GO!

After a great deal of prayer, talking with our leaders and several others, we felt we were supposed to trust God to take care of the finances and just go.

We had no idea when the funds would be available, but we packed our bags, packed up our car, loaded everyone in it and drove over 1,000 miles in faith. 

It’s funny how things work out. We arrived at our destination 1 day early. This meant paying an extra night of rent. The money was not in our account yet, so we called about it and were advised it could be there as early as Monday morning or as late as the next week. We weren’t sure what to do. We had made the trip in faith and were believing for the provision. What we did know was that God is faithful and He can do anything. We had our food money and return trip gas money, so, we prayed about it and we went ahead and payed for our first night.

Now, paying for that first night took money away from our food budget, but we believed that IF we were gonna do this, we needed to trust and that meant completely. Sometimes we have to step out of the boat to experience the miracle of walking on water. God gave us little confirmations along the way. For example, when we paid that first night there was a mix up with the room and the manager comped us the entire week of parking and fees. Why would we need the parking and fees comped if we weren’t going to be staying? ;) If you pay close attention, you will see that God speaks to us, even through circumstances.

The next morning we checked our accounts. No money. It was Sunday and it was unlikely that the funds would be added to our account that day. Monday was supposed to be our first day in the park. We came down with friends and we had planned our days to coincide and we still had no money for the admission. So, we updated everyone that was praying and believing with us and we decided to make the absolute best of our day. We went and walked around Downtown Disney, we went swimming, twice, we hung out with our friends. We had spent most of our food money on the last night’s rent and had spent the rest on the rent for Sunday night.

“Why would you do something so foolish?! You have children that are depending on you!”

Like I said, it’s funny how things work out. Three months ago I decided to finally start going to our monthly women’s meetings. An incredibly wise woman said something that struck a chord with me. She was talking about how as parents, when our children want something, we tend to do everything we can (within reason) to provide it. We don’t just tell them to pray and ask God for it, then sit back and watch how He provides it. We are willing to do that for ourselves, but not our children. Why? What are we protecting them from? God is unfailing and He loves to give us good gifts. Why are we keeping them from seeing God miraculously provide for them? That is where our faith is strengthened. She said “Don’t protect your children from God.” So what better way to help them build their faith than to include them in this with us?! We did something we have never done before because of those words she said. See, even though I didn’t know it at the time, God had led me to that experience to give me the encouragement to do what we would need to do in this situation. We shared the truth with them. We didn’t shield them from the obstacles that we were facing, instead we faced them together. They knew our situation. They knew what we were believing for. They prayed with us. They believed.

Sure, it was hard. It was really hard. In fact, it was the most terrifying thing I have ever done. As a parent and as a person, I have always done it on my own. I have always exhausted all means within my own ability before going outside for help. Paying this next night of hotel would exhaust our means. We had no way of knowing when the money would come. We were not just praying for God to push through the financing through the means we had in place, we were asking for miraculous provision.

“From where?”

That is the best part. We had NO idea where from. We simply prayed and trusted.

“So you knew He would provide and you never doubted?”

I would love to answer “Yes, we had no doubt at all.” but that would not be completely honest. See, we are human after all and faith doesn’t always come without a fight. Sure, we had those lies and doubts whispering in our ears… “What if He doesn’t provide?” “Did we come all this way for nothing?” “Did we do the right thing?” But at this point we had no hope, no options, nothing outside of God and His ability, and He definitely has the ability! ;) So, we chose to trust. We chose to believe. For the first time, we pressed in and didn't give up.

We had been wondering what we were gonna do for food that day when a friend invited us to check something out. It was a short presentation and we would get a $100 gift card just for doing it. We were super excited. We figured we could either use that to extend our hotel another night or for food for the rest of the trip. We even had a fantastic lunch provided for us just for attending. That was one meal off the list of expenses. ;)

That afternoon we got a phone call, it was an offer to pay for one night of hotel, as a loan, to get us by for another day. We said we would pray about it and call back. In the meantime, God was busy working on something BIG!