"I am the Lord. In it's time I will do this swiftly." - Isaiah 60:22
One of the most important aspects of walking closely with the Lord and joining Him in His work is to learn how to walk in His stride and in His timing. Just like God's ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8-9), His timing is definitely not the same as ours. We by nature are in a hurry, and we want things right away. We want results right away. We want God to use us in great ways right away. And we do not want to wait for God. But God's ways and His timing are very different than ours. It takes a long time for God to mold us and transform us into the faithful servants He wants us to be, and to be more and more like Jesus. It takes a long time before we become the faithful and trustworthy stewards and servants that He can rely on and use. If you look at how God prepared people for His service, it usually took a long period of time. Look at Moses - 40 years in the wilderness ; Abraham waited 25 years for God to fulfill His promise of a son ; David waited 17 years through many tough trials before he became king ; Joseph waited 13 hard years before God lifted him up into His service at age 30,...
We have experienced this verse Isaiah 60:22 several times now in God's call for us to join Him in His work. First of all, we walked with God for over 20 years before He called us to join Him full time in His work as missionaries in Brazil. Then after the call, it took approx. 1 1/2 years before we could actually get to Brazil. We had to sell our business, house,... and get our permanent visa and everything else in order. I remember we thought that we would move to Brazil in June 2006, because that was the "logical" time to move, after the school year was over for our sons. Well, God's plan was a bit different. First, we had a surprise and Nancy had cancer of the thyroid. Thankfully she came through the surgery well in April 2006. And then ... nothing. Our house wouldn't sell, and the process for our permanent visa was terribly slow (it took well over a year). We waited, and waited, and waited all summer. Finally God started speaking in our hearts in late August to go to Brazil and buy a house and get ready. We went and did this, before knowing when our visa would be ready and before our house sold, which was a real test of our faith. Once we did this, when it was God's time - boom - everything went incredibly quickly and well., and we moved to Brazil in October. We waited, waited, waited, and then all of a sudden God showed up and did everything quickly, smoothly, greatly - in it's time.
We are experiencing this again right now in God's call for us to move to Santos and join Him there in His work beginning next year. God started leading us to go to Santos earlier this year, and it took alot of prayer and seeking and waiting to confirm His leading. Then we started selling our house in July and also started looking for a new place to live. We found a nice apartment in Santos and started the process of buying it on Sept. 10. Since then we've been waiting, waiting, waiting. The documents for the purchase of the apartment have been delayed because bureaucracy in Brazil is really bad. We started getting frustrated and tired, because we have had a very busy ministry schedule at the same time, and we were not even able to know when we could schedule our move all of this time. We've shown our house many times, but no one was buying. Then early last week God brought to my mind this verse ... "In it's time I will do this swiftly." ; 2 days later (last Thursday) a woman shows up at our house and looks at it, and then brings her family back 3 more times over the next couple of days. On Monday she started the process of buying our house, without a realtor, which will save us valuable money we can use in our ministry (we are using our own money here). Then yesterday we were in Santos and received the good news that finally we can sign the final document on this Friday and we finally know when we are moving (November 10). In it's time, God did it swiftly & smoothly & greatly - again.
We have experienced this verse Isaiah 60:22 several times now in God's call for us to join Him in His work. First of all, we walked with God for over 20 years before He called us to join Him full time in His work as missionaries in Brazil. Then after the call, it took approx. 1 1/2 years before we could actually get to Brazil. We had to sell our business, house,... and get our permanent visa and everything else in order. I remember we thought that we would move to Brazil in June 2006, because that was the "logical" time to move, after the school year was over for our sons. Well, God's plan was a bit different. First, we had a surprise and Nancy had cancer of the thyroid. Thankfully she came through the surgery well in April 2006. And then ... nothing. Our house wouldn't sell, and the process for our permanent visa was terribly slow (it took well over a year). We waited, and waited, and waited all summer. Finally God started speaking in our hearts in late August to go to Brazil and buy a house and get ready. We went and did this, before knowing when our visa would be ready and before our house sold, which was a real test of our faith. Once we did this, when it was God's time - boom - everything went incredibly quickly and well., and we moved to Brazil in October. We waited, waited, waited, and then all of a sudden God showed up and did everything quickly, smoothly, greatly - in it's time.
We are experiencing this again right now in God's call for us to move to Santos and join Him there in His work beginning next year. God started leading us to go to Santos earlier this year, and it took alot of prayer and seeking and waiting to confirm His leading. Then we started selling our house in July and also started looking for a new place to live. We found a nice apartment in Santos and started the process of buying it on Sept. 10. Since then we've been waiting, waiting, waiting. The documents for the purchase of the apartment have been delayed because bureaucracy in Brazil is really bad. We started getting frustrated and tired, because we have had a very busy ministry schedule at the same time, and we were not even able to know when we could schedule our move all of this time. We've shown our house many times, but no one was buying. Then early last week God brought to my mind this verse ... "In it's time I will do this swiftly." ; 2 days later (last Thursday) a woman shows up at our house and looks at it, and then brings her family back 3 more times over the next couple of days. On Monday she started the process of buying our house, without a realtor, which will save us valuable money we can use in our ministry (we are using our own money here). Then yesterday we were in Santos and received the good news that finally we can sign the final document on this Friday and we finally know when we are moving (November 10). In it's time, God did it swiftly & smoothly & greatly - again.
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