Posts Tagged ‘Trust’

A Stressful Week
Dave, Dawn and David Jr. with Dave's parents, Virginia and Ron

Dave, Dawn and David Jr. with Dave’s parents, Virginia and Ron

Last week the Lord brought my dad through an open heart bypass surgery, for which I’m very grateful. Thanks for praying.

It was a stressful week!

My dad going through such a huge surgery. Then the owner of the home we are renting said that she might want us to move out in two months, or she is going to raise the rent. We had some other family challenges back in Chula Vista. I felt stressed, and I thought the enemy was trying to discourage us.

God’s Loving Care

I took all this to the Lord in prayer. God reminded me that he is going to take care of our housing needs.

I felt like he spoke to me in this way, “The Father wants to give me good gifts not a stone or a serpent. Wait on the Lord. He will show me in due time. God is going to do a great and mighty work. Trust. Have faith. Wait.”

I’m not sure I have a clear sense on what God is going to do, and in my weaker moments I doubt.

The View of TJ from the local Starbucks

The View of Tijuana from the local Starbucks near our home

Dawn and I were praying and talking about our concerns and our hopes for a house. We love the location of our home, and it seems too early to have to move, since we’ve only been here one year.

It would be close to impossible to move right now with all the things we have going on through the rest of this year. If we were to move it also seems like such a waste of time and energy!

Don’t Laugh, Trust God

Then Dawn said a few people had told her with all the ministry we do out of our home we may need a bigger home, maybe a five bedroom home. I laughed, because homes are so expensive here and it would take a true act of God for us to be able to afford a home like that. Yet, I shouldn’t laugh because this is not too big of a challenge for our God.

Dawn warned me, “You shouldn’t laugh. Do you remember what happened to Zechariah the priest, the husband of Elizabeth when he doubted? He was unable to speak and he remained mute until John the Baptist was born.” (Luke 1:5-23)

I didn’t really care for Dawn telling that, but she does have a point. What is difficult for man is not difficult for God. The Lord can and will do a great and mighty work in our midst. He didn’t bring us here to abandon us!

Lord, forgive me for my unbelief. Do lead us as we look to you for your provision for our home, which is our ministry launching pad!

In His Grip, Dave

DiasoLifeOnTheBorder.org

Edgardo Avila - leading the Spanish speaking church

Edgardo Avila – leading the Spanish-speaking church

God helps those who help themselves, right?

Many Americans think that they can find this verse in the Bible, but search all they want and it is nowhere to be found.

Abram and Sarai’s dilemma

The pastor of our Spanish church, Edgardo Avila spoke on Genesis 16 on Sunday. This passage describes how Abram and Sarai began to doubt whether God would come through and give them their promised child, a son, an heir. Sarai decided to give Abram her servant, Hagar as his wife. Abram did take her as his wife, and Hagar conceived and a whole lot of problems were born with her son.

Abram and Sarai decided instead of trusting God, instead of waiting on the Lord that they would take things into their own hands. You could say they believed that God helps those who help themselves.

This message really hit me. In some areas of my life I’m tempted to rush ahead, instead of trusting God. In a sense, I feel like I have to help God make it happen. It’s so good that God is full of mercy and grace, because he still used Abraham and Sarah in spite of their misstep. He is also amazingly graceful to us.

Choose God

When you come to a fork in the road, and you have to decide whether to trust yourself, or trust God, choose God. He is all-knowing and he is abundantly loving. Choose him every time, no matter how difficult it may seem. You will never go wrong if you choose to trust in the Lord and his faithfulness. All his promises are yes, in Christ Jesus!

In His Grip, Dave

DiasoLifeOnTheBorder.org

partially charred flowers that survived the fire

partially charred flowers that survived the fire

The Waldo Canyon Fire is now 100% contained. Hurrah! That’s great news! Yet many lost their homes, and more were damaged. Some of our friends, Doug and Jodi Hammerstrom live right above the Flying W Ranch, so they were sure that they lost their home. But somehow in God’s grace it survived.

Even with this wonderful news, the Hammerstrom family now wonders what the fire has done to the value of their home? Doug shared about this on his blog, It’s Not About Me. He said, this gives “an opportunity to see who we trust more, The Lord of Heaven and Earth or American Family Insurance.”

There is joy and relief for those who could have lost more in the fire, yet they still suffered loss. It wasn’t the worse case scenario. I know many prayed that homes and lives would be spared. It could have been much worse, but it ended up being the worst fire in the history of Colorado.

Loss like this reminds us that this is our temporary home. The things of this world are wood, hay and stubble compared to the glory of knowing Christ. That’s not to say it’s easy when we suffer loss, and things that we worked hard for are either devalued or completely destroyed.

I am thankful that God spared the Hammerstrom’s home, and I agree with Doug that it is an opportunity to trust. I pray we will all grow in our trust of the Lord, and that those that don’t know Christ will turn to Him as they see how quickly things of this world can go up in smoke.

Proverbs 3:5-6 encourages us to trust the Lord fully.

“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 make straight your paths.”

Here’s a video put out by the Colorado Springs Fire Department that demonstrates just how bad the fire was, and the heroic job they did in limiting the damage.

In His Grip, Dave

DiasoLifeontheBorder.org