Now to Him who is able….
If you’ve followed my blog for the last 10 years, you know
that the theme verses for our blog (and really life) are Ephesians
3:20-21. I usually focus on the “immeasurably
more” part (thus the name of my blog) when writing or thinking through what God
has done in our 14 years of marriage.
However, this time it is more fitting to focus on the first part of the
verse, “Now to Him who is able.” He is
able and I’d like to share with you how He has demonstrated this to me.
In October we started the process for foster care (see blog post Do the Next Thing). We wanted to be open to a sibling group, so
we started thinking about moving, but we were not really being proactive about
it. (DCS in most cases only allows two children per bedroom, so we could only
accept one girl at the old house.) In mid-May we decided the kids were going to
public school. This prompted us to start thinking about selling the house
quickly to get into a school system better suited for us. This also led me to a list of fears….
- fears about not having the time/resources/knowledge to get
the house ready to put on the market
- fears we couldn’t get it on the market soon enough for it
to sell in time for school
- fears they would make Benjamin repeat 4th grade
because of his birth date
- fears people would be upset about our decision
- fears the kids would be too behind to thrive at 5th
grade level
- fears that I would miss homeschooling
- fears that I made wrong decisions about our homestudy and
we might have to start it all over (this in and of itself is a very long story,
the homestudy process has not been a smooth one).
I decided that all the fears and worries would not help me,
so I wrote out all my fears and with each fear I wrote a prayer. A prayer giving that fear over to God. A prayer asking Him to give me peace instead
of anxiety about it all. A prayer with
what I know God is able to do and asking that He do it! I ended those prayers with this: “Lord, there
is so much on my mind. Most is out of my
control. None of it do You want me to
worry about. All of it You want me to
bring to You in prayer, with thanksgiving (Philippians 4). Most of my requests seem impossible….but I know
nothing is impossible for You! Please
intervene.”
So the weeks began to tick away and God began to show me
with each and every detail that He is able and confirmed to me that the
decisions we had made (some tough, some easy) were in His plan for us and our
family.
God is able to make
things move quickly:
We put our house on the market, and we accepted an offer on
it the next day! Not only that, but the
couple that bought it are missionaries and they are ministering in the Madison
area. How exciting for us, with our
hearts for ministry, to know God worked it out for our house to be a blessing
to someone with a heart for ministry and missions.
God is able to work
through any hurdles:
Houses in the area where we were looking were getting
contracts on them the day they listed or sometimes even before they were
listed! We had trouble finding a house
that would stay on the market long enough for us even to go see it! As for this house, for some reason it was on
the market for two weeks, we thought it must have something wrong with it. It did not (well nothing major), and so we
decided it was on the market for two weeks to give us time to find it! God had a plan in that! The price had also been lowered since it was
first on the market. The seller had some
provisions that seemed like we would not be able to agree on, but God worked those
details out. He even worked out the
details to let us rent the house before closing.
God is able to bring
about peace in uncertain situations:
None of us were certain about what to expect with
school. However, God had the details
worked out ahead of time. We were zoned
for the school my good friend Jennifer works at. They put Benjamin in 5th grade
with no question. The kids were excited
about school. I was not nervous. My fear was they would not start on time, but
God allowed us the time to get in the house and be settled before school
started. They loved their first week! We are also between two neighbors with 5th
graders, so they went to school already having two friends in their grade.
God is able to break
the silence:
We hadn’t heard from the foster agency in weeks! It seemed they were being silent and God was
being silent (see this blogpost). But
that was not true. God just wanted me to
wait. The day after we sold our house,
we got word our homestudy was going to be approved in just a couple of
days! We haven’t stopped hearing from
them since (though a placement has not worked out yet).
God is able to do
what seems impossible.
God is able to work
out the smallest details.
God is able to do far
more abundantly beyond what we ask or think.
I am so excited about God’s plans for our family. I know He has us right where He wants us. He gave us a house that we can use to
minister to foster kids. He has the kids
in their school and in the classes He wants them in, and I know He has their
good in mind. He has me home with
Malachi and ready for more! He has
Daniel working right where He wants him.
I don’t know what is next, but I know He brought us here. He brought us here quickly. So I know He has great things in store. But He likes for me to wait. So I’ll sit here and wait and see what is next
for us! “Now to Him who is able to do
far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power
that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to
all generations forever and ever. Amen.”
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