Where do I begin?

I have a story to share and am not sure where to start it. Somewhere in themiddle I guess, so here goes.

After about 11 years of marriage, I found myself praying fervently for my husband who had stopped going to church with me about 9 years prior. We went through a very devastating time in our marriage early on and he was very wounded. I, on the other hand, recognized that I was doing a very lousy job of living my life and that I had totally messed things up. I turned to God desperate for His deliverance and recognizing that apart from Him I was lost utterly and completely.

I remember very clearly one day that God spoke a revelatory, what I believed at the time was even a prophetic, word to me as I was reading my Bible. The word came through John 11. It is the story of Lazarus and his death and how Jesus raised him from the dead. Several things stood out to me. Lazarus was sick and his family sent for Jesus. Jesus responded, "This sickness is not unto death but that the son of God would be glorifed". It also says that Jesus loved Martha and her sister and lazarus. Because He loved them, he stayed two more days where He was!

I wrote in my journal that day that I believed God was telling me that my marriage was going to die and that God was going to resurrect it. I did not really understand this but knew that God was speaking. The other part of this story that really stood out to me was that when Jesus did arrive and He raised Lazarus from the dead, Lazarus came out of the grave but he was bound hand and foot with graveclothes. Jesus then turned to those that were with him and said, "loose him and let him go".

Within less than a year my world fell apart. My husband and I were seperated and I was trying to survive without really having a way to provide for my four young children. I was devastated and one of the things that gave me hope was that God had told me this was going to happen, but He had a plan and a purpose in all of it, to save my marriage and to bring Glory to His name!

Preparing for Haiti

We leave in 1 1/2 days to travel to Haiti. I am so excited to be able to go and help the people in Haiti. I really believe that God is leading us and He has provided what we need for this trip. In many ways there are alot of unknowns. We are going to be staying at a home just outside of Port au Prince that is the home of a friend's parents, Reggie Jean-Gilles.

We will be gone for 10 days. As I have prayed over this trip, God has spoken two things very clearly to me.
1. Meeting physical needs is good and necessary, but temporary, but meeting a spiritual need is eternal!
2. If we believe and plan for God to do big things He will not disappoint us!

The team is flexible, willing and wanting to see God move in us and through us. We are going forward on faith as not all of the connections that we thought we had have been solidified.

I believe that God is able to show His Supernatural Provision when we are devoid of self-sufficiency (From a study by Beth Moore).

So here is to further posts, coming when I return from Haiti of all of the amazing ways that God showed up and lifted His name to be glorified!

God's Provision-Not always obvious!

This is an event that happened about 14 years ago. I was a single mom with four children,living in my sister's basement in Oak Park. I was in school full time and living on about $1ooo a month. I owned a 1989 toyota Van that had a lot of miles and wear and tear. Loved that van, it took us on alot of adventures!

It was a very stormy rainy night and there was flooding all over town. My oldest daughter was at Young Life that night and I left to go and pick her up. I was driving down McKinley Blvd and the street was underwater. I did not think it was that deep so I proceeded to drive through. the van almost immediately died and I could not get it started. I pulled over, called for a ride and got home from one of the parents from club.

The next morning I called for a tow truck and had the van towed to a mechanic. fortunately I had been able to continue paying my car insurance. Well, the car was totaled. I was devastated. How was I going to get my children to school or myself back and forth to school? I drove the kids every day to our old neighborhood so they could continue going to their old school.

This is where God's provision came in. The van had tires that were in desperate need of being replaced, but I had no money to do so. The insurance company called and said that they would give me $3200 dollars for the van. I bought the van back from them for $800 and then I was able to locate a mechanic who replaced the ruined engine with a rebuilt one for about $1500 and I was also able to put new tires on the van, with some money left over! God's provision was more than enough, I remember being so amazed at how He continued to take care of me and the kids, and that we had what we needed when we needed it.

What is Faith?

I have been pondering the title to this blog, that I started almost 5 years ago! Am I really a woman of faith? Why did I chose that title? What is faith and is it something I can lay claim to?

I had the thought that God has given me the gift of faith, it is not something that I can even call my own. I was reminded of the scripture in Hebrews 12:1-2 "Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has set down at the right hand of the throne of God."

This is truly my hearts cry- to run the race of faith, to be an encourager to those with whom I am running with, knowing that we are not racing against each other, but rather this is a race of endurance and just as I am encouraged by those who have gone on ahead so I want to be an encourager to those who are coming behind me.

So I am going to begin to tell the stories that make up my walk of faith. God has given me a gift and I wnat to share it. May He be glorified in my life and through the telling of all that He has done!