God is on the Move (no pun intended)

I know I said I would not post much until after we went to training in May, but who was I to think that God could not move on our behalf until WE were ready?

Two weeks ago, a couple from church (that we had just met 10 weeks earlier) handed us an envelope with a letter that said they had been praying for us and felt led to give this small donation to our ministry. Inside was a check for $1,200.00!! WOW! We have never been in this kind of position before, and it is extremely humbling. We are so grateful for those that are praying for us!

God also continues to work in the hearts of our children. Jonathan & Samuel seem to be excited about our new venture. David however, has been........Well, let's just say it's been overwhelming at times. I heard him say to someone that he is never going to say he is moving to Arkansas, but just visiting for an extended time. : )

Remember in the last post, I wrote how David wrote out his feelings about Arkansas after much crying and frustration? Well, we had probably talked back and forth for over an hour that day. It was very difficult for him to see any good in all of this. One thing I tried to show him was all the stories in the Bible of great men who had gone through many trials and how God used them for great things. I asked him if knowing those stories gave him ANY hope, in which he responded, "No, not really". I could not reassure him enough that his sadness was normal and crying is O.K., but if you know me at all, you know I can get passionate about saying things that my God is not able to do. It upset me that he felt that God COULD NOT change how he felt. I asked him if ANYTHING is impossible with God, and he said no. All that conversation is what brought out the last line in his thoughts about moving, the one where he says he will pray for God to help him. Before that, he just refused to even ask.

Yesterday, David had a Bible project to do, in which he had to read the story of when Peter walked on the water and write a story about the event as if HE were there in the boat that day on the Sea of Galilee. This is what he wrote:

"I am terrified! The waves batter the boat. A hole is in the boat. Water is leaking in and hurricane force winds blow hard ready to end our lives.

What's this? Someone's walking on water. Who could it be, a ghost? Who else could it be?

'It is I' , Jesus said. 'Come', he said to Peter. Peter went but lost faith and fell. Jesus helped him up, then said, 'You of little faith'. I felt a sense of peace knowing Jesus was with us. I understand that Peter lost faith. It's not easy to trust God with so much. I would have asked God to give me the faith.

I am in a really hard situation of having to move to Arkansas. I will pray for God to give me faith in Him. Looking back, it seems so easy, but it's not. The fact that Peter's lack of faith to trust Jesus to help him walk on the water, is already written down for us. So I always think that if I had to walk on water I would trust God. However, Peter did not have an example of walking on water. Therefore, it would have been harder for him. I completely understand, and pray if that happened to me, that God would give me the faith to trust Him.

I thank God for giving us this example in the Bible. It is helping me to have faith in Him to help me live with moving to Arkansas. It gives me a sense of peace that God will do a miracle there. I pray that anyone going through a difficult time will look at this example and look to God to help them."

We were pretty blown away with it. This is no small feat. This is miraculous. If you know anything about autism, transition is NOT easy. This truly is a work of God. We are committed to keep our eyes focused on Jesus and to teach our children the same. Sometimes they get it and sometimes they don't. But we are learning that ultimately God is in control, and if you've seen the movie, "Facing The Giants", "we praise Him when we win, and we praise Him when we lose". God is still God even when our circumstances don't go the way we want them to. We've been experiencing that as a married couple for 14 years. But we have hope in a God that never changes. And for that WE PRAISE HIM!

Thank you Lord for being our unchanging Rock on which we stand!...

He Is Risen Indeed!

Yesterday started out like a typical Sunday . Church was awesome, of course, and had a great time of worship - but that's not unusual for any Sunday at McGregor. Of course because it was Easter, we had dinner with family and friends and had a great afternoon. We got home around 6pm and we were already dragging. Jonathan wanted to know when we were going to color eggs because the night before Samuel fell asleep and we didn't want to do it without him. (Please don't tell my mom & dad we color eggs) : ) David was waiting to play a game with Dave that he had promised earlier, and I was beginning to feel anxious about putting my head on the pillow at night and feeling the guilt of not sitting with the boys and telling the Easter story. (especially knowing that every time I asked Samuel what Easter was, he replied, "I don't know", no matter how many times I told him).

We finally sat down to tell the Easter story using the Resurrection Eggs (a dozen colorful, plastic eggs that have items inside, each telling a different part of the Easter story). Thankfully Dave was on his game, because those boys can ask some deep theological questions - but at 9pm, and being tired, that is not easy. When we got to the egg that had the praying hands, Dave explained how Jesus went into the Garden of Gethsemane to pray, and how He asked God if at all possible to take this cup from Him. Well, David wanted to know, if Jesus was God, why couldn't He have chosen another way for us to be forgiven of our sins. And although we didn't have all the answers for him, we had a great discussion and saw my kids have a hunger to know the truth. We talked about WHY this was so hard for Jesus. We of course talked about how we will have to pick up and move to a new place, and how hard that will be, but to think about the home that Jesus left, to come and sacrifice Himself for us. Jesus had a perfect home before, and now He has to enter a world of sin, but not only that, He has to bear the burden of that sin for all the world, past, present, AND future. The boys were listening intently. We talked about how short this life is and the pilgrimage we are on - How our focus needs to be on Jesus and not our current lives, and how we will have Eternity to spend with the friends we leave behind. David quickly piped in and said, "Yeah, we'll get to spend Eternity with our old friends AND our new friends from Arkansas!" Just a week ago, I asked David to write out his feelings about moving, and after much crying and frustration, this is what he wrote, "I feel purely miserable about going to Arkansas. Though my parents have tried to make it easier for me, I can't stand the thought of leaving everyone I know. I pray to God to strengthen me through this time of temptation."

As we continued our Easter story, we got to the egg that had a spear in it. Samuel said, "I know what that's for! That's when they pierced Him!" I asked Samuel what He was pierced for, and he quickly responded, "He was pierced for our transgressions!" Then Jonathan continued to quote , "He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed. Isaiah 53:5" Dave and I looked at each other and just smiled! What a great time we had, and to think we almost missed it.

As the boys were getting ready for bed, I took a white plate that we have on a stand on our counter, and wrote with a dry erase marker, "HE IS RISEN INDEED!" When David came out and saw it, he shouted "YES, HE IS RISEN INDEED!" I am so looking forward to seeing what our risen Savior will do in the life of that little boy. He struggles so much in in his flesh, but has such a passion for the Lord. But God is faithful, and He promises to complete the work He has started in each one of us.

All to the Glory and Honor of our Risen Savior!!!!!