The Promised Land

We have such a faithful and loving Father.  Scripture is full of His promises to prove it.

The past couple of weeks have been trying.  Ok, trying doesn't quite cut it... We've been persecuted in our own home, I've been told I'm stupid for "brainwashing" the girls into believing a "little book" called the Bible, and to top it off, the only safe place I had to lock myself in has become infested with rats.  Dare I say anything to our landlord who is kicking us out? No, it would only cause more heartache and drama (I've set out traps... praying the critters go away).

It hasn't been my week.

But that doesn't matter, because it's God's.  Every week, every day, every hour, every minute, every second is His.

Before I moved down here, the Lord had been speaking to my heart about how both the Suchers and myself have been traveling in the wilderness.   Right before I came, He gave me Song of Solomon 8:5, "Who is that coming up from the wilderness leaning on her beloved?"  so I knew God had great things in store for this year in the DR.

In my daily readings for the past months, I've been working through Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and now Deuteronomy... common theme? Wandering through the wilderness to be delivered at last into the Promised Land.  I could not have even planned these readings better for such a time as this... God has been speaking so lovingly, yet with conviction, of my own wandering and disobedience in this "wilderness" here, preparing me to enter into His Promised Land.

The Lord has been gently refining my soul like gold.  It burns at times, but the Lord only disciplines those whom He loves.  God has been revealing to me how I must let go of what I thought life and school would be like on the field, and just breathe in His Presence and be the person He created me to be.  Life as a missionary is demanding, chaotic, and tiring, and just when you think you're getting a routine down, something will come in and disrupt it... but it all depends on how you react to each situation.

Well, a BIG interruption in our lives has come in the form of having our security of a home being taken from us.  The famous words from Pearl the Landlord come to mind... "You'll be evic-vic!" (In other words... we've been evicted).

I always felt in my heart and spirit that God had incredible plans for this building we're in.  I felt an urgency before I moved here to pray for this home, that God have His way, that He brings the nations in, and that people seek refuge, restoration, and joy of the Lord in this home.  I've been praying for the salvation of our landlord, Jay, who would be referred to as "stiff-necked" in the Bible.  He can be so stubborn and downright mean in instigating problems.

Even upon hearing that he was kicking us out, I was holding on so strongly to what I thought the Lord had for us here.  I was adamant that the Lord was giving us this building for the mission.  Nothing is set in stone, of course, but it appears that we're completely cutting ties with this place.  The view of the mountains, the classroom overlooking the ocean, the many rooms where potential mission teams could eventually stay with us... and my beloved prayer spot on the roof.

God has been speaking so loudly to me in this time, it's crazy.  Through the psalms I've read...

"For behold, your enemies make an uproar... fill their faces with shame that they may seek your name, O Lord... that they may know that you alone whose name is the Lord are the Most High over all the earth"  Psalm 83:3, 16, 18

 and

 "O God, insolent men have risen up against me, a band of ruthless men seek my life, and they do not set you before them.  But You, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.  Turn to me and be gracious to me, give Your Strength to Your servant, and save the son of your maidservant.  Show me a sign of Your favor, that those who hate me may see and be put to shame, because You, Lord, have helped me and comforted me." Psalm 85:14-17

Then I read Acts 5:41 after the apostles had just been beaten for Jesus' namesake... "Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name." 


Rejoicing.  Yes, rejoicing.  Oh how the Lord continues to renew my mind and spirit everyday.

This past week we've experienced our own little "House Hunters International" as we set out looking for a place to call home.  The Suchers have set their sight on a quaint little home that's big enough for their family and I'm so excited for them to be able to have a place of their own, full of God's peace and joy.

I'm still looking for my own place within a reasonable traveling distance to the Suchers.  I know the Lord will provide.  He's been so good to me and has given me His protection and assurance in so many ways.  And I just read Deuteronomy 7 of which I'm clinging to His promises...

"When the Lord your God brings you into the Land that you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many nations before you... you  shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them... but thus shall you deal with them; you shall break down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and chop down their Asherim and burn their carved images with fire.  For you are a people holy to the Lord your God.  The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His treasured possession, out of all the people who are on the face of the earth.  It was not because you were more in number than any other people the the Lord set His love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that He swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty Hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.  Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love Him and keep His commandments, to a thousand generations, and repays to their face those who hate Him, by destroying them.  He will not be slack with one who hates Him.  He will repay him to his face.  You shall therefore be careful to do the commandment and the statues and the rules that I command you today.  And because you listen to these rules and keep and do them, the Lord your God will keep with you the covenant and the steadfast love that He swore to your fathers.  He will love you, bless you, and multiply you.  He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, you grain, and your wine and your oil... And the Lord will take away from you all sickness, and none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which you knew, will He inflict on you, but He will lay them on all who hate you.  And you shall consume all the peoples that the Lord your God will give over to you.  Your eye shall not pity them, neither shall you serve their gods, for that would be a snare to you."

God knows everything we're going through here.  I know, without a doubt, He is delivering us from this present unrest to a land flowing with milk and honey.  I may not know yet what that will look like, but I have a faithful Lord, who is for me, not against me, who will provide.

One last note.  WE may be leaving this building on the hill... but God is staying.  I know His Presence dwells here richly, especially on the roof. So one of the reasons Jay wanted us out immediately was because he came back to find a few tiles broken in the driveway.  Well, he didn't have any of the same tiles so he had to pull out some new ones... check out this design...

Jay has no idea, and we're not about to tell him.  We'll leave that to the Lord.  There's also a tree right across the way that always reminds me of Jesus on the cross.  It directly faces this building.  Can you see it?

I'll miss the view and the prayer place I found with the Lord, but the Lord is my refuge and all I need is Him.  I have faith He is already preparing our future meeting place... He is so good to me.  I may be leaving, but I wont stop praying for Jay.  He needs the Lord so badly and all I can think of is Saul's conversion in Acts.  Nothing is impossible for God.  If you can, lift him up in prayer, as well as for God's provision in houses for us.  Your prayers are the greatest gift we could ever receive!