Life in The Family International

I wanted to write a little about God’s supply and the part it plays in a Family missionary’s life. I guess a life like this is lived all by faith, and finances are really no exception. I recently had an experience (well, I’ve had many but this is one is particularly fresh in my memory) that left me thinking a bit. It seems that no matter how many times God proves His Word to us, we still have this nagging doubt that maybe this time He won’t come through, or maybe this time we got it wrong and we didn’t hear from Him after all, so how can we expect His supply? To explain the train of thought a bit, here’s the story.

I had been invited to the Brotherhood Academy (see last post for an explanation) almost since the inception of the program and had every intention of showing up. It was something I wanted to do badly, something that I was looking forward to, something that I had envisioned as a young teen myself, that I had prayed for, dreamed about…you get the picture! Due to some situations, mainly the fact that there were so many people from our Family home already going and on top of it there not being anyone I could leave my daughter with at home, I had resigned myself (very reluctantly) to the reality that I wouldn’t be going. About two months before it began I decided to ask the Lord again to find His will. Amazingly enough, He now said that it WAS His will for me to go. In my mind there were some jumbled thoughts; “OK Lord, this is ever so confusing. First You say yes, then no, then yes… ok… so I’ll go, but I don’t have any money! (What else is new) You’re saying you’ll supply the money? Great! I’ll make plans right away…”

After this I went on my planned trip to Kolkata to visit my family, and there was a reminder in the back of my head to book my ticket to Mumbai where the BH Academy is. The gentleman I had asked to sponsor my ticket hadn’t given me an answer yet, so I thought I’d wait it out. Lo-and-behold, I arrived back from Kolkata and there was still no answer. This was really trying my patience and I just didn’t think it was fair that with everything so busy and having to travel with a baby on top of that, that the Lord would make things so tough. Still, I heard that still small voice again: “Book your ticket, and book it on a good flight.” I thought “yeah, I will… as soon as I have the money in hand! I don’t want to find myself in debt. I’m sure you understand, Lord.”

It was in a trusty three wheeled auto rickshaw (one long week later, mind you) that I finally said yes to the Lord. “Yes Lord, I’ll book my ticket, forgive me for doubting Your words to me.” I’m not kidding when I say that within three seconds of praying these words I received an SMS from someone offering to pay my complete airfare to Mumbai and back!!!!! It wasn’t the same gentleman that I had asked, but someone else that God wanted to use—that God wanted to bless. I couldn’t believe it for the life of me and booked my ticket as soon as I arrived home. Only then I realized that if I would have booked a little earlier (the first out of 20 times I heard God’s voice), I could have gotten a very comfortable flight on a nice airline for exactly the same price I was now paying for the cheapest ticket I could find! It’s not that I was regretful for the lack of frills (though they gave me a real hassle about overweight baggage… so maybe a little) but more regretful for my pathetic lack of faith! It’s a bit of a rotten feeling; While I was thankful that everything worked out, I knew that had I just had a little more faith, had I really believed His promises, I would have hit the mark and fulfilled the plan that He intended.

It’s interesting now as I look back on it, especially after coming home and facing a whole new set of challenges. Do I really believe He will come through for Me now like He says He will? Not even just financially, but in all the ways He has promised if we do our part? He cannot deny Himself!. I believe that, and I’m convinced that He will supply. I’m looking forward to a whole new year of challenges, and most of all the miracles that He is going to perform, because He who hath begun a good work in you will perform it to the end!

I believe it!

Vincent and Sara are second-generation members of the Family International and are fulltime volunteers in India. Vincent conducts Outreach activities, designs for Family brochures, and helps in the managerial aspects of Family life. Sara runs a Baby School for Family babies and toddlers, organizes open forums and activities for teenagers, does secretarial and organizational work, and conducts motivational classes for students. More about Sara and Vincent

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 14th, 2006 at 2:20 pm and is filed under Family Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.