A Journey In Faith

Climbing a mountain on our hayride

"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." - Hebrews 11:1 (ESV)

Recently we went on a hay ride in an old wagon pulled by an old tractor.  I (Vicki) was thinking it would be a simple ride over a relatively even path.  As we started off, I noticed that the wagon creaked a lot. After ten minutes I saw that our guide was taking us towards a steep mountainside on a very uneven path.  Needless to say I did not have much faith in the tractor or the wagon being able to make it up the mountain.  However, we made it safely up and down a number of rut-filled paths and steep inclines.  About halfway through the ride I began to have faith that the wagon and tractor were going to transport us safely back to where we started.

This month God has been teaching us what it means to step out in faith.  In September we stepped back from ministry responsibilities to begin the task of increasing our team of prayer and financial partners.  Our goal is to be 100% supported by December.

At the beginning of this month we had the opportunity to visit with friends and family in the Martinsville, Virginia area.  Tom also spoke at our sending church, Christ's Church, at Blackberry Baptist Church, and at Higher Ground Christian Retreat.  We enjoyed meeting new people and sharing the passion God has given us for the people of Chester.

I'd love to say that emotionally we were pumped the entire two week trip, but our emotions cycled from excitement in what God is doing to worry that we weren't doing enough and as a result our support won't increase.  It was during these times that God's quite voice spoke in our hearts, "Step out in faith, trust me."  He also revealed to us that our worries were lies that Satan was using to discourage us.

In the last few days of our trip God encouraged us through the people we were meeting with.  On October 10, we met with close friends from Christ's Church.  They had invited some friends over for dessert and to listen to us share.  As we shared about our desire to plant a healthy, vibrant church in Chester and about World Impact's focus on partnering with inner-city churches, we felt excited.  That excitement poured into the people we were sharing with.  The same thing happened two days later when we shared our passion at Higher Ground.  After our time of sharing, our friends at Higher Ground gathered around us and prayer for us.  Both of these experiences encouraged us.  As we headed back to Chester we arrived anticipating what God is going to do.