Sitting here tonight, I'm exhausted, but very happy and excited to see what God is doing.
The last several weeks have been tough, from a human perspective. It seems like we are in the middle of on old west range war. I sit here covered in mud and manure, having worked late in the night to replace a water main that was deliberately destroyed on the farm where we live. Yesterday, I spent much of the day blocking a gate, in order to keep someone from coming in; all the while listening to him misquote Scripture to this (in his words) "so-called preacher," as if out-of-context Bible verses will convince me to let him come on private property to steal.
We've reassembled / rewired the well twice, rebuilt the generator three times, repaired a bunch of other sabotage, and gone without water and power on several days. I've also installed several security lights and cameras.
I'm not complaining in the least. God is at work here. There needs to be a church here. People are asking God for a church here.
I'm excited to see God work, because He is answering prayer directly over and over, in spite of - and somewhat as a result of, the difficulties we face right now.
Some direct answers to prayer that God has provided over the last few weeks -
- A truck
- A phone
- A washing machine
- A propane stove / oven (hard to find one that is propane top and bottom, but needed since power is limited here)
- A good propane fridge
- A lap pool (needed for health reasons due to past injuries)
- And there is more, but all of these were things that we asked the Lord specifically for, but told almost no one about most of these needs. And God provided in great, specific detail!
The greatest blessing to me came this afternoon when I stopped at the house of someone who has been faithfully coming to services. He was on the phone with a friend, inviting him to come to services, and telling him all about what happens at church and that he is planning to get baptized.
When he finished his call, he told me that he found a place that we can use to baptize him. Since we don't have a building yet, and meet for services at a park, we don't have a ready baptistry. Yet, he went out of his way to find a place where there is water so that he can be baptized! On Sunday, we finished going through several things concerning salvation, and he has a clear salvation testimony, and now is ready to be baptized.
We had a great visit with a neighbor this morning, who in the past has not been particularly open to our ministry. Yet, today, she shared with us that she has seen God work through these problems and wanted to know if we could study God's Word together.
It was also a real encouragement to me to receive a surprise visit from my sister and brother-in-law yesterday. Sometimes, you just need family around!
God is working. As we have faced these things that pose a threat to the ministry that God has given us, God has overcome so much that it is hard to put in words. Thank you for praying for us, and please don't stop.
