This week has taken many different turns. I know that the Lord is teaching me to trust Him in ALL circumstances through out the entire process of this journey. If there is ever a time where I could ask you to cover me in prayer, it is now. When the Holy Spirit revealed to me the calling to serve in Cambodia, He also revealed to me that Satan would try and stop me. Never did I think that he would go to this much trouble to do so. I will admit, I am feeling discouraged, helpless even. BUT, I will NOT fall into despair because the ENEMY HAS BEEN DEFEATED! I must cling to the cross with which through Christ the Lord has SET ME FREE from the power of sin and death! No longer is it me that lives, but CHRIST that lives in me! How often I forget that the Lord tells us in scripture that we have been given every gift and spiritual blessing. If God is for me, who can be against me? We are no longer slaves to sin but slaves to RIGHTEOUSNESS!
My family sometimes volunteers at a local home for children that have been taken away from their parents and have been given a second chance. We have been with a house full of 9 girls this week. This is only the second time I have been able to go with my parents and WHOA is it a humbling experience. These girls are just as much orphans as the children in Cambodia. The Lord has taught me a lot this week through being there and getting to know the girls. There is one specific little girl who is more than a handful and brings me so much joy at the same time. Two nights ago, I was reading her a bedtime story. It was one of the Bearenstein Bears books and it was titled Bearenstien Bears Count Their Blessings. As I was reading it and she began to fall asleep, I knew that the Lord had me pick up this book for a reason. Though I am struggling to trust the Lord and struggling to see the light at the end of the tunnel, I must know that the Lord is faithful. Look at how many things He has blessed me with already? Why would I not believe in His truths of faithfulness when I have seen Him do so many things for my good and His glory already in my life? I don't know why I keep thinking that any of this depends on me and my performance, or how much I do or seek or plead to the Lord. NO, none of this is even about me! When will I get this through my head!?
The Lord has definitely been letting me know that I have NO control in regards to the plan I think I have made for my life. He knows the plans that He has made for me when I was still in the womb and my days were in His book before I was even born. He has a plan for me for good and a hope for a future! I must remember that this plan, His plan, is flawless. No, I am not saying my life will be flawless, in fact we are guaranteed tribulation in this life, but I am saying that whatever happens, good or bad in my eyes, is just what the Lord has intended for my good and His glory.
My dear friend and prayer partner through out this time left me a message on my phone just yesterday. She has told me before that her mother has been given the spiritual gift of prophetic dreams. Now, I have never met anyone else with this gift, but I firmly believe, that like Joseph in the Bible, that the revelations that are brought to her mother are very much God sent. Due to distance, I have only met my friend's mother once in my life, but apparently the Lord revealed to her a message to give me. This is what it was, "Whatever your doing, keep doing, and God will give you an answer by July 10th." Talk about freaky!!! These past few months I have experienced things that I have read about in the Bible that I never thought would happen to me. All I can say is that GOD IS REAL and He is working right now!!! Never have I believed this more in my entire life than right now. Yes, I am struggling, but when I am weak then I am strong; not my power but by the power that lives within me by the Holy Spirit!
"But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong."
2 Corinthians 12:9-10 ESV
Please, please pray that the Lord would give me guidance these next few weeks and that He would provide the funding for me to carry out His will that has He has revealed to me.
Grace and Peace,
Laura
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