What does faith look like?

George Mueller was a native German born in 1805 and lived until 1898 dying at the age of 92. In 1834 he founded the Scripture Knowledge Institute for Home and Abroad. He was known for his immense orphan ministry. Over the period of his life, his 5 orphan homes took care of more than 10,000 children whose parents had died. At the same time, he preached an average of 3 sermons a week until he was 70 years of age. At 70 he fulfilled his life long dream to become a missionary. He traveled to 42 countries speaking on an average of at least once a day until he was 87. Out of all the money he raised, he never ask anybody directly but prayed that the Lord would provide for all of the orphans and ministries that he looked over. George died at the age of 92 years old the morning after he had led a prayer meeting. His life was a life that was given to the Gospel and he looked to God to provide all of his needs.

This past week has been trying and difficult to say the least. Carli and I have been convicted about our lack of faith in God's provision for our lives. Instead of taking each day as a blessing from God and relying on Him to take care of all of our needs both spiritual and physical, I tend to stress and worry that I may not be doing enough to make things happen. I want to do more to help God's plan come to pass so my plans come to pass. What I need to be doing is praying more like George and be still and know that He is God. (Psalm 46:10) It's been helpful for Carli and I to look to others' lives who through faith, trusted God for His provision. George Mueller is one of those people.

All of those accomplishments happened not because George had the ability to do all of that from his own energy, but the energy and finances came because He trusted a God that was bigger than him and was able to provide all that he needed.

In Houston

Hello Everyone,

We have just recently arrived in the city of Houston and have already been blown away by the hospitality of the brothers and sisters in Christ out here. We are in the process of looking for some jobs and a more permanent place to stay for the remainder of our time here.

This morning we went to Sojourn Heights for our first Sunday. This church will be helping both Carli and I in our assessment as missionaries and also our training over the next few months. Please pray that we have clarity as we settle down here and that the Lord brings folks into our path who can be a part of the ministry with Impatto Budrio (our church) in Italy.

Each week we will continue to update this blog so that you all have an idea of what the Lord is doing with our lives in this process so that you know how to pray for us in this journey. The sermon from this morning was very encouraging and eye opening on this path that we find ourselves on. Pastor Brandon spoke from Matthew 28:16-20. Something that is interesting about this passage is the fact that when the disciples went up to meet Jesus many of them worshiped him, however some doubted. The point of the sermon was the idea that even though we can be close to Jesus in our lives and in our daily struggles, we can also doubt His ability to show Himself sufficient over our lives. Doubt doesn't mean that we are always far from God. It just shows our inability to trust Him and His character by ourselves without His spirit helping us and bearing witness to the truth.

That is where we find ourselves in Houston. We are joyful that we have this opportunity to worship Jesus and be close to brothers and sisters of the faith for the next months. At the same time, not having all of the future figured out can make us doubt the Lord's ability to handle every situation as He sees fit. This is something that we need to give to Him as His children.

The promise of his authority in the next few verses, 18-20 make it quite clear to us that everything in life, no matter how bad it can get, Jesus has everything in control. Christ tells His disciples, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me." This should give us a peace and comfort to live our lives for the Gospel and not look back. The confidence of that verse gives me the hope that even though I don't have everything figured out, Jesus does and He will have His good work in our lives. We just have to let Him lead.