Engine Light

Recently I read the book, The Shack.  I had an "aha" moment.  At the end of the book the character is discussing with God the difference between expectancy and expectations.  For me, that means learning to pray without expectations of how or when God will provide.  I say I trust God, but I realized I have a long way to go to COMPLETELY trust God.    I am sure I have missed many of God's answers because I was expecting a certain answer when it probably came in a different way at a different time.  I decided to begin praying with expectancy.  No expectations.  No time spent wondering how God would answer it (which would lead me down the path to expectations, "what ifs" worry and stress) but instead trusting God would answer it.

Last Thursday, I had my first opportunity. My daughter, Carley, has been dreaming of her first truck for many years.  She turns 16 in May, so the search got serious over the last few weeks.  She and her dad have poured over trucks on the internet looking for the exact truck in our price range.  I have tried to be patient, but to be honest, I was more than ready for the search to be over.  On another truck searching excursion last Thursday, after the first three trucks did not work out, I began fervantly praying asking God to lead us to the right truck with an expectancy that he would, and then I did something new.  I "let go."  I mean I REALLY let it go. I felt very peaceful.   A few minutes later, they found a black Chevy Z71 with side steps in GREAT condition and in our price range!!  It was a truck Carley and Randy loved, but had been extremely difficult to find.  They were VERY excited until they found out it had 220,000 miles.  Yes, that would be two hundred and twenty THOUSAND miles.    I thought I should share the prayer I had JUST prayed not wanting to miss God's answer this time!!  We discussed it and decided to move forward with having the truck inspected.  The third party inspection said the truck looked great and would probably go another 200, 000 miles.  We were on our way back to the dealership to make the purchase knowing everyone would think we were crazy, when the engine light came on.  Totally unexpected.   For us, the engine light was God saying, "This is not the truck, but do you trust me?"  Nothing made sense at that moment.  We found what seemed to be the perfect truck for Carley (with too many miles)  but knew God was saying to leave it on the lot.  

We came home with a very sad, but understanding teenager.  We had a great discussion on not trying to figure God out, but instead trusting Him.  Slipping back into my expectation mode...I fully expected several more truck searching expeditions before he provided.    Instead, God provided a cute, black Chevy with side steps in amazing condition with only 50,000 miles the very next day in our town and IN OUR BUDGET!!  Two other people were looking at the truck before Randy could get there, but somehow (we know how!) they couldn't make the deal.   Randy (having told us the truck search for the day was a bust) brought the truck to the store where Carley and I were, parked it by my car and waited patiently to see the looks on our faces when he handed her the keys.  

We spent the rest of the evening discussing how amazing and funny God is and how different our lives would be if we had complete trust in God all the time!  We are now waking up with expectancy and trusting God each day and we are determined to recognize "Engine Lights" when we see them, knowing they are bringing us one step closer to God's provision!

Thank you to everyone who has graciously provided financial support for our trip to Ghana! We appreciate you partnering in the journey with us!!  We can't wait to get there and meet Alex, Bernard, Aagnes, Deborah, Alexander, Braimah, Emmanuel, Kwaku, Salamatu, Stella and all the other children and share God's love with them! 

I love the way God always prepares us for what he has called us to do. Our church is starting a "servolution." One week in April will be focused on serving our community by providing meals for the homeless, repairing playgrounds in a single parent community, visiting nursing homes, etc. This is what our leaders have shared:

Servolution is not an event; it is a culture. Infusing this culture into the DNA of our church will change the view of the world and your perspective of the needs of those who love around you. This movement is rumbling throughout the body of Christ - a revolutionary army of people ready to take up this mandate. We are actively pursuing the lost, the forgotten, and the poor to show them a God who is passionately in love with them. We stand ready with one heart, saying, "I will serve others and show them the hope they can have in Jesus."

I can feel God moving in a BIG way. What a great way to get our feet wet as we dive into serving our local community before we cross the globe to serve. God is such a great big awesome God!

Thank you for your prayers and donations! Your support is making this trip possible for our group!

Ghana Go 2 Africa! How cute is that title! Thanks to Payton for getting this journey started and for for being so creative! I am excited on many levels to be part of this experience. I can't wait to spend time serving with my best friend, Kimberli and her daughter, Savannah. She has been my "partner in crime" for the last 10 years! She has challenged me in every way, especially in my spiritual walk, so I thank God for her and for the opportunity to continue ministering along side her.

I am very excited to experience this life changing journey with my daughter, Carley! Carley and I are about as opposite as you can get in personalities, so it will be fun to watch how God uses us to minister to children across the world. I am thrilled she gets to have this experience at such a young age.

I look forward to meeting Jennifer, Kasarah, Sarah and Payton! I know Carley and I will both learn and grow from being around young, beautiful, spirit filled women who are ready to dive in and be obedient to God's calling!

And of course, I am most excited about traveling to Africa to see God in action in the lives of the children at the Village of Hope. He has already revealed many of the pieces of the puzzle by putting the exact people in our path that we needed to meet in order to make it possible for us to share faithbooking with these children. We are amazed daily and will be blogging about these God Moments because we want to remember them all and we want to share what God is doing with you!

We appreciate any support you have or will give our group as we count down the days, hours, minutes and seconds to our trip!!

In Him...tlc