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October 11, 2005
At a Glance: ...The Word of the Lord... Then I said to you, "You have reached the hill country of the Amorites, which the LORD our God is giving us. See, the LORD your God has given you the land. Go up and take possession of it as the LORD, the God of your fathers, told you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged." Then all of you came to me and said, "Let us send men ahead to spy out the land for us and bring back a report about the route we are to take and the towns we will come to." The idea seemed good to me; so I selected twelve of you, one man from each tribe. They left and went up into the hill country, and came to the Valley of Eshcol and explored it. Taking with them some of the fruit of the land, they brought it down to us and reported, "It is a good land that the LORD our God is giving us." But you were unwilling to go up; you rebelled against the command of the LORD your God. You grumbled in your tents and said, "The LORD hates us; so he brought us out of Egypt to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us. Where can we go? Our brothers have made us lose heart. They say, 'The people are stronger and taller than we are; the cities are large, with walls up to the sky. We even saw the Anakites there.' " Then I said to you, "Do not be terrified; do not be afraid of them. The LORD your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes, and in the desert. There you saw how the LORD your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place." In spite of this, you did not trust in the LORD your God, who went ahead of you on your journey, in fire by night and in a cloud by day, to search out places for you to camp and to show you the way you should go. It's always so much easier to look back in the Word and wonder why God's people were so dense than it is to look at my own circumstances each day and wonder what he is doing. God had PROMISED the land to his people, and had PROMISED to go out ahead of them, fight for them, and carry them. I think I would be the first in line to run into the Promised Land with flags flying!... or not... As I look at my level of support, I see only 58% pledged, and I wonder how on earth it is going to happen. LORD hates us; so he brought us out of Egypt to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us.) What's the matter God? Was it something I did? Boy God must hate me to make me wait so long... grumble grumble... (The people are stronger and taller than we are...) The obstacles are greater and taller than I am... All those other missionaries applying for support probably look so much better than I do... (the cities are large, with walls up to the sky) I have so much farther to go; it seems like too much for me to raise. Do you think I misread your calling for me to go to Peru? Maybe you only meant for other people to go there... (We even saw the Anakites there.) I even see the possibility of not going there... Then I said to you, "Do not be terrified; do not be afraid of them. The LORD your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes, and in the desert. There you saw how the LORD your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place... Each day I make a choice – to trust God and to trust that he has revealed himself and his will to me when he called me to go to Peru. It is HIS work, HE will raise the support, HE will get me there, HE will do the ministry. I use the word "I" far too much. You watch. When it all comes in, and I believe it will (!), GOD WILL GET ALL THE GLORY, BECAUSE HE IS THE ONE WHO WILL DO IT!!! ...Still Studying... I am still studying for my comprehensive Bible exam in order to finish seminary. There are 234 questions on my study guide, many of which are Scripture and verse memory. And I don't do that very well! But my reasoning is that if I know it, the test will be easy. So please keep praying to that end! ...My Little Peruvian Namesake... I can't think of a higher honor that someone naming their child for you! One of my dear friends in Peru from our church had her 5th child last May, and guess what her name is. JLaurita (means "little" or "precious" Laura) God bless,
Laura
1911 Alderbrook Rd. NE
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