Submitted by Josh
Arrington
So Abraham
called that place Jehovah Jireh (The Lord Will Provide). And to this day it is said, on the mountain
of the Lord it will be provided. Genesis
22:14
Over the past 7 years,
we have walked through many challenges and trials as we strive to expand the
kingdom of heaven in this very dark place.
We know it was God who spoke into our hearts and led us on this journey
because we never would have chosen this on our own and would not even still be
here if it was our plan.
In many ways, I
feel like our story is very similar to the story of Abraham and the journey the
Lord led him on. He left his family and traveled to a new land and was
commanded to be a blessing to the people in this new land. He faced many trials
and tests along the way, and had to completely trust God for everything.
We have had many
trials and tests on our journey. We were not allowed to cross the border when
we first moved here. Twice we did not have enough finances to continue. We
didn’t know where we would live at times and had families leave the church just
when we were finally getting some stability. We’ve often felt alone and
isolated, not having an idea of how to move forward.
One day, as I was
reading about how God tested Abraham in Genesis 22, the Lord clearly showed me
I had completely misunderstood the reason why He tests us. I always thought God would test us to see if
we were good enough to pass, and once we passed He would move on to something
bigger. (The same way we take a test in
school to move on to the next grade). Instead,
God showed me that He tests us because He wants to see how much we trust Him
and He wants to show us that He is big enough to provide.
I can testify to
you today that God has always provided every time we needed Him and my trust in
Him continues to grow each day.
Let God show you
that He is big enough to provide for you too!
Lord, I pray
that my trust in You would continue to grow and I would trust that You are the
Provider for everything.
