“As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” At once they left their nets and followed him. Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.” Matthew 4:18-22 (emphasis mine)
This portion of scripture clearly shows an unadulterated faith and obedience in Jesus Christ. These men recognized instantly the power and authority that was upon Him and did not hesitate to lay aside the things of this life to follow. Jesus had just begun His ministry and I am sure these men had heard from John the Baptist, but it is quite possible that this is the very first time that they had actually laid eyes on Him. Can you imagine leaving everything you have ever known to go with someone you have just met? I’m sure they had great anticipation of His coming since John the Baptist had relentlessly paved the way for His coming. I can only assume that they did not feel that they were meeting a stranger but a long-awaited friend and in the moment when their eyes locked they did not question His words. Jesus said come and they left the security of their jobs and families and without hesitation and followed.
As I have shared with you all a previous post our family has undergone a similar experience. We have left a secure job, our home, and everything we knew to be our “security” and followed. But can I just say this, when He calls and you go, your needs will always be taken care of. There will always be provision when we move in obedience! We have spent the last 3 months on the road raising funds for Liberia, West Africa and we are gearing up for another 3 months before we can leave for Liberia. We continue to pray that the funds come in to not only get us on the ground but to keep us there so we can do the things God has laid in our hearts to do. We are learning that our God is not limited in the slightest. He is also very creative in his ways of provision. When a family of five lives on the road for three months you can better believe that this is not cheap! But We watched the Lord use people in amazing ways to meet needs that we were not even expecting or asking for! Just as it says in Ephesians “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,” Ephesians 3:20. There were so many times we did not even ask or think about God providing in the ways that He did, but to this day He continues to astound us in His creative abilities the ways He provides for His children.
Examples
When traveling on the road we often found ourselves eating fast food. And let me tell you, this gets old quick! One of our go-to places to alleviate the greased down feeling that most fast food joints leave you feeling with is Subway. It is a much healthier option when you're in need of something quick. Like usual, we were standing in line conversing with the other customers. We often get asked why our kids are “out of school.” Well, since they are homeschooled this is an easy segway into what we are doing as a family. We get through the line and ready to pay and the cashier tells me that my bill has been taken care of. I almost cried! Here we were a family of five minding our own business and someone was willing to bless us with a meal. I looked around and caught eyes with the lady standing behind me in line and realized she had taken care of our meal. With tears in my eyes, I thanked her. My children quickly followed suit. We were completely blown away by God’s hand in it all.
While we are on the road we live out of a travel trailer. It is a tight squeeze, but it’s home and that thought seems to alleviate some of the discomforts of the close quarters. When you live in a travel trailer full time it is bound to have both the normal wear and tear of the road plus the general maintenance that any travel trailer is going to need. So when our initial three months was done we took it to an RV shop and told them everything we needed to be done. We had mentioned that we were paying about $50 a month to store it in a storage unit and he told us that we could store it at his shop for $30 a month. He stores a number of other trailers and RVs and that it would not be a problem. This was great news! Any way we could cut costs is always helpful! We also had the opportunity to share what we are doing as a family and upon hearing his, the owner of the RV shop got so excited. He had just started going to church about a year ago. So, it was very evident he was still a very new and eager Christian, such a refreshing thing to see! He talked about his wife and how faithful she had been over the years with church and now he had finally decided to join her and does not regret it one bit. He was so moved by our story he actually called up his wife while we were standing there. He shared with her that he offered to store our trailer for us, but he said: “we can’t charge them for that can we?” To which his wife quickly replied, “No we can’t.” So, now we have a safe place to store our trailer free of charge! Praise the Lord! After getting off the phone with his wife he told us he would take a look at our trailer, let us know if there was anything else that needed to be taken care of and give us a total cost before he did any work. We didn’t want to end up with a huge bill and wonder how we were going to juggle paying for it when it came.
About a week went by and we hadn’t heard from the RV shop and we were getting a little worried. When the phone call did come the RV shop owner ran down through the extensive list of work he had done to the trailer. This made my husband extremely anxious because we had specifically asked to have an estimate before the work was done. As the owner finished out the laundry list of items he concluded with this… “And your total comes to a whopping ZERO!” My husband was speechless. The RV shop owner had taken care of all of the things we needed to be fixed on the trailer plus did some things that we hadn’t expected all because he wanted us to be safe on the road! Wow! If that is not the hand of God, I don’t know what is. The total was over $800.00 but the bill said paid in full! It still makes me cry as I share this story with you all. Our God is so awesome! “...He will never let the righteous fall.” Psalm 55:22 (NLT)
When we were on the road time and time again we had people who give directly to our family rather than through the organization we are with so that they could help with food and gas. It truly was amazing to watch God’s hand of provision rise up. There was never a need that did not go unmet. We never lacked for a single thing. This is when you can be certain that you have heard the voice of the Lord correctly because “my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19
Heavenly Father, I thank you that you meet all of our needs according to your riches in glory. I thank you that when you ask us to follow you that you will always provide for us, you are never going to let the righteous fall or your seed begging for bread. Thank you for taking care of us in the calling. Your hand is never too short! Our needs are always taken care of, even those needs we did not see coming or were not asking for, you have already provided a way for. Thank you! Help us to hear your voice when you call and not to question, but to follow without hesitation just like Simon, Andrew, James, and John. We ask this in the precious name of Jesus.
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