Let Go and Let God
I was listening to WMIT this morning on the way to work and heard Ann Graham Lotts’ (I think that’s how you spell her name) brief message. She was talking about letting things go in your life that stress you and instead letting God move with it. She had a good point. She asked, is it that the concept is so easy and straight forward that we have such a hard time doing it? (I don’t remember the exact quote to quote it). I tend to have a hard time completely letting something go for God to take. It’s like that trust game where you fall backwards and trust that someone will catch you. Even if it was Justin behind me saying he would catch me, I still think I would have a hard time letting my body fully relax and not try to stop myself. It’s something that I try to work on everyday. To stop worrying about things and just know that they will be taken care of. They always have before. I might not like the way things may seem but in hind sight I can see things clearly. Anyway, I say all this because it makes me think of our Moscow Team Meeting last night.
Jeremy shared with us about the Russian Missionary, Genady and his wife Vica. He has been jobless for well over a year. He was jobless when we were there last year. Eventually they had to give up their apartment and spread their belongings amongst church friends. For awhile they stayed at an American’s (Mark Sprinkle) apartment while he was visiting the US. Then they had to move out of there because of renovations. Vica had to take their daughters to stay with her mom in another town. Genady stayed behind still searching for work. After over a year of faithful prayers, they have been answered in a miraculous way. Brad and Lori’s sons (the American Missionaries) started playing basketball this year. They met another family through playing together and the father approached Brad and told him of his support for what Brad and Lori were doing. He decided to give them a donation on two conditions (he didn’t know what they spent it on and that Brad never ask him for another dime). That being said, the man donated enough money to provide Genady and Vica with an apartment for over a year. In the mean time Genady has found a part time job and is still able to devote time to the church. After meeting Genady and Vica on our last trip, I have no doubt of the Faith these two have. I know they were able to “let go and let God” without hesitation.
Praise God for all the awesome things He does in HIS time! We may not understand the time table but must know there are reasons for everything.
[...] If any of you read my wife’s blog on a daily basis, you’ve probably already read about some amazing prayers that have been answered regarding our friends in Moscow, Russia recently. If you haven’t, go read it now, or my next few sentences won’t make a bit of sense to you. My mind really just was blown away. Often times, we want to see such drastic and tangible answers to our prayers, but it doesn’t always happen that way. God has truly blessed Genady and Vica for continuing to remain faithful, even when they had no place to call home. I have a feeling that if you were to approach some random Muscovites on the street and tell them Genady’s story about being evicted (for no apparent reason), they’d tell you that “he got what he deserved” for being a (former) member of the mafia/black market and for turning his back on the Orthodox church and choosing Christianity instead. Then, finish his story. Tell them how after a year of faithful prayer from him, his fellow Russian Christian friends, as well as many of us Christians back here in the United states - God gave them a place to live. And, a job. How can they explain that? [...]