Learning to have God be in control

Hello from the warmer parts of the world this is Steve.

It is time for a “what have we learned lately” blog. So here goes. Pretty much for the last 6 months I (we but in different ways) have been learning how to let God take control of my life. I guess it goes back even further than 6 months because when God switched us from France to Cote d’Iviore a year ago we had pretty much decided God didn’t want us to go overseas and when we prayed specifically for double the support we had and didn’t expect it, God provided. Even then for a moment we questioned because our minds were set on staying where we were, but when God gives you the sign you ask for, you should not complain. So we had to continue support raising which we had been doing for over 2 years at that point and were not excited about, but God provided and everything came together as he wanted it to.


For the year and a half before left both Jess and I worked, paid off all our student loans and started saving because that is the responsible thing to do. About a month before my job ended and in the middle of some uncertainty of when we would actually get to leave I felt God calling us to give the money we had been saving. It took me about a week to come to terms with this because without really thinking about it both Jess and I had made plans with this money and it was our security. So God, wanting us to depend on him for everything (like doing support raising wasn’t enough…), wanted us to give almost all of our savings to our future ministry. So then I had to tell Jess that God was telling me this, it took me another week to do that because it sounds completely crazy, right? But I did and at first she thought I was crazy, but then got on board since it was God not me. And after we did this there was more discussion about not leaving when we thought we would and maybe having to stay in the States longer, but we only had God to rely on so we knew it was his timing when we made it to Africa.

Another lesson I had to learn in the process of letting God have control of my life was with letting God have my appearance. So most people know (and some have very strong opinions) that I have my ears pierced and have gauges. I really like them and they are unique. So God starts picking on my earrings and telling me to take them out to fit into this culture and not be a stumbling block to others and just generally listen to him. So as usual, I put it off because I don’t want to change. At about the same time, Jess has a similar thing going on with her nose ring and when she felt herself getting an attitude about it with God she just went and took it out because she knew that is what she needed to do. The very next day she went and visited Centre Providence where Stephanie works and the girls there had an hour long lecture on nose rings (in this culture mostly prostitutes wear them), she was quite thankful she had listened to God when she did. As for me, I waited longer because I’m stubborn, but I finally took them out and they are closing up nicely (you were wrong about them never closing mom). I haven’t seen anything come from me taking them out, but I followed what God wanted which is what is important.

I am quite sure God will continue to show me areas of my life where I am still trying to keep control and really just need to let God have it because he has better plans. So I will leave you with Jess’ motto: “if I don’t want to, I know I should.”

The Rest of our Team

And here is the rest of our team! Also, check back to the last blog post – I’ve attached each member’s blog, so if you’re interested in their ministry and what God has been teaching them here, you can check it out for yourself:

Kelly - Read Her Blog

Kelly is a business major from Indiana. She came at the same time as Tricia (see below) in August 2011. She has an amazing servant spirit and is interested in using business as missions here in Cote d’Ivoire. She started living with a host family in late November in Korhogo (3 hours north of where we are now) and is LOVING her family (seriously, she can’t wait to get back “home” when she’s visiting us here). She’s partnering with a church in Korhogo to study business practices of women in the church. She is currently sick with malaria, so please keep her in your prayers. She is planning on being here for two years.

Tricia  - Read Her Blog

Tricia is our little firecracker from California. She came in August 2011 and, like Kelly, was placed in host families in November. Cool story with Tricia: She came here to do sports ministry and didn’t know what that looked like (being a woman in this culture). She decided to volunteer at a school for mentally handicapped children. Steve and I went with her to tour it one day and they decided to figure out her schedule. Without her telling them that she was interested in sports ministry, they asked if she would want to help out with the physical therapy with the children, being an encouragement for them. I loved how her face lit up when she found that out. God is so good! Tricia is halfway through her year here in Cote d’Ivoire.

Almut

Almut came after Tricia and Kelly in September and is planning on staying until June/July of this year. She’s from Germany. Funny Almut story – Almut knew that God was calling her to missions, but didn’t know where. Her only prayer was that she wouldn’t have to go to an English speaking country because she didn’t really like English. When God called her to Cote d’Ivoire, she was relieved, but then came to find out that she was going to have to learn English anyway, because most of the people she was working with are American. She’s amazing at both English and French and a wonderful, hilarious person. She’s in a host family in Korhogo also, working with the church to develop a program for handicap children at the church. Pray for her as this is a big job for one person and she’s learning as she goes.

That’s our team! You can also be praying for Phil and Mimi, a couple who should be coming this year, and also two other team members (one from America coming for three months, and one from Germany coming for 3-4 months). The next “team” coming out is coming in October 2012 (Lord Willing). We’ll keep you updated as we know more!

Thanks so much for your prayers for our team. Much like anything else, there’s struggles and conflict when you throw 10 VERY different people together, but our prayer has been that “if it is possible, as far as it depends on [us], live at peace with everyone.” (Romans 12:18)

Thanks for praying for our team.