Years ago, in 1985 we took a giant step of faith that would lead to more steps as we journeyed on with the Lord.
My husband had a great job with Trans World Airlines, TWA, remember them? He had 20 years invested when God begin to work on his heart about being full time in ministry. For those 20 years we trusted TWA to pay his wages when he put in his hours loading cargo and suitcase on planes. So going into ministry and trusting the local church where we went on staff to supply our needs was different. My fears were at their height during those early years.
Learning to trust the Lord is a daily spiritual mental exercise of faith.
After that big step God was not through offering us other ways to grow our faith. One day we were getting our car worked on and as we waited, my husband said, honey, I think God wants us to go into over seas mission. I can't say I was surprised, I knew a change was coming our way, God was preparing my heart as only the God of the universe can do.
We had several years of trusting the Lord for our needs as we ministered at a local church in Kentucky I learned to trust for giving to a missionary when I supported one for five dollars a month and God supplied it every time. Sometimes it was from babysitting, sometimes a rebate in the mail, sometimes I would have money left over from my budget for grocery or a birthday gift. It became exciting to wait and see how God would supply. Each time I raise the amount another step of faith.
Being on the receiving end is scary, humbling and exciting and a much wider step. So our faith grew deep and wide.
That song Deep and Wide just popped into my head as I type that, there's a fountain flowing deep and wide. God's fountain is the deepest and the widest, much more then TWA's. God never goes out of business, He is always on the throne and never says, don't bring your prayers of need to me.
Let me relay a story I just told someone today. We ended our training with the mission school owing 8 hundred dollars. After graduation we left the school for our home church in Ky. with a promise to stop by a friends church that Sunday. He wanted us to meet his pastor and maybe get a chance to share our hearts. The pastor gave my husband 5 minutes from the pulpit to share. Our friends church put us up in a hotel and our friend pass on an envelope from the church when he dropped us off at the hotel. It had 8 hundred dollars in it. OUR FRIEND DID NOT KNOW WE OWE MONEY TO THE SCHOOL. We had told no body except our two children when we prayed for that debt before leaving the school.
What a start to learning how deep and wide God wanted our trust to become. We have served in two countries, Bolivia, South America and Papua New Guinea and not once have we done without our needs. Food has always been on our table, shoes on our feet, clothes on our back. We have always had a car to drive, a bed to sleep in, money to fly home when needed. And money to help others when needed. After years of trusting Him, I think I can trust Him for the rest of our years.
- So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.
- –Matthew 6:31-33
- Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment. –1 Timothy 6:17
