take 2: january 11th – inside/out

Hi Sweetheart,

It’s just before dinner on Tuesday evening.  The day has been good, but I am heavy-hearted.  My conversation with Bob was a difficult one and not what I had anticipated.  I am sorry that things are not moving as quickly as we had hoped.  I pray that the Lord gives us reassurance that He is still in control.  In my heart I know that He is faithful and has us in his care, but right now I am fighting my feeling of selfishness, just wanting to be home with you guys.  I also know that we serve a God that can make the impossible possible, so I am not giving up hope on our speedy reunion.  I’m confident that God wants me home with my family, but in His timing.  I pray that He will continue to provide for us financially, spiritually, emotionally, and physically as we seek to walk according to his timetable, His will.  I also pray that He gives us comfort during the hard days, like today.  And that we’ll be faithful to praise Him, whether we are in the valleys or on the mountain tops. 

Jim shared a passage of Scripture with me today that I know was from the Lord.  Amazing that God knew what we would be going through tonight, emotionally, and he used Jim to deliver the salve.  It shouldn’t amaze me, but it does.  Here is the Scripture:

Rejoice always,
Pray without ceasing,
No matter what happens, always be thankful,
For this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus
I Thes. 5:16-18

That last part is hard sometimes, always being thankful is a tall order.  But it reminds me that I am not God, and that He knows the full picture and that He has our best interest in mind.  I’m not privy to all of the things He has going on in the background and that I should just Be still and know that I am God.  I need to simply trust that He is God and that His will will be done.  Easier said than done sometimes, but this is when a person’s faith is really tested.  This is when that trust in Him is built.  This is when, if we are faithful, He will draw us near to Him and show us a part of His glory.  Don’t get me wrong, I am certainly no fan of “patient endurance,” but I do know what that leads to.  2 Peter 1:5-8 tells us:

So make every effort to apply the benefits of these promises to your life.  Then your faith will produce a life of moral excellence.  A life of moral excellence leads to knowing God better.  Knowing God leads to self-control.  Self control leads to patient endurance, and patient endurance leads to godliness.  Godliness leads to love for other Christians, and finally you will grow to have genuine love for everyone.  The more you grow like this, the more you will become productive and useful in your knowledge ou our Lord Jesus Christ.

I want to, in the midst of this disappointment, keep proper perspective.  I keep telling myself that this is just a season of our lives, and hopefully a short one, and that a month here or there in the grand scheme of things shouldn’t really upset me.  But it does, I can’t help it.  I don’t want to spend a second more away from you than I have to.  So I will pray that God shows us both to do with these feelings, so that they can be productive and not destructive.  We can’t let it derail us or sidetrack us from the work assigned to us by the Lord Jesus Christ.  Acts 20:24

We need to remain strong in our resolve to press on, abiding in Him for the strength we’ll need.  And I pray that His fingerprints were all over this situation.  I am sure we will!

I’ll write more later.  God has promised to never leave us or forsake us.  He has brought, or actually carried, us this far so I will trust in Him to see it through.  Let us count our many blessings, name them one by one, for we are truly blessed.  Thank you Father!

Know that I am missing you tonight, wishing I could hold you in my arms.  I will meet you in my prayers and see you in my dreams, my love.

I love you, Scott

Related Letters