God is good

Mark and I have been struggling this week with some major decisions. I've been in tears and he's been in quiet reflection and we've both been bent in prayer, separately and together to seek the Lord's guidance. Again today I am amazed (and I find myself using that word so much but my vocabulary fails me for another) how quickly He is to respond to us.

As I began this blog Mark has encouraged me to begin writing or rather finish writing the manuscript from which this blog was birthed; I being the consummate procrastinator and working best under deadline or pressure have been putting this off. I talked to others about it and even tried to run some basic ideas by a trusted clergy and was quickly shut down so I really questioned whether I was wasting my time or in the real presence of the Lord on this. Yet the Lord was tugging at us that He had new things in store for us and the ministry we dreamed of seeing come to fruition needed new life and new vision. We spent so much of our time marketing and building community awareness of the ministry that the business of the ministry took over the ministry itself so we were anxious to hear what God truly has in mind.

Today I received my answer, and Mark his validation. Out of a desperate plea for guidance I wrote another gentleman who has stepped out in faith with his wife to begin their life in ministry with literally no means of support and no certain vision but a call on their hearts. I emailed him late last night and thought little of it. To my surprise, God has His own special way of using our errant actions for His purpose and I received a call from Jim, much to my surprise!

We talked as though we had been lifelong friends and he shared with me his wisdom as a faithful believer and his experience in his ministry both here and abroad. He encouraged me as a new believer and as a child of God. A stranger, all the way down in Florida, reached through the phone and took hold of my hand and relayed a message from God that he could not have otherwise understood.

God uses us all to touch the hearts, encourage the spirit and calm the souls of each other wherever they are. He is an amazing God that takes a simple email and turns it into a new friendship. He releases us from bondages we had no way of seeing and delivering us from directions that are not our path.

I called my friend, Elizabeth tonight and just hearing her voice and her warmth and understanding reminded me that Mark and I have friends that are our family and we are never alone because God's family is so large and so close no matter the distance of their address.

I'm waiting for Mark to get home and for Elizabeth to call back once her business dinner meeting is over. I wait to share the Lord's grace in our lives again and I am ready to take on the tasks He and only He directs me to do. It is so trite sometimes to hear but I cannot help it, God is good, ALL the time.