During the year, we get to know God in many ways. God being god Father h been quite a theme for Northbound our team has really been blessed in abundance, but I would like to focus a little more on how God has just been so specific in my small personal needs.
It started off in India, our second country. I was really in need of a new day bag. I wanted to buy one in Nepal, but then decided against it, but God knew better and was in control and it was no surprise that our gift from the Children's home was nothing other than a new day bag.
The next time I was esecially aware of this was in Vietnam, when the manager at the coffee shop just blessed us with so much and good coffee (and I really love coffee) and in a time when my wallet got stolen and I was penniless, but constantly being blessed by a team mate acting out of obedience.
I also saw that God is a good Father in our time in Indonesia when I was thinking about the fact that I should maybe buy a few new t-shirts as they get worn out pretty quickly. We then got blessed with 3 brand new t-shirts by the local church. In this se time I was gting pretty tired of my small quick dry towel that was not so quick dry or odourless as they adveretised it. I thought it might not be a bad idea to buy a small "normal" towel...our gift at our one ministry point was a small towel with our names embroided on it.
I don't want to drag out all of them, but I do want to name them as I do not feel that I can deny God's hand in these gifts. I have not had a cup the whole year and was using my travel plunger as a cup. No surprise that a travel mug was our gift in Russia. In Russia I also recieved soap and shampoo as gifts just after I realised that I need new ones, I know it seems small, but on a Global journey these things are pretty huge!!
The last one happened in Turkey. I needed new socks so I mentioned to some of my team mates that when they go to the market I want to walk with them. I then continued to clean and move out of the room where my parents just visited (which was such a big blessing in itself). I looked under the bed to see if I haven't forgotten anything...in the corner under the bed lay a brand new pair of adidas socks. Someone probably forgot it there a while back, but I still see it as a miracle and God's father heart and provision just revealed to me again.
I also recieved an email from my mother in the year about what she remembers about her time in Missions and she mentioned how she remembers how God always provided exactly what we needed, from clothes in the post to fresh fruit and vegetables when most needed.
This morning while doing bible study and thinking a bit about the year and reading in Colossians where Paul says that we want to present everyone to Christ perfect, some bibles read mature, in Christ. I just realis that that is so much part of what God did for me this year, He started maturing me in Christ, giving me an identity in Him and also showing me parts of my life which is not from Him. I have alsways loved doing outreaches and helping people, but I am not sure that I always really knew Jesus that well, this year has been a lot about just really truly getting to know Jesus and God and what He did for us. My point is that if God did not really care about me and just cared about getting His message preached and getting His work done, then He wouldn't have cared so much this year about showing me truth in my life, giving me freedom and maturing me in Christ. So in this God's intimacy was just once again revealed to me. He wants to be intricately involved in our lives.
So through all the generations God has been a good Father and a Provider. Some people might say that these events are a coincidence, but I choose to say that God cares and He also cares about our deepest needs.
What a mighty God we serve!!