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walk by faith

posted by Priscilla

Beland and I spent some time today with the Kondo-sensei, the head pastor of Hamadera Bible Church. We wanted to take him somewhere fancy, so we went to Burger King :) We sat in the fast-food booth with loud children running all around us, and we chatted about life.

For those that do not know, Grace Community Church sends short-term ministry teams every summer to countries all around the world. We send teams to our missionaries that request help for that summer. Since college, Beland and I have had the privilege to go on several summer short-term ministry trips to Hamdera Bible Church, located in Osaka, Japan. This church has a very special place in our hearts, and God has placed Beland as the leader of one of the Japan teams for summer 2010.

Anyway, back to lunch. We were talking to Pastor Kondo about our future plans, in particular Beland's aspiration to go into full-time ministry. Since we have been married, Beland and I have been praying a lot about if and when to go into seminary, and more importantly, whether God is leading us toward full-time ministry. At this time, God has put it on both of our hearts to move in that direction.

One large factor in our decision has been finances. I'm sure most would agree that it's a valid factor. We have spent time calculating out how much we would need in order to survive, how much we would need to dip into our savings until we have no more savings in which to dip, how to make a secondary income, etc. I would love for Beland to get seminary training, but my heart recently has been pondering a lot about the money part of the whole decision. I think I even told somebody recently that finances would be the only reason we wouldn't go to seminary in the fall.

When we were talking to Pastor Kondo, I blurted out "well, we'll see if we can afford seminary this fall." Kondo-sensei told us how he came to America from Japan to get seminary training. He had no money when he came, and he could not ask his parents for money. But he knew that it was God's will that he get trained to be a preacherl. There were no scholarship programs in place and no financial aid, but somebody reached out to him and gave him a special scholarship that allowed him to go to seminary. He told a number of stories like that about how God provided for him every step of his life.

And then he said, "I'm glad I don't have enough money, because then I would think that I didn't need God." In my own life, I always felt like my parents had "enough" money. I couldn't help thinking to myself that I was like the person who thought they didn't need God. Kondo-sensei spoke to us about the joy of depending and trusting in God. He sees these things as great opportunities of faith. I was reminded of the apostle Paul, and how he had learned contentment regardless of his financial circumstances.

On a similar note, Beland and I had heard of some spiritual and financial struggles going on with Hamadera Bible Church recently. We asked Pastor Kondo about these things. Again, he went on about what an exciting time this was for the church to exercise their faith in God. It was like he completely saw beyond what the natural man sees, and appraised the spiritual situation correctly. It was so encouraging to see how clearly he understood the spiritual reality of what is really going on with his flock, and how he entrusted the church's future and well-being to God.

In the end, Pastor Kondo encouraged us to make our decisions based on what is God's will. And if we are doing the will of God, then we must have faith that God is not limited by our financial situation.

As we left our meeting with Kondo-sensei, Beland and I agreed that we are going to change how we pray about the whole full-time ministry/going to seminary decision. Please pray for us, that (1) God would show us and convince us of what He wants for us and where He wants us to go next, and that (2) we would have faith that He will provide the means for us to get there.

Giver

posted by Priscilla

I wanted to start my own blog today, but Beland wouldn't let me. So I suppose this "Hidden Treasure" site will now be our shared space. I might do some housekeeping with this site to make it look a little more cozy.

Yesterday, Tom Patton preached about our hero of the faith, Abraham. The message was on Genesis 22. It was exactly the message that I needed to hear. He spoke concerning Abraham's devotion and Abraham's sacrifice, and how these were fruits of his extraordinary faith.

Tom defined devotion as what you are willing to hold on to. He defined sacrifice as what you are willing to let go of. The trickiness lies in the fact that oftentimes we should sacrifice the things are hearts are sometimes unknowingly devoted to.

"Hold on to things loosely, " Tom said, "so that it won't hurt when God tears it from your hand. We must hold loosely to our possessions, positions, dreams, and ... relationships."

How could you hold on loosely to a familial relationship? How could you hold loosely to a relationship with your own child? And what if it was not just any child - it was the son that was to bring forth a chosen people, to bring about blessing to all the nations of the world? Abraham saw in Isaac all the potential and promises of God's covenant with him. After many years of waiting and even after stages of disobedience, finally, the miraculous birth of Isaac. Abraham saw the joy of God's words to him finally to be fulfilled in his Isaac. And yet Abraham was willing to sacrifice this relationship. He was willing to let it go in order to show true devotion to his God - and Abraham showed it through complete obedience when he raised his hand to slay his son.

My closest human relationship in this earth is with my husband. We have been married just a little over four months. I love being married...I really do love it. I enjoy our marriage so much - I enjoy our conversations, I enjoy coming home to one another, I enjoy working together as a team to accomplish tasks together, I enjoy remembering our past and thinking of our future, I enjoy Beland's leadership over me, I enjoy my own feelings of love for him, I am even enjoying just sitting together in the room with him right now even though we are doing our own separate things!

Lately, life seems to be full of happiness. The world gone right. I am challenged in my own heart to consider if I would love God just as much if my marriage and the seemingly happy things in my life were taken away by the His sovereign hand. Would I willingly sacrifice my attachment to my possessions, positions, dreams...and relationships, in order to live a life devoted to God? I want to say "Yes yes!! No questions about it!" And yet, I know in my heart there are many weeds that must be uprooted before I can really say that with a genuine heart. You know those stories you hear of people who lose loved ones, and yet they shine in those circumstances because of their hope and trust is in God? You know, the stories you hear at church that make everybody cry. I am thinking of one in particular of a woman who lost her husband and was left with two little ones to raise on her own. I cry because it is sad, because it is admirable, but I think I cry partly because I feel like my hope would not stand against such a test.

I must daily put on my spiritual eyes to see the Giver of every good and perfect gift, instead of focusing merely on the abundance of gifts that I have before me. I think more and more I realize that I do not deserve the mortal life that I have, and cannot even wrap my mind around how much I do not deserve the eternal life I have.

Thou, my everlasting portion, More than friend or life to me,

All along my pilgrim journey, Savior, let me walk with Thee. - Fanny J. Crosby