Thank the Lord for wonderfully working in the hearts of the ladies in the session this morning at the European Leadership Conference. He spoke to our hearts as Susy shared about the traumatic impact leaving family and friends in the States and moving to Spain had on her. The Lord clearly directed her through scripture and she was able to surrender her desires to God’s Plan and has been blessed many times over in many ways.
Maria blessed our hearts as she told of the hectic events of the last several months, how it incredibly stretched beyond her comfort zones yet the Lord walked with her, gave her peace and joy as she followed Him every step of the way.
It was my privilege to share an account from a few years ago when we moved from the west coast to the east coast, 3,000 miles, leaving our kids and grandkids behind, of course. Even though our west coast home was on the market, it did not sell and 6 1/2 months later, our finances were greatly strained. Since I make out the checks and mail the bills in our family, I expressed to my husband my uneasiness at the lack of funds in our bank account, wondering from whence a miracle might appear! I must have mentioned this to him previously, on perhaps, several occasions because he said to me, ‘You are obsessed with this!:( Hmmmmm! I reluctantly pondered this and was still ‘pondering’ it the next morning about 4:00 as I read from a New Living Translation version of the New Testament that had been given to me. My daily reading had me in Philippians, chapter 4, a beautiful chapter. AS I got to verse 6, I read, ‘Don’t worry about anything’ and it pierced my heart like a dagger! ‘Oh Lord,’ I prayed, ‘please forgive me, I am surely worried about our west coast home not selling and how we will ever be able to sustain these dual living costs.’
Step by step the Lord took me through that entire verse, ‘Don’t worry about anything, instead, pray about everything, tell God what you need and remember to thank Him for all he has done. Then when you do this, He will give you His peace which is beyond our understanding and He will guard your hearts and keep your minds as you walk with the Lord’ My heart rejoiced all over again as I remembered that early morning experience! It was beautiful how the Lord helped me to follow His plan: Confess my worry to Him, pray about my worry, tell the Lord what I needed and praise Him for all He had done. What a great time of rejoicing I had that morning! That very day, we received an offer on our home and within two weeks it was a done deal!
Sometimes the Lord says, ‘No’; sometimes He says, ‘Wait’ but no matter what He says, His ways are always best and we eventually, if not immediately see that. He is ALWAYS working for our good; this we know because His Word assures us in many places that He is kind and compassionate, always loving and caring.
This morning in our session, the Lord graciously spoke to hearts and helped many to ‘do business’ with Him. How we praise Him, Creator of Heaven and earth and all that is in them. What a wonderful Savior we serve! How privileged we are to walk with the Master moment by moment!
