Monthly Archives: September 2013

Clear the stage by Tim

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Anything I put before my God is an idol
Anything I want with all my heart is an idol
And anything I can’t stop thinking of is an idol
And anything that I give all my love is an idol
– Jimmy Needham

Jess and I know all too well that it can be easy to make our gifts, possessions and the people that are close to us our sole focus. These things can become our idols and God is pretty clear that He wants all of our hearts and not second best (see Exodus 20:3-4).

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Early on, we made a conscious decision that we weren’t going to make this trip an idol. How sad would it be if we did this trip, but held onto it so tightly that if God asked us to let it go we wouldn’t? What if we did all this stuff for God, but not with God? What if it became about us and our talents? This means that we are seeking the one who is leading us on this trip more than thinking about the trip itself. This is something that we constantly remind ourselves of to keep our eyes on God.

A song that has inspired us is Clear the Stage by Jimmy Needham. It is a great reminder that it all comes back to our relationship with our heavenly Father and He must be first. In everything.

TG

Our House is a home by Jess

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Back in July, when meeting with Destiny Rescue, we mentioned possibly selling our house to fund the trip. We didn’t want to sell, but we weren’t sure if it was financially possible to pay a mortgage plus our travel expenses. Realistically, it’s not. However, Christian suggested we consider the renting option as our house is essentially our kids inheritance. I do love our little house, it is our home and holds precious memories. When chatting about it, Tim remembered a dream he had about renting our house to a Christian band, so perhaps it was something we should seriously consider. We also wanted to be able to bless someone else if we could, so we had a chat with God and told Him our desires.

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The next day, two of our great friends got engaged! YAY, so exciting and joyful… wait a minute… I wonder… When they asked if they could drop around, we said yes and then quickly discussed if we should ask them about their future housing plans. You never know… maybe God’s making a way… let’s do it!

We had a wonderful lunch together chatting about the engagement and listening to their wedding plans. When the topic of housing came up, they said they didn’t have any plans, but were nervous about finding a place. Really? Hmmmm. Oh so casually, Tim mentioned that we were thinking of moving next year and asked if they might be interested in renting our place, no pressure of course. The response? “Yes, we’re very interested!”

As I sat there watching this all unfold, I couldn’t help but think, ‘Is this real?’ My goodness, everything was kind of coming together. Not only did it look like we might be able to keep our house, but on top of that, God heard our desire to bless someone and He responded with an amazing couple. I almost rang my brother right then and there so we could laugh about how good God is.

Still, is it possible for us to pay a mortgage and finance this trip? Nope, but that’s ok, because faith without risk isn’t faith.

Love Jess xxoo

Daily bread – A testimony by Jess

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Give us today our daily bread.   Matthew 6 v 11

When we told our family about our trip, I mentioned that we didn’t know how we’d pay for it. My brother responded by saying that God would provide whatever we would need, but maybe it would be just enough… like in Matthew 6 v 11. In my experience from our other trips, this is usually the case.

Here is a daily bread testimony from the last few days:

~ Yesterday someone anonymously gave us $500.

~ Today we decided it was time to book our flights to the USA, so Tim got an updated quote from our travel agent. The total came to about $3500.

~ We had someone come around to help us process our tax. The estimated return was $3200 (I paid a lot of tax while I was on maternity leave).

~ Tim got the final quote from the travel agent including travel insurance, which came to $3,565.

~ We’ll book the flights on Friday.

Thank you Lord for our daily bread!

Love Jess xxoo