Monday, August 22, 2011

Not a Single Word!

Through this journey one of the things that I have learned is that we can convince ourselves that we hear what we want God to tell us – and it is really easy to do. We are expecting our TA (Travel Authorization) literally any day now and once we get TA things have to happen very fast…. and there are still mountains in the way of those things happening. I convinced myself that now was the time for us to share what those mountains are. Between Sunday School and Corporate Worship yesterday morning I prayed and asked God to show me clearly whether I was right. What I heard and what Julie heard in the sermon were two completely different things. The 3rd point of the sermon was all about taking action and from that I concluded that God was telling me it was time for me to take action (and therefore share our needs and do everything I could within my own power to meet them). However, one thing I have learned a long time ago is that unless we both agree on something that is important we don’t change direction and our last direction was to keep quiet and watch God work. As we went to bed, I was still uneasy about what we should do. We prayed together, asking God to show both of us clearly what specific action He wanted us to take. As I prayed, He answered my prayer….. I was praying an example of where God gave the Israelites specific instructions. I said, “God, you gave Israel specific instructions on how to take Jericho and we need specific instructions just like you gave them. You told the Israelites to march around the city and not ……..” I couldn’t finish my sentence because I was speechless in the presence of God. The verse actually says, "Do not shout; do not even talk," Joshua commanded. "Not a single word from any of you until I tell you to shout (emphasis mine). Then shout!" (Jos 6:10 NLT)

One day, when this is over and Sara and Hannah are safely in their new family we will get to shout to the world what God has done for us to make this possible. In the mean time, we are clay and we are in the Potter’s hands and sometimes being molded into what God wants us to be hurts, but I will take those pains any day in order to become what God wants me to be!

Ben

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