To encourage someone is to give them a courage transfusion.
I'm not eager to tell everyone that I could really use a dozen pints of the stuff right now. I have been discouraged for many weeks and have doubted my calling to Japan. This time of raising support is one of the most difficult times I've encountered in a long time.
I found hope in an old promise in Romans today.
We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us--they help us learn to endure. And endurance develops strength of character in us, and character strengthens our confident expectation of salvation. And this expectation will not disappoint us. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. (Romans 5:3-5, NLT)
I've named my blog "Confessions of a Water Walker" after a book that has had a powerful impact on my response to this calling to Japan. I heard a sermon preached by Dr. Richard Butmann from Wheaton College about risk taking last summer.
He spoke about John Ortberg's book, If You Want to Walk on Water, You've Got to Get Out of the Boat. From that sermon, I knew that God was calling me to be a Water Walker and to take a risk in going to Japan with Asian Access.
Now I'm on the water, and like Peter, I'm beginning to look around me at the storm. Only in my case the storm is the discouragement of not meeting my own terms of success in support raising. I'm wondering just how long it will take for the money to come in. I'm forgetting that God is the Source of everything I need. So, I'm beginning to sink in my fear and doubt.
Dear friends, I'm in need of a courage transfusion. Please pray for me. Pray that I will rely only on God and that I will not look to others to meet my needs. Please pray that my character will be strengthened and that I will be all the more prepared to serve in Japan because of this tough time. Please pray that I will be filled with a full measure of the Holy Spirit so that I will once again find joy in this time of preparation.
I'm not eager to tell everyone that I could really use a dozen pints of the stuff right now. I have been discouraged for many weeks and have doubted my calling to Japan. This time of raising support is one of the most difficult times I've encountered in a long time.
I found hope in an old promise in Romans today.
We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us--they help us learn to endure. And endurance develops strength of character in us, and character strengthens our confident expectation of salvation. And this expectation will not disappoint us. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. (Romans 5:3-5, NLT)
I've named my blog "Confessions of a Water Walker" after a book that has had a powerful impact on my response to this calling to Japan. I heard a sermon preached by Dr. Richard Butmann from Wheaton College about risk taking last summer.
He spoke about John Ortberg's book, If You Want to Walk on Water, You've Got to Get Out of the Boat. From that sermon, I knew that God was calling me to be a Water Walker and to take a risk in going to Japan with Asian Access. Now I'm on the water, and like Peter, I'm beginning to look around me at the storm. Only in my case the storm is the discouragement of not meeting my own terms of success in support raising. I'm wondering just how long it will take for the money to come in. I'm forgetting that God is the Source of everything I need. So, I'm beginning to sink in my fear and doubt.
Dear friends, I'm in need of a courage transfusion. Please pray for me. Pray that I will rely only on God and that I will not look to others to meet my needs. Please pray that my character will be strengthened and that I will be all the more prepared to serve in Japan because of this tough time. Please pray that I will be filled with a full measure of the Holy Spirit so that I will once again find joy in this time of preparation.
