Choose Your Armor Wisely

Last week during our family worship time, the Lord spoke into my heart about a tough situation we are currently facing related to one of our children.  He reminded me that we must NOT choose to react in fear and try to take matters into our own hands, but that we need to fully release said child to Him and trust that everything will work out as we continue to seek His will and heart.  The Lord has been speaking to me a lot about the story of Abraham being obedient with sacrificing his son, Isaac, and Mary being obedient with releasing her own son, Jesus, to fulfill a mighty plan.  In both of these instances, Abraham and Mary were obedient, even when it broke their heart…but God!  The results didn’t end up like they had expected in their natural mind, which was an ending of death.  The final results were far better!  The Lord keeps telling me, be obedient and leave the results up to me, so that is what I’m doing.

Then Holy Spirit began downloading what I would say in this blog post and gave me the title, “Choose Your Armor Wisely.”

As most of you know, we arrived back in the States on Tuesday, April 7^th, but it wasn’t without a battle.  Not everyone sees our comments on Facebook, so I’d like to share with you all that happened in the Johannesburg airport.  We made it through security, no problem.  Then came our final checkpoint, Immigrations.  Our family was stopped because our latest “approved” visas expired back in February.  We explained how we had visa applications in process that got rejected less than 10 days ago, of which we brought the rejection letter with us. They talked about charging us for an "over stay", which means there was the potential for getting banned from entering the country for 5 years. BUT GOD!!! We were escorted by a supervisor to the Home Affairs office at the airport, who then made a phone call to management. The guy she spoke to said that if we don't have a "departure letter" included with our rejection letter stating that we had 10 days to leave, then we'd be charged for an over stay. We were never given this type of a letter. The first supervisor told management to override procedure because she really feels like we're being genuine and NEED to come back to South Africa. Let it be known....we made our way through with no over stay charge, praise the Lord!! Doors the Lord opens NO MAN can shut!!

The reason I share this is because the enemy is hard at work with trying to prevent our ENTIRE family from returning to South Africa.  I want to honor those involved, so I will not disclose the details of our situation in this post, but we simply ask and would appreciate all prayer warriors to stand in agreement with us that the schemes of the enemy towards our children be thwarted!  That we would return to South Africa as an entire family unit on June 7^th, as scheduled.

Ephesians 6:10-20 talks about proactively putting on the full armor of God so that when the schemes of the enemy come, and they will, you will be able to withstand his attempts of destruction with victory.  The only way to do this is to spend time with the Lord daily to hear His truths about who you are and who He is in you.  By doing so, you will bask in His truths, know that He calls you righteous because of what Jesus has done for you, remain in a position of peace because He’s got you in the palm of His hand, and stand firm in faith knowing that He’s on your side and has your back.

The opposite of love is fear, and this is one of the enemy’s greatest tactics to kill, steal and destroy. When faced with an obstacle, how many of you take yourself to the “worst case scenario” because you’re fearful of what might happen and don’t trust that something good can actually result from your situation because it seems so impossible and hopeless?  When you choose that path, what happens?  Your peace is gone.  Your joy is gone.  It’s very difficult to love, especially your enemies.  But God!  When we choose a stance of peace, faith and trust in the Lord, it not only honors Him, but it makes it much easier to hear His voice and what He is saying about your tough situation and how to handle it according to His will.  I don’t know about you, but I’d rather stay on the path of hope, trusting that God will get me through the trial while still keeping my love in tacked and drawing closer to Him, no matter the results!

In our given situation, the enemy is trying to push our buttons by using other people as pawns to trigger fear in our lives.  We can choose to put on armor of fear, timidity, hate, bitterness, hurt, defensiveness, control, revenge (you name it) to protect ourselves from the “worst case scenario”.  Or we can choose to put on armor of courage, faith and trust, knowing that God knows what’s best for our family and He will see it through.  This doesn’t mean we take on a posture of passivity.  Oh no!  This means we take a stand against the spiritual darkness in this world through our greatest weapon: PRAYER!

Focus on the worst OR focus on the best.  Both might get you the same results in the end, but the path of one is far more enjoyable than the other.  Which path will you choose today?  What armor are you wearing today?

Surprises Before Leaving SA

On Tuesday night we announced to the guys that we’ve been meeting with that we need to take an unexpected trip back to America to obtain our visas so that we can come back and stay in South Africa for a longer period of time.  We really wanted to emphasize with them that we are not leaving them by choice.  We have to leave BUT will be returning.  So many of these guys have already been abandoned, so we wanted to be clear with them that wasn’t going to be the case with us.  We enjoyed our last meal together, for at least the next 2 months, and participated in an activity with them.  Josh asked them each to draw a picture of what describes them best.  It was a powerful time to have them share in a group setting and see their hearts open up more.

Before departing, our friend (the parole officer) asked one of the guys to share a few kind words to us, along with handing us a gift bag of goodies for our trek back to America.  Then she asked each of the guys to speak something kind over us.  After that she asked if any of them wanted to pray over us.  There were 12 guys in attendance, 2 that were new to the group.  One of the new guys stood up and prayed over us in his native tongue – Afrikaans!  Even though we didn’t understand a word he prayed, except AMEN, we felt very honored and blessed that he would pray over us in his own language.  After the prayer, Christian said to him, “You know we don’t speak Afrikaans.”  The guy just smiled.  I told Christian that was okay because God understands Afrikaans and that’s all that really matters.  Everyone smiled.  Then they all began singing a song of “thanks for your kindness” to us in Afrikaans.

As we said our goodbyes, one of the guys gave me a hug and handed me some papers that were folded up.  He tends to be quiet and didn’t say a word but just smiled at me…..which said 1,000 words!  As he walked off, I opened the papers and my heart melted.  This guy, whom the Lord made a special place in my heart for the day I met him, likes to draw.  I found this out a few weeks ago and had told him that I’d like to see some of his drawings someday.  Well, today of all days, he decides to bring some and GIVE them to me!!  Again, I felt very honored that he’d give them to me.  He didn’t even know beforehand that we were leaving the country and that it was going to be our last gathering with them for 2 months…..but God knew!  God treasures our hearts, and we felt like He was saying, “I know you’re sad about leaving, but here is my gift to you…….an outpouring of My love and honor.”  We left that night with such joy in our hearts!

We have such momentum going with these guys in building relationships, so the thought of leaving for 2 months didn’t excite us in the least.  However, they have decided to continue having their weekly gatherings on Tuesday in honor of what we started!  In addition to that, one of the guys asked the parole officer if they could come to the airport to welcome us back home when we return on June 9^th (which, coincidentally is a TUESDAY – the nights we meet on).  The driver made a deal with them.  He said that it’s “all or nothing” – either they ALL show up as a team and head to the airport or not.  The guys were all excited and said they’d ALL be there!!  We’ll be praying for that because we’re genuinely going to miss them.

In the last few days leading up to our departure, the Lord “surprised” us with 2 more divine appointments.  On Monday morning we had a meeting with the parole officer just to discuss how things were going and plans for moving forward.  During that time, a guy came into her office and she introduced us to him.  It turns out he’s on fire for the Lord and has worked in the adult prisons for 25 years.  His role is to prepare people for parole/transition back into the community.  Our heart is to provide housing and mentoring to guys transitioning out of prison.  The two go hand-in-hand!  Then on Wednesday Josh met with a guy who is a recovering tik/meth addict who has volunteered in the prison system for the last 8 years after getting clean.  He also works for the local government as a rural development officer and is connected to all of the farmers and land owners in the smaller communities.  Basically, what this means is that we have a local that can help us to find land for the vision the Lord has given us!!!  In talking further, it turns out that this guy’s heart is to also be involved with transition homes.  He said the meeting raised his spirits and encouraged him that he’s on the right path.  The Lord is connecting us with people who have like-hearts in what the Lord has placed on our hearts to do, and it is so exciting to witness all of the pieces coming together.

With such short notice of having to leave the country, you can imagine how quickly we had to jump on booking our plane tickets.  Well, unfortunately, we have the holiday weekend against us which limited our options because a lot of flights were full or really expensive.  We were able to find a great deal on tickets to get us from here into Johannesburg.  However, it’s requiring us to stay overnight in Joburg for 3 nights.  We wanted to avoid staying in a hotel because of the cost, which ended up being higher than expected, but were unable to find anyone with connections in Joburg that would be willing to house us.  So, hotel it is.  We will arrive in Joburg tomorrow evening then fly out @ 7:15pm to Seattle (with a 4-hour layover in Dubai).  We are scheduled to arrive in Seattle on Tuesday, April 7^th @ 1pm local time.  Flights into Boise were going to cost us $1k, but the Lord surprised us again with Matt Gager’s generous willingness to rent a vehicle then drive all the way from Boise to Seattle to pick us up!!  We will then turn around and drive back that same day, which will put us back in Boise around 2-3am.  Please pray that our internal clocks adjust very quickly to all the time changes and traveling.  Also, please keep Matt in your prayers as he and his son, Eric, make the long drive to get us.

We met with the owner of our house today to explain our situation in person.  Let’s just say, we are grateful to have a house to come back to and he’s not giving us the boot!  He’s been very understanding.  We paid rent upfront through the end of May.  Bummer that we’re paying for a house that we won’t be in for 2 months, but that’s just how things go.  We’re grateful the house and our vehicle will be looked after.  The owner is also going to turn on the alarm system while we’re away.

I’ve completed all of our packing and am thrilled that we only have 5 checked bags instead of 12, wahoo!!  It seems surreal that we’re headed back to the States, but we’re looking forward to the trip with JOY in our hearts because the Lord’s ways are higher than our own and we know He’s up to something good!  So, I leave you with this: Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path.  Proverbs 3:5-6