who so encouraged churches to give that our budget needs were met in one night.
When we returned to Austria in 2009 God provided friends, family and churches at just the right time to meet the budget we needed.
From 2009 to 2013 we were consistently receiving less than our budgeted funds, both for ministry and personally, yet we were never hungry or in want.
God blessed us with: anonymous money for winter boots, dentists and doctors who reduced their fees or gave us free services, friends who pampered and spoiled Michelle and our children, and the finances to give to missionaries around the world and partner with them in reaching people we will never meet this side of heaven.
A few things I’ve realized in making this list:
I am incredibly blessed, but perhaps the best blessing on the list is being able to partner with others.
When I consider the context of each moment of God’s faithfulness I can see he was teaching us to trust him and showing that it is not in our power, but God’s promise that we serve.
A great deal of this financial provision seemed to come as a correlation to us trusting God more and committing to give ourselves. We have seen how God blessed us to fulfill the burden he gave us to give. As we have sown generously we have reaped even more generously.
Most importantly I want you to be encouraged that God is always faithful. He has never let me down. He will walk with you even when you can’t imagine taking another step.
