Mountaintops and Valleys

I've alluded to a particularly difficult situation that Pete and I have been in since mid-July, and while we feel the details aren't appropriate to broadcast to the whole world, I wanted to give an update because I hope it encourages you to trust FULLY in the Lord for whatever you are going through at this very moment.

I was just telling a good friend that the last time I felt this desperate for God to provide and grant us peace was when Natalia was first born, and her health (her life) was completely out of our hands. Let me just say too, that that place is GRACE in disguise. Grace defined as "unmerited favor", and God's kindness to us.

How can I say this? Because I am convinced that God allows trials and challenges to come our way, not in an arbitrary way or because He doesn't care, but because He loves us, desires to grow us, teach us about who He is and who we are; to remind us that He provides for our very breath, wants to bless us, and desires to be our Lord.

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Look at the "titles" I encountered this past week in my quiet time with God, leading up to our big day on Friday. (They come from Charles Spurgeon's, MORNING AND EVENING devotional.)

"Why have you brought this trouble on your servant?" (Numbers 11:11)

"On whom are you depending?" (Isaiah 36:5)

"I will save you from the hands of the wicked and redeem you from the grasp of the cruel." (Jeremiah 15:21)

"Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven" (Lamentations 3:41)(speaking of prayer)

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Hmmm...I don't count THAT as merely coincidence.


You see, Pete and I were thrust into a situation in which our integrity was called into question.

False claims were made by complete strangers.

We felt under attack.

The possible financial outcomes seemed daunting (and that word doesn't quite capture it!)

We felt a degree of obligation to speak the truth and defend ourselves...but recognized that it might not be enough, and we might have to "compensate" our accusers and trust that God would somehow and in some way provide for us to do so.

AND, in all of this, we felt that God wanted to increase our faith and trust in Him.



Would our reaction/attitude (when we met in person to try to resolve the matter) reflect our faith and trust in Christ to them?

Though we felt completely justified in our stance, would we be faithful to pray for those who were causing our hardship? To pray for their ultimate good?

Despite the blow to our pride, would we focus on how our accusers were defining us, or find rest in our Savior's definition of who we are?


Well, the outcome of Friday's meeting was extremely hard to swallow. We had NO IDEA how we were going to come up with that kind of cash within a month's time. (Especially with what we could sell, cut from our tight budget, and the interest rates banks are offering on loans these days!) ANYWAY, as we were faithful to pray for wisdom and provision (and even when we weren't) God was bringing about a solution. He was blessing our meager and imperfect efforts at faith and trust, and the end result was exponential!

God used a single source we weren't expecting to cover the full amount!
(THANK YOU! You know who you are!)

The significance of this is not lost on us...isn't God good? :o)