Daring to Hope - Encouragement for Today - October 3, 2017
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October 3, 2017 |
“And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” 2 Corinthians 9:8 (NIV)
I was tired.
In five short years, I’d become a mother to 13, grown a ministry of 60 staff members which provided schooling and discipleship to over 700 children, and learned to function in a completely different culture.
I sat at a school and watched children dance as they sang in a language I still only half-understood. My mind wandered back over the years:
- The day I moved halfway around the world, from Nashville to Uganda, thinking I’d only stay a year.
- The day God planted in my heart to begin Amazima, with the goal of teaching His truth to families in my village.
- The day a house collapsed on a little girl I had adopted. What started as a short-term foster situation became a permanent adoption as she and her siblings filled up my heart and home following their grandmother’s death.
- The joy when, with a few friends and a few dollars and a lot of faith, Amazima sent 40 children to school for the first time.
I shifted in my rickety chair as the students recited a poem, but instead of their words I heard a whisper, “Let’s do it again.”
I knew it was from the Lord, as the thought rose from a place deep inside.
Recently, Amazima staff leadership and I discussed opening a secondary school in Uganda. We felt it would simply be too much. We were already spread thin. But as the idea persisted, we committed to spend a few days praying and fasting over it together. Today was the last day before we’d make a decision.
“Let’s do it again,” I felt the whisper a second time.
Later that day, I haphazardly flipped open my Bible, still mulling over the words I felt the Lord had spoken to me. My eyes fell on 2 Corinthians 9:8, and tears filled my eyes as I read, “And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.”
All things. All times. All that we need.
The next morning, I told the leadership team I felt God leading us to build the school. It would require more than we had, but I was confident He wanted to use it to make disciples. Thus began years of research, planning, dreaming and praying.
Another five years have passed, and in our first year operating The Amazima Secondary School, 72 students received a Christian education from compassionate, Jesus-loving teachers. As I listened to parents describe how this school is changing lives, I blinked back tears and remembered His words to me.
“Let’s do it again.”
He’s spoken those words many times, calling me out of my comfort zone to places where I would not have enough time or resources and would have to lean on Him. And each time He has been all things, in all times, and given everything I needed.
When I was joyfully preparing to marry the most wonderful man, but also grieving the life of “just me and the girls,” He whispered, “Let’s do it again. Come with Me again to this place of uncertainty where you lean on Me to be all you need.”
When we wondered about opening our home to addicts, AIDS patients and homeless people, He spoke softly, “Let’s do it again. And I will be with you, and where you don’t have enough, I will be enough.”
When I was pregnant with our first son, excited yet terribly worried he’d alter our family dynamic, that our girls might draw comparisons between the way they entered our family and the way he did, those same words rose up, “Let’s do it again.”
In the past decade, God has drawn me to places of uncertainty, trepidation, even hardship. Time and again, He’s asked me to trust Him, and He’s given me all I ever needed. Maybe you agree, or you’re still uncertain whether God will provide. I’ve been there.
But today, I sat on the other side. I saw clearly that even in the most difficult times, God always provides, always uses all of it for my good and His glory as He draws me closer to Him.
Whatever your circumstance, God will be all things in all times. He will be all you need.
Father God, thank You for always drawing us closer. Give us eyes to see Your work in and around us, and increase our faith so we can trust You more. Thank You for being faithful to us again and again. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
TRUTH FOR TODAY:
2 Corinthians 9:10-11, “Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.” (NIV)
RELATED RESOURCES:
In Daring to Hope, you’ll explore with Katie Davis Majors what it means to let the needs of others awaken and inconvenience you to be attentive to the mundane moments of life, and find the extraordinary strength to love no matter what.
CONNECT:
Enter to WIN a copy of Daring to Hope by Katie Davis Majors. In celebration of this book, WaterBrook & Multnomah are giving away 5 copies! Enter to win by leaving a comment. {We'll randomly select 5 winners and email notifications to each one by Monday, October 9, 2017.}
REFLECT AND RESPOND:
Do you feel God inviting you: Let’s do it again? Perhaps you’ve known His goodness, but just can’t see it right now. Spend time with your Father, and pour out your heart to Him. He’s longing for you.
© 2017 by Katie Davis Majors. All rights reserved.
Proverbs 31 Ministries thanks WaterBrook & Multonmah, a division of Penguin Random House, for their sponsorship of today's devotion.
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