What would it look like to live a life that fully 100% trusts in God’s provision? A life where you know that you don’t have enough, but you KNOW that God will always come through?
What would our lives look like if we lived like this? If we never worried because we knew God would take care of it? If we didn’t hoard because we are terrified of going without someday, but instead we gave it all away?
This is a scary concept…. terrifying actually. What is so scary about it? Because it means that we are not in control… God is. It means that we live our lives stepping out in faith in each and every day. It means that we take Jesus’ word seriously, that we live as if we actually believe them.
I have come across several people during the last 10 months we live in such a way, who know that God will always take care of them and provide. Their faith convicts me, it makes me reflect on the way I behave and question if I really am walking out in faith every day
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One of these people is the woman that we’ve lived with this past week in Saldus. Her name is Ieva and she lives her life with the confidence that when she follows God’s lead He will take care of her.She spends her days volunteering all over Saldus and the surrounding villages. She leads a home church which is essentially a youth church, hosts a youth bible study at her home and spends time at the local day center/ youth center. It’s incredible to see just how much she loves these kids and selflessly pours into them; and they know it. They love her, hug her every time they see her and come on their own to her church service and spend most of their Sunday at her home.
Ieva does what she does because she knows it’s what God has called her to do. As we’ve gotten to know Ieva’s story I’ve come to see that it is a story of complete obedience to and trust in God’s plan. She left the city of Jelgava where she was teaching at a university several years ago because she felt God calling her back to Saldus; even though that meant moving into a tiny apartment with no running water and an uncertain future. As she drives us around Saldus and nearby villages she points out schools that she’s been able to teach bible classes at, places where she’s been able to run youth camps, villages where she’s worked to start home churches and groups. Ieva does not get paid for the work that she does, but she 100% believes that God will always provide for what she needs.
While we’ve been with her the water heater in her house (she has another one attached to the shower in the coach house) broke and the annual inspection on her van expired and it is costly, she did not have money for either of these things but her response was simple – God will provide. And He has! He provided someone to pay for her inspection so that she can continue to use her van; A van that she was gifted two years ago because until then her only mode of transportation was her bicycle. She now lives in a small house on the edge of town, that she opens regularly to missionaries and missions groups She hosts her church group in the coach house that she’s been remodeling and hopes will become a retreat for missionaries and those in ministry. Over and over as she shares her plans and hopes for the future, she says she doesn’t know how it will all happened but that she knows that God will provide.
Spending this past week with Ieva has caused me to reflect on how often I struggle with trusting fully in God’s provision. Which is absolutely ridiculous! Time and time again I’ve seen God provide and take care of me and yet I so easily forget and live as if I haven’t.
Our first day in Riga was an overwhelming reminder of how God takes care of us….
When our entire Squad arrived in Latvia after 9 months of perpetual summer we weren’t exactly prepared for the snow and freezing temperatures that greeted us. That evening while taking one of the girls on our squad to the hospital to be treated for what we thought was malaria, several people met a young woman and her brother who invited us to their church for Easter service the next morning. When a group of us arrived the next morning they warmly welcomed us, arranged to have the service translated for us and then invited our entire squad to dinner that night! But it didn’t stop there, two people in our group at the morning service were wearing their chacos through the snow because they had no other shoes, and by the time we left they had each been given a pair of shoes. When we arrived for dinner that night they not only fed us a warm and delicious meal but they had gathered as much warm clothing as they could for all of us. We all left that night with clothing that we needed.
Their generosity brought me to tears. Their obedience to God was such a blessing to us. That Sunday was such an incredible reminder of how God looks after us. He’s our father and He will ALWAYS take care of us… ALWAYS… So let’s like we BELIEVE it!
"And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you. "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."
Much Love,
Jess
