Monthly Archives: November 2012

Trusting God for the upcoming year

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As I’ve been working on my end of the year ask letter I started to ponder and pray about what my needs are and what God might be calling Courtney and I to in the coming year.  Thoughts started to flood my mind on the current needs that we have: do we have enough monthly support coming in, do we need a second car since their is no public transportation here in Little Rock, or do we just need to start planning for the upcoming summer conference next year? But I started to think about our list of dreams and aspirations that we wrote down together as we looked ahead at the upcoming year – where do we see God leading us, what aspirations do we have as a couple and things we would like to get done.  Those ranged from putting together the apartment and decorating it, being debt free within a year, starting a family, getting a second car, once a week sitting down and discussing what God is doing in each of our lives, establishing good MPD goals, and working through our 5 year vision plan for our lives.

As I looked at all of those dreams and aspirations there were two of them that stood out to me that we should be pursuing and trusting the Lord for.  But asking our partners to be a part of these two needs terrifies me.  I fear rejection, hurt, and pain financially for asking what we feel the Lord has placed on our hearts. I look to how Nehemiah lived and how bold he was when he was following the Lord.

In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence. And the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, seeing you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of the heart.” Then I was very much afraid. I said to the king, “Let the king live forever! Why should not my face be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ graves, lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?” Then the king said to me, “What are you requesting?” So I prayed to the God of heaven. And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ graves, that I may rebuild it.” And the king said to me (the queen sitting beside him), “How long will you be gone, and when will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me when I had given him a time. And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, let letters be given me to the governors of the province Beyond the River, that they may let me pass through until I come to Judah, and a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress of the temple, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall occupy.” And the king granted me what I asked, for the good hand of my God was upon me. (Nehemiah 2:1-8 ESV)

So as I go about seeking the Lord and praying between now and Thanksgiving week I am entrusting the results to the only one who can provide.  I want to also make sure that what I am asking for is in fact from the Lord and not my own wants and desires. If you could join me in praying for me during this time I would greatly appreciate it.

What are some big things you need to trust God for?

Want to know what the need is that we’re trusting the Lord for and praying about asking our partners for? Well then you will have to sign up for our monthly newsletter and find out after Thanksgiving.  🙂