Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Faithfulness in the Remembering

Don and I ran to town this morning.  We were out of rice and oatmeal for the nutrition program and needed it for when we go to the Widows' Project tomorrow.  We also stopped for our usual Sabbath 'fried chicken from town' lunch.  I stayed in the 4runner while Don ran into the chicken place.  As I am watching the people on the street, it dawns on me that this is now our 'normal'.  Don gets back in the car and I ask him when that happened.  When did all of this become our 'normal'?  He doesn't have an answer but feels it too.

We are at the beginning of the third year of our 3-year commitment.  As we start thinking/talking/discussing/praying about what that means, I am reminded of the devotion that I shared at the Widows' project last month (yes, it has been a while since we have posted a blog entry - sorry!).  

I read them the story of Zacharias and Elizabeth, the parents of John the baptist.  It is a simple children's version (my reading level in Spanish!) but it tells of how Zacharias was told by the angel in the temple that Elizabeth was going to have a baby.  Zacharias had doubts.  He didn't trust this messenger of God. 

Everyone seemed to be really listening as I encouraged them to cry out to the Lord for help when they have doubts.  God is faithful in the midst of our doubts and He hears us when we call for help.



As I am praying about the devotion for our time with the widows tomorrow, I am wondering if these devotions are more for me than them.  What a great reminder to myself to cry out to the Lord in the midst of my doubts and lack of trust!  

We are doing a study on the Song of Songs with our women's Bible study.  It is has been such an amazing discovery of the deeper meaning of the book.  

We will be glad and rejoice in you.
We will remember your love more than wine. 
Song of Songs 1:4b

In this poetic book, the reference to 'wine' is really pointing at the distractions of this world.  This verse is really saying that we will remember the Lord's love (faithfulness, favor, blessings, protection, provision etc.) more than we will be distracted by the empty promises of this world.  

There is amazing power to grow our faith when we remember His faithfulness.

We just had an amazing college team here from Abilene Christian University.  They were such a great group of young people.  Caleb talks about them a little bit in his latest blog entry.  

 They worked really hard - counting pills, painting, cleaning up garbage, etc. etc.







They joined us in the prayer room and 
we watched as the Lord touched their hearts.


They had great attitudes and LOVED everything!  Our 'normal' routine with teams is to have a few of us share our stories of how we got here.  As we tell of the Lord's faithfulness and the surety of knowing He called us here, we are remembering His love.  We are remembering that His love is better than anything the world can offer.  I hope the teams enjoy the stories but again, I wonder who is really benefiting from the remembering?!

It is so good to remind ourselves of how we personally got to this 'new' normal but also how He so provided for this huge project that Adonai (the ministry that we serve with) has stepped into.  For those of you that haven't been here for a while (or haven't seen photos for a while), take a quick peek
(photo credit - Anne Crane, ACU team):









It is really amazing if you stop and remember the journey that brought this vision to reality.  The only way to tell the story is to focus on the faithfulness of God!  

As we transition from construction to operations, we have our moments of wondering where in the world the money is going to come from to fund this huge place on a daily basis.  And then we remember . . . 

We wonder how we could possibly house all of the people that it will take to fully staff this hospital.  And then we remember . . .

Don and I have our moments of wondering where the support will come from if we feel that the Lord is calling us here longer than our original 3-year commitment.  And then we remember . . .

This is His work and He will be faithful to walk with us.  Our job is to listen for His voice, to be obedient and to remember . . .

I will remember the works of the Lord; 
Surely I will remember Your wonders of old. 
Psalm 77:11

Now I need to go prepare the devotion for our time with the widows tomorrow.  Maybe it will focus on remembering . . .