Personal Reflections…
The past few months of preparing to live in an RV and then move our family to Thailand have been filled with God’s presence and love at every corner. I think sometimes, at least for me, it’s easer for us to see God doing the big stuff in our lives, but until we take the time and start recognizing the small things He is also doing, we’re missing out. In the past few years, I have been very purposeful in thanking God for the smallest things and I am now able to recognize His blessings in all things a lot better. This is not to say that I am perfect and always get it right, because trust me, I miss it A LOT too, but I love when I see how He is working for my behalf in the big and small things!
Here are just a few of the things He has done for us these past few months. (And this is by no means all of it, because I don’t have enough room to write it all, but these are a few)….
After Jason’s car broke down and he would be without it for two weeks, 2 different neighbors offered us the use of their car for him to go to work without having to use mine or get a rental! What a blessing that was to us!!
The bill to get his car fixed was a lot more than we had originally thought but we prayed about it and knew that God would take care of us. I went to the shop to pay for his car and the owner told me , “ I just got off the phone with someone who wants to pay $400 of your bill and wants to remains anonymous!” What?! Instant tears of gratitude filled my eyes and in that moment I felt God telling me that He was taking care of us in ALL areas of our lives. That $400 being paid brought us down to the original price we had been expecting to pay. So, anonymous donor, if you are reading this, thank you for allowing God to use you to bless us!
On more than one occasion, we have received a card in the mail with cash or a check in, completely meeting the need we were praying about.
As we were selling all of our stuff, we were able to meet a really nice lady who bought our dining room table and chairs. Well, we started a kind of email relationship and she ended up buying a lot of our furniture and I also gave her some of my kitchen items just to be a blessing to her. She was interested in what we are doing and asked to be on our mailing list. Go God! Love His connections!
Jason got a bonus at work that covered the amount we needed for him to apply for his citizenship! He also got another one for a contest he won at work, and it came at just the right time for us!
We have met various people at the RV parks, who we believe were God appointed relationships, that have offered to pray for us (which is huge for us) and who would like to be included on our mailing list! God is working for us, even on the hearts of strangers!
One of my good friends here is away for two weeks and has offered us the use of her home while they are gone, and with that, the use of her washing machine and dryer. This is a big deal, because it costs $3.50 for me to do one load, and with 4 kids, I never just have one load!
We had spent a lot of time in prayer about where to stay when we moved into the RV and even though we didn’t have a clear answer yet, we trusted God and knew that He had a plan for us. We had paid for 2 weeks at a State Park but didn’t feel like we should pay for anything longer than that. My friend told me, “We had dinner with a couple from church who owns an RV park and we told them about you and they said you could stay there for free!” Again, WHAT?! Go God!!!! (We also got another offer to stay somewhere without having to pay rent, just water and electricity! God truly is taking care of us!) We have been here for almost a week and every morning I wake up and see God’s beautiful creation (not only are we covered in trees, there is a beautiful lake in the middle of the park that the kids can swim in and fish in!!!) surrounding me and I thank Him for His continual blessings that are surrounding us throughout this journey.
This process has not been the easiest for me, as far as receiving all the blessings. I love to be the one blessing people but sometimes have a hard time receiving them. I am working on that and actually took my friend up on her offer to use her home to do laundry. It might not seem like a big deal to you, but to me it truly meant a lot and it took a lot for me to actually do it, but I am so glad I did. I want to be a vessel God can use to bless others and also allow others to let God use them to bless us!
We thank you again, for your continued prayers of our journey and we look forward to all that God has for us!