How much longer?

Anytime he leaves, whether for an errand or longer, everybody wants to know when Daddy's coming back!
If he grabs the keys, the questions begin...

'Where are you going?'

'Can I go???' 

'How long will you be gone?'

'When will you be back?' 

It's almost impossible to answer with a precise time because you just never really know what might happen as you venture out on the Haitian road, J so, we do our best to give "guess-timated" answers which lead to lots of other questions...
'How much longer is he going to be gone?'

'Is he here yet?'

'When is he going to be back?'

'Is that him?' 

'Is THAT him?'

One thing is for sure... no matter how long the wait, by the grace of God he always comes back.  But you know what?  Even though they know that Daddy will return, they still ask the questions every time he leaves.

Maybe because the anticipation of something good makes waiting extremely difficult.

Or maybe because when our waiting appears to have no end, we start to question things we know to be true.

Over the last couple of months, it's been really difficult in the middle of our waiting and many of our circumstances have caused us to question a lot of things that we know to be true.

We've felt forgotten, we've felt abandoned, we've felt like we've had the life knocked out of us.  We've even felt that if we didn't receive some promising news soon that we'd completely unravel.  But we've been reminded that we have some real promises to cling to during this time of waiting.  And despite our feelings, we know these to be true.

"God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble." Psalm 46:1
"One thing God has spoken, two things have I heard: that You, O God, are strong, and that You, O Lord, are loving." Psalm 62:11
"Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning." Psalm 30:5
"Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep His promise." Hebrews 10:23

And in with the promises, there are also challenges.

"You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised." Hebrews 10:36
"Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." Matthew 6:33
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear...Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" Matthew 6:25,27
"Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you.  But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when His glory is revealed." 1 Peter 4:12-13

"Don't worry"...
"Rejoice in your sufferings"...
I don't know about you but that stuff doesn't come easy for me.  I'm not surprised that we have trials.  Who doesn't?  We live in a sinful world.  We will have trials until we leave this world.  But I have had a really hard time rejoicing in the muck and some days I struggle with worry... a lot.

We've questioned whether this is all there is... thinking 'this' can't be why God called us to pick up and move to a foreign country... that there has to be more than this constant search for 'the next'.

Oswald Chambers said, "Even the most spiritually-minded of us argue...saying, 'But I must live; I must make a certain amount of money; I must be clothed; I must be fed.' The great concern of our lives is not the kingdom of God but how we are going to take care of ourselves to live.  Jesus reversed the order by telling us to get the right relationship with God first, maintaining it as the primary concern of our lives, and never to place our concern on taking care of the other things of life."

Seek first.....God.  And all will be added.....

That's hard stuff.  Especially when you aren't so sure where you are going to live next month, or in some cases lately, even the next week.  Maybe this time of suffering is indeed a time of discipline so that we will believe these promises in a whole new way.

Discipline stinks.  But it's necessary for growth, right?

From my devotional book by Oswald Chambers, I've also discovered this:  "Many of us do not continue to grow spiritually because we prefer to choose on the basis of our rights, instead of relying on God to make the choice for us.  We have to learn to walk according to the standard which has its eyes focused on God.  And God says to us, as He did to Abram, "...walk before Me..."(Genesis 17:1)

As we continue to walk, we pray...

"O Lord, be gracious to us; we long for You.  Be our strength every morning, our salvation in time of distress."  For surely God, You "will be the sure foundation for our times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure."

~Isaiah 33:2,6