Where is the rain? (Mark)

I asked Kelly if I could write the entry for today, because I'm struggling, and I would like to ask a personal favor to all of you who have been following this blog.

If you happen to think about us for some reason, can I ask that you lift us and our new business up to the Lord in prayer?

I've found it very frustrating recently that virtually all of the work I have been doing has not returned any fruit. Of course I've been spending quite a bit of time reading and studying and taking different classes to make me a better, more educated inspector. I've also been spending time trying to develop additional web interest in our web site, and also been marketing to Realtors.

Many of my conversations with Realtors have seemed to be very positive, but I've yet to receive any business from them. (Only 1 inspection so far that came from a Realtor I used to work with.)

On the positive side, I've arranged to do 3 separate presentations over the next 2 months to 3 different Real Estate offices, as well as made some preliminary progress towards teaching some C.E. courses to Realtors at our local Board. These should give me some positive face time, however these aren't inspections and there is no revenue tied directly to these marketing activities. I know businesses take time to get going, and maybe I'm just being naive, but I would have expected some sort of return on investment by now.

It's personally also been very hard to define productivity. When folks ask "how's business?" I don't know how to respond. On the one hand, it's a blessing to have things to do, and have a pile of stuff to handle in your in-box, but on the other when there aren't any bookings or revenue you can't say "business is great!".

I know the Lord has made a promise to our family that our flour and oil would not run out until the rains come. He has been faithful in that, and I still believe it. I also believe that He has given us a message that the rain is coming. In my humanness however I can't help but wonder when that's going to be. The bible says that a thousand years is like a day to the Lord. (That scares me a little because even if he said "tomorrow", does that mean the rain coming "tomorrow" or in 3007.)

Would you please pray that the Lord would bring the promised rain to us very soon? I believe our motives are pure. We desire not only to provide for ourselves in a godly way, but we also want to provide for and bless others as you all have been a blessing to us.

Pray also that if it is his will for us to continue this trial longer, that he would once again be clear in his direction for our paths and make his will known to us? Helping me to be patient and wait for His timing.

Be strong and courageous!

I always wonder if I should post when I don't have any big news to share, but I decided to go ahead and post about what God has been showing me the last few days. Maybe it will encourage someone in similar circumstances.

It is SO easy to dip into despair when feeling disappointment and discouragement. When things don't go as expected or as desired, we start to wonder where God is and why He allows a trial to continue.

Where is God?
It's no secret. His answer is right in His word....

"I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,"

It is neat if you look at the Greek, you find five negatives in that verse. So it is more like:

I will NEVER, NEVER, NEVER desert you, nor NEVER will I EVER forsake you."

That is a promise any believer can hang their hat on. We have to walk by faith rather than live by feeling.... He will NEVER leave or forsake us!!

When Joshua and the Israelites were preparing to take the land God had given them, they sent spies to check out the land before they went in.

The spies saw giants and fortified cities, and...

all of the sudden their God had become too small to handle human giants.

They panicked. They missed out on the blessing to come. They forgot their God is omnipotent.

Forty years later, the Israelites returned and prepared to enter the same land and encounter the same giants and God repeatedly exhorted them, "Be strong and courageous!" (Joshua 1: 6,7,9)

This time, it was different. They proceeded in faith rather than listening to their feelings. They entered the land and faced the giants. What can I learn from them? To be strong and courageous, because our God is omnipotent and our God reigns. It continues to boil down to trust. Do I trust Him enough to believe that we will be okay even though my mind keeps telling me to panic? If I don't, I could miss out on the blessing, like the Israelites did for forty years!

Be strong and courageous.
Do not be afraid or terrified because of them,
for the LORD your God goes with you;
he will never leave you nor forsake you. Deut. 31:6

Those who hopefully wait for Me....

I apologize for the length of time between posts. We've had illnesses and all kinds of busyness going on here! A bit slower tonight so I made an effort to get on here and share a little bit. One thing I wanted to share is that we were very hopeful God would bring us "rain" these last few weeks. As you can imagine we're kind of like thirsty people who've been on a long trek across a desert... parched and dying for water. And, because we're so thirsty it is hard to be patient for that first drink and hard to wish for anything less than drenching rains! But, through a scripture in II Kings I felt God was telling me that rain WAS coming, but until then, He would continue to provide and none in our house would "go thirsty". There have been other scriptures I could share, I'm trying not to be too lengthy... I'll skip ahead to this week when I was praying.... "Lord, we are waiting and waiting and everyone knows we are waiting and are expectantly watching to see what You will do! Isn't it time??"
The Lord gave me this scripture:

"...you will know that I am the LORD;
Those who hopefully wait for Me will not be put to shame." Isiah 49:23

God will move in His time and everyone WILL know that HE is LORD.
I read the same verse in The Message, which puts it this way:
"No one who hopes in Me ever regrets it."

So we continue to wait and we will not lose hope!

It is hard to be brief when God has done so much! Mark and I had been concerned about our money situation and the fact that we were hadn't had any business yet. We used retirement savings for startup costs for the business and it seemed to increase the pressure and stress level for us. But, as we prayed... God supplied:

1) A generous gift from a friend will take care of many of our needs this month.
2) Mark finally got paid for a real estate transaction that I mentioned previously.
3) A dear friend sent money saying, "Please use ALL of this for your son's birthday!" I wasn't going to get Paul a birthday gift and was praying about whether to do a party at our house. I like to do a party for our kid's 18th birthdays because it could be the last one they spend at home with us. Turns out that the money my friend sent was exactly the amount we needed to do what we wanted to do for him.... half went for a gift for him, half for food and cake to celebrate at our house with his friends. I don't think she even knew exactly when his birthday was, but her gift arrived the DAY BEFORE! To top it off... I went and spent $10 of it at the Dollar store on cups/plates/etc. Then, I sent Mark to Costco with the list of food items I wanted him to get there for the party... the total came to just a few cents less than what we had left to spend!!
4) Another friend gave us some groceries and a book I had been wanting to read! What a luxury!
5) We met with Pastor about starting a bread ministry... we're having more and more people with job losses at our church... I'm burdened about that. Pastor was very receptive to the idea!
6) Several of us have needed doctor visits the last few weeks, and our mysterious "credit" there paid for them all.

I've saved the best for last. Mark got his first inspection today! We'd been praying that would happen this week!! Of course, he did a lot of inspections in Ohio, but this is the first one through our own business here.

Keep praying that that rains come!
They are over the horizon, I hear them coming!!

Moses and Aaron and Hur

Could I ask you to REALLY pray for us this week!!? Could you agree in prayer with me over these things:

That God would bring work THIS month for Mark.
That God will begin to support us through this work, rather than through gifts from others.
That He would bolster us up and give us peace.... emotionally this has been a very difficult week... waiting, waiting, waiting. We have to wait for the jobs to come.

Don't get me wrong, we are still believing God to do a miracle in this... we're just tired and we are like Moses when he needed Aaron and Hur to support his arms during the battle between Israel and Amalek. I'm sure Moses had no doubt that God would prevail in that battle, he was just weak and tired and needed support. Likewise, we get tired, emotionally, spiritually, physically in this situation..... and we need to you hold up our arms for a little while.

On the upswing, I'll mention that God has again provided over the last week and a half in some amazing ways.... from a bag of groceries from a friend, a box of cleaning supplies from another, and a generous financial gift from another.... All meeting needs we had prayed about. Mark should get some money soon for a real estate transaction, too. I believe God has set everything in place to keep us afloat a little bit longer while waiting for the work to come. This morning, before we even received that financial gift and before the real estate transaction was completed, in my quiet time I read a scripture in 2 Kings that God used to tell me.... although we are still waiting and aren't going to see rain quite yet, that He will provide what we need until that time.... and I still believe He is assuring me that rain is on its way..... Just over the horizon!

Please take a moment to hold up our arms.... say a prayer for us today! Thank you SO much!