A few weeks ago I was listening to a message on moving from miracle to miracle into an understanding of having a God of abundance. In many ways I am still on this journey of truly understanding this concept. But I believe some circumstances of late have brought me another step closer to fully embracing and understanding it!
Let me testify to the goodness of God!
For the past few months (maybe more) the finances at our church have been very sparse! Our offerings have been low and that in turn has effected our staff (including my husband, the pastor!). About a year ago God spoke to my heart that we were not to "rely" on Oasis for our finances. A few months ago this became very clear once again!
Because of everything going on there became a sort of "backlog" of need! Our rent could not be paid and some of our bills were overdue. And then it started happening...the abundance of God became more and more apparent. We received a very generous gift that paid our rent and other bills...and a little extra! Then there was our trip home. This was also effected by the lack of fiances at the church. But at this point we had this amazing peace that on December 16th we would board a plane for the US. A week went by and nothing. Another week started and we heard about another generous gift! 1/5 of our tickets came in!! Okay...here we go...! We continue to wait patiently. In the midst of it all we had our moments. But just as fast as the moment came...the reality that our needs are totally supplied by our amazing Heavenly Daddy came through. We got yet another generous donation...the interesting this one was they had known for over a week they would give, but because of travel plans they were not able to communicate until the time they did! So in the midst of a week of "not knowing"...God had already supplied. Now we were down to the Friday before we would leave. I talked to my travel agent and told her that I was sure we'd get the tickets, but to please just give me until Monday for an answer. We went through the weekend and nothing...I was given a financial gift, but it was designated for something else! So we waited. Monday morning I came into school and I was just so confident that Friday I would be leaving on a plane. But we still needed NT$50,000 (about US$1650). And then the door opened and in came our pastor friend. He said, "did anything else come in?" I said, "no, but we're leaving on Friday" and he said, "I know!" and I said, "Yep, me too!" and he said, "no I KNOW you are." and I said, "do you know something? Do I need to call my travel agent and have her issue our ticket?" and he smiled and said, "Sunday I preached about faith. I wanted to stir the faith of our congregation. And so I used your family as a testimony of faith in finance. After the service one of our congregation came up to me and said that by Thursday (Dec. 15th) whatever they still need I will pay." OH MY GOODNESS!!!!!!!!!!! God you are truly so very good!!!! So we waited a few more days to see if anyone else had felt let to give and today we are working out getting all the money to my travel agent! So tomorrow (Friday, December 16th) we will board a plane for the US.
On top of that we found out yesterday that the offering was large enough on Sunday and so we were able to be paid our November salary. So our rent was covered for December!!!
We have decided that we will not be receiving any money from the church on a monthly basis. So we are going back on full support/donor basis. Even with this, we know that God is the supplier of our needs no matter where money comes from! So we sit in peace and know that our God is a God of abundance! We love that He once again has showed himself so faithful and poured his love out on us in an amazing way! We are thrilled that we are able to go to be with family and that we will also get some much needed rest! We'll be back in Taiwan on Jan. 26th ready for all the amazing things God has in store for us!
When I think about what my life could be like...what we could have...I would not change one thing! We have an amazing place to live...we live in one of the most incedible nations...we have family both in the US and throughout the world...and most of all we are co-laboring with God to see His Kingdom established in the hearts of the people throughout Asia and the Pacific...and the world! He is a God of grace and love and mercy...and we want to be that to all we meet!
No longer miracle to miracle...but truly living in the midst of abundance!
