You know… It’s so funny. We’ve been doing a women’s bible study through Genesis at church. It has been really good, but I haven’t been able to go for the past couple weeks, nor have I had the time to prepare or do my homework.
Well last week was the last week of the study and I was actually able to go. The study was about Joseph, Jacob’s son…
God had just been reminding me about Joseph (read last blog), and so I went ahead and read the whole story the day before our study, perfect timing! As I read the story of Joseph I felt sad because there was betrayal and heartbreak, not just once but over and over again!! His brother’s cast him out and sold him! Even though he had high integrity, he still got blamed for immorality and adultery… Potifer’s wife claimed that he was trying to sleep with her and he was put in prison. God was always faithful, he never failed to hear Joseph. He had a plan for him and for the whole world concerning him, but within that Joseph obeyed and listened to the Lord! One main thing stuck out to me from the study that we went through, when Joseph finally revealed himself to his brother’s that he was 2nd in command of all the land, he said these words to them: “what you meant for evil God meant for good”.  And what was being revealed is that if we are believers, we can say that about anything! I have 4 babies in heaven… What I thought was meant for evil, God meant for good! My perspective is beginning to shift, he did not only allow it, he meant it to be for his purposes. I don’t know that I will ever understand this on this side of eternity, but God turns all things around to glorify himself… He redeems all things.

I’m shifting subjects here:
Ava went to My inlaw’s church VBS last week, we went to the last night’s program, there were lots of people there and it was an elaborate program. We were sitting next to this lady and her kids. She saw that my daughter was about school age and asked where she was going to be going to school? I gave the classic answer 😉 and said “well… We’re moving to Africa, sooooo… She’s not going anywhere around here”. She looked at me, dropped her jaw and said “why are you moving to Africa?!!” I said “we are going to plant a church in an unreached people group”. She said “who is going to build the church? Your husband? (Pointing to him)”. I said “well it’s not so much about the building as about preaching the gospel and gathering believers together”. Throughout the program she continued to ask me little questions, and was in such awe that we were actually moving to Africa.
After the service I ran to see a long lost friend, and so she (the lady we just met) began talking to TJ, asking him Why we were going to Africa, and TJ told her why we’re going. We’re going because God told us to, and she said “like audibly? He talked to you?!” And he began to explain that he didn’t actually audibly talked to us, but it may as well have been that. God has been so abundantly clear in leading us, he began just sharing story after story of God’s leading, his clarity and guidance. He told her the story of my last blog, she was in absolute awe that we prayed and God answered us! She seemed to be a believer but maybe not necessarily experiencing him so specifically. We walked out of the building to our cars with her, and she continued to say to us, I can’t believer you guys pray to God and really answers you! My prayer for her is that she would put total faith in our God,  that he will speak to her, that he will lead her, and she will follow him.

TJ and I often take for granted what God has done and how clearly he has lead us. Every person’s walk with God is different, But I think a lot of us don’t expect God to do much either.
I have been saved since I was a young girl. I went to Bible school to learn more about Christ, and my main prayer for years and years was that God would reveal himself to me. Within a place where God’s word was being taught daily, I felt alone and helpless. God felt so far from me, so impersonal, I began to even doubt my salvation. As I look back on all of that I can see God everywhere where I thought he wasn’t! He was so close and yet I felt that he was far away. It was not until I began to face struggles and heartache that I began to see God work, it was in my hardships that he was close, it was when I experienced the deep places in my heart that he began to meet me.
So… I only share that because I don’t want you to think it has always been easy to follow God, because there are seasons,  I know that because I experience that too, So I want to challenge you; What are you expecting of God? What kind of prayers do you pray? when you pray, are you expecting him to answer you as you pray fervently for his will? Or are you settling for something less?

Even if you are in a dry season, God is there and even if you are waiting for years (like we have) for him to answer a prayer, his timing is perfect. Continue believing and trusting. He is faithful and he will always remain that way!