God's timing!

Wow! I don’t know why I keep reverting back to the same old human things… Maybe I’m human? We know as Christians, that God’s timing is not ours, right? But sometimes we forget that God’s timing doesn’t have to be a “deadline” set by someone else either! That’s what got me this time. Matt’s Rwanda money, $2000, was due by May 1^st. May 1^st came and he had $990 in his account. We scrambled around on Monday and Tuesday trying to figure out, with the mission’s office at church, if that meant he wasn’t going. The rule is, No money for what needs to be purchased for you, no purchase. Pretty simple. However, they were waiting to hear from the travel agent and we had a few hours at best to send out one more request. So, I did what I do best, hit my facebook!! All of you that hate it, well, if used correctly, it can be a blessing. Matt was able to raise another $310 in less than 24 hours. That’s awesome! When we talked with the missions department Wednesday night, we learned that the tickets would be purchased the next day and now, the ticket prices had gone up another $210. So he needed $2210 to purchase the ticket with and we only had $1300. We felt like we were back to square one. Translation, we felt defeated. God was trying to show us that we need to put our faith in Him. Should we do fundraisers, beg on facebook and send out letters? Of course! He never promised the cross would not be heavy! When Matt decided to answer a call, by God to go to Rwanda, we picked up a cross to carry. Sitting back and only saying God will provide while doing nothing to be a vessel, would have been self-righteous to say the least. But, He was trying to teach the both of us that His timing is divine and perfect just like His will for our lives. When we were discouraged Wednesday, God must have been so frustrated with us. I can hear Him now, “Look at those two! I already dropped a hint that they were able to use nearly an entire extra week past a due date, and they still are relying on man’s timing and not My own!” Thursday came and Matt accepted the fact that the money was not there and he would have a head start on next year. We hadn’t heard any different. On Monday, Matt was approached by “someone” and asked if he still wanted to go. Matt said of course but he was sure the tickets had been purchased. Well, come to find out, they hadn’t! He still had time, this “someone” offered to pay the remaining amount for his ticket and anything that he didn’t raise in the end but to continue raising money until the June deadline of $2900 total. He was also handed another $100 check that day separate and another $100 came straight to the church in his name! Shocked! Grateful! Astounded! Humbled!... Surprised! But why? Jesus was 4 days late to raise Lazarus. Late by our standards before hand, but perfectly on time by His standards and in hind sight! And we’re talking about someone being raised from the dead! Not money for a plane ticket, for a mission trip God called you to go on! Why were we so surprised? It makes you think. Faith is asking the mountain to move and only being surprised when it doesn’t! – Not when it does!