It's a matter of Faith!

 A note from my hubby.....

In Matthew 7:7, Jesus says, "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find,
knock, and it will opened to you." What Christ is saying, it's a matter of faith. If you
have faith in Him, then ask Him for your need. Seek Him in your prayers, for His will to
be done. And knock, means to stand firm and persist in prayers, knowing that His plan
is great.
I would like to say my life is very simple and boring, but I would be lying. My Savior
has redeemed me, and lives inside me. He has called me to help build His kingdom,
and how can that be simple or boring?
I am in a very exciting place in my life right now. The best way to describe it is with
one word: CHAOS!!! I am married to an amazing women, who loves the Lord with all of
her heart, and have four beautiful children. We are in the process of adopting a little
boy, whose name is Caleb, and is from Ethiopia. We have already gotten the chance to
hold him and just love on him. We have been to court, in Ethiopia, and the judge stated
Caleb would be ours. All that was needed is a letter from the Ethiopian government, so
the judge could sign and make it official.
Now lets welcome Chaos to the story. The courts in Ethiopia close for the rainy
season, which this year is from August till the middle of October. What does this mean?
It means that it is possible that the judge will not be there to sign the letter, until October.
So what shall I do? Shall I sit back and wait, saying, "well this is the Lord plan, let me
sit here and wait?" Or shall I step out in faith, and ask the Lord, seek the Lord, and
knock!
It's a matter of faith. Look at the blind man in Mark 10:46-52. Just a little background
on this blind man. The same story is in Matthew 20:29-34 and Luke 18:35-43. Matthew
speaks of two blind men, Luke and Mark speak of one. This doesn't mean one is
wrong, but just Luke and Mark are specifically talking about one of the men, in which the
Gospel of Mark names him Bartimaeus.
Now, Bartimaeus was a blind man, just in case you didn't realize that yet. He was
sitting by the road, outside of Jericho. Now, another quick pause for those who are
comparing the three Gospels. There are two Jericho's at the time of Jesus. There is
the Old Jericho from the Old Testament (Joshua 6) and a new Herodian Jericho, which
was to the southeast of the old one. Both were on the same road, and one would walk
by both. The Gospels of Matthew and Mark could be speaking of one, and the Gospel
of Luke another. The Bible does not specify where the Bartimaeus was located, the old
or new, so that means it does not matter. Which means there was a blind man,
Bartimaeus, sitting by a road.
When Bartimaeus heard that Jesus was walking by him, he began to cry out and say,
"Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" Now, here was a man that had faith. He had
faith that Jesus was the son of God, and he asked. Scripture tells us that Bartimaeus
was rebuked, and by many, telling him to be silent. But did Bartimaeus remain silent?
Nope, not one bit. He continued to cry out to Christ, seeking him. Jesus stopped and
called for Bartimaeus. Did Bartimaeus just sit there and ask his request? Nope, the
complete opposite. Bartimaeus sprang up, ripped off his cloak and went to his Savior.
Jesus asked Bartimaeus what he wanted, and Bartimaeus stated, "Rabbi, let me
recover my sight." Just think about that for one second. God knows everything. Jesus
knew what Bartimaeus needed, his sight. Jesus wanted Bartimaeus to ask, seek, and
then knock. In Philippians 4:6, Paul tells us to "do not be anxious about anything, but in
everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made
known to God."
I absolutely love my chaotic life. I love that when I cry out to the Lord, he not only
answers me, but invites me to seek Him. He lets me make my request known (lets me
knock) and then he answers me. To finish the story of Bartimaeus in the Gospel of
Mark, Christ immediately restored Bartimaeus sight and told Bartimaues "go your way,
your faith has made you well" (vs. 52). Did Bartimaeus go his way? Nope, he followed
Christ!
This is the Gospel message. Just as this message is replayed over and over in
Scripture, it will be so in my life. Now, as I stated before, I have faith that God's plan is
perfect. The courts in Ethiopia are closed. Just as Bartimaeus was blind and could not
change it, there is nothing I can do to open the courts any quicker. But, I can ask and
pray for a miracle! Christ himself tells me to make that request. I absolutely know
without a doubt that this may not be a part of His plan. I also have faith that He will
bring comfort and understanding if our letter does not get signed until October.
The Gospel message is very clear, but my sin blinds me. It's very simple, but I
complicate it up all the time. It's a matter of faith, meaning Jesus is my King. He will
complete the good work inside of me, and I have been redeemed. Now, it's time to build
His kingdom!!!

I love what my hubby says. " I also have faith that He will bring comfort and understanding  if our letter doesn't get signed until October."

We have peace friends. Peace doesn't mean that you still don't hurt and long. We are standing firm in our Faith. COME WHAT MAY. Jesus is all we ever seek and His will is all we ever ask for. The pains we have in our heart were put there by Him. Making our requests known and believing with out a doubt that If He wanted to get our letter by tomorrow He could.  Also believing without a doubt that our hearts are being transformed and prepared for whatever His will is. Thank you Jesus!  Being "caught in the closures" has no bearing on my King. If we are "caught" it's because God willed it. 

Thank you Jesus for the chaos. 

** We will be doing one more giveaway soon to help us become fully funded. There will be more then one winner. Trust me you don't want to miss it!**