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      this is part four of a four part blog series.  click on the links below for:

part one: slavery
part two: deliverance
part three:  the (delivered) wilderness

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[left to right: Team B.R.A.D.Y. at Catarina Lake in Nicaragua; playing with snakes in Thailand; Team En Gedi at Lampi Waterfall in Thailand]

I’m so thankful that the Lord is sovereign. Why? Because none of this caught Him by surprise. I cannot explicitly prove this theory in Scripture, but I think the “testing to prove” that Father does to us is more often to prove something to ourselves more than it is to prove it to Him. He knows our hearts; even better than we know them ourselves. He knows we will obey Him, it is we who do not.

Eventually, the Israelites cross the Jordan and enter their Promised Land. The Lord begins to hand over the land of the Canaanites, Amorites and others to the Israelites and peace ruled over the land.

My “Promised Land” is on the horizon. I believe I have reached its outskirts and am enjoying the sweetness of being nearer to Father than ever. As the Race comes to an end for me, I feel like my time in the “delivered wilderness” is as well. Coincidence? Not if you believe in the sovereignty of my God. The promises are only going to get sweeter as I move from this season into the next. 

      
[left to right: the orphanage we worked with in the Philippines; siblings in Cambodia; peeling eggs for the homeless food ministry in Malaysia]
 
I now freely know, within myself, that my life truly belongs to the Lord. He is my first love. I will follow Him to the ends of the earth even when I don’t feel Him, don’t understand Him or don’t like the journey, trusting and relying on Him – and not myself – for everything.

The Lord has reminded me of a truth He shared with me in October 2008:   His provision is not limited to the roof over my head, the clothes on my back & the food in my pantry. He is Jehovah Jireh in every way, including spiritually, personally, and yes, even emotionally. 

My prayer is that, unlike the Israelites, I will not forget the Lord who brought me out of slavery and into the delivered wilderness when I’m fully free in my Promised Land. I do not want to find myself in slavery again. May praise and honor be on my lips forever. But, should I fail, my confidence is in the Father’s heart for me. 

He will deliver me again if only I cry out to, wait for and obey Him.

      [left to right: dedicating newborn baby Ben-hin to the Lord in Kenya; teaching 8-10yr olds in Uganda; hanging out with kiddos in Tanzania]