Jehovah Jirah is my providah!!

Wow! How my life has Changed in the last couple of months!

As I mentioned in my last blog, I had no clue what I was going to be doing after October!
Well, it's after October and all I can say is that I am more blown away by the Lord and all He does! He continues to show me what it means to live a life fully surrendered to Him!

As I waited on the Lord the last couple months, He reaffirmed to me, in many ways, that He's got me right where He wants me! I went a little more than two months without a steady income. But just as soon as a financial need would arise, God would provide! He provided some landscaping jobs for a couple people in Marblehead, and even better some opportunities to share Christ with some people in the community in which I'm staying.

That's right, God also provided a place for me to stay. There was a family in the Lakeside community who had bought a house and then had to relocate due to their job. The house was waiting to be sold, and they thought it better to have someone living in it rather than to have it sitting vacant. With the time of the year and the down market it's very likely that the house won't be sold until next summer. Therefore, I have a place to stay until we open the camp back up in April! Not only that, but the house is quite spacious so we are able to use it for office space as well.

As I said before, I really I thought that the Lord wanted me to stick around and do more work for the camp but a lot of things had to fall into place. God provided money to pay my bills, a place to stay, and now has even provide a job! The opportunity arose for me to be able to be on staff at Patmos through the end of next summer! The Lord has been so faithful to me, in so many ways! He has shown me in mighty ways that He has this whole earth at His disposal, and He will do with it what he pleases.

The fact of the matter is... I was called to give up on my preconceived notions and to follow Jesus, in faith. Many times I hear people saying, "I am pretty sure this is what God wants, but He's just going to have to make it clear to me by providing this or that." I have found that many times He's made it quite clear to us, and our asking for Him to show us one thing or another isn't really faith at all! The Lord has been showing me what true faith is: being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. If I had sat and waited for God to provide one thing or another, I can confidently say that none of these things would have come my way. By faith, I knew where He wanted me, and by faith I tried my best to serve faithfully. And it's in that place where He then provided! If you are truly seeking Him and loving Him, and He impresses something upon your heart, do it! Don't wait for all the answers, because the answers are waiting for you to come to them! It is in obedience where we receive our affirmation! This is not a call to make irresponsible, unadvised decisions, but once again a call to give the Lord your all! To be faithful, no matter where you're at! I've had several wise people around me, helping me, and praying with me through this process. And I continue to seek their guidance, because this is just the beginning. I also know that many of the people that read my first blog have been praying for me too, and I am very blessed to have so many wonderful people in my life!

What am I doing now?

As I mentioned before, God really impressed it on my heart to begin a discipleship program at Camp Patmos and that is one of the things I am currently working on. The plan is to have something in place by the new year. I have also had the opportunity in the last couple of months to speak to groups of guys, young and old, about the things that hold us back from fully surrendering our lives to Christ. It has been so humbling to have God use me to help people through things that I have struggled so much with! That just shows the power of God. He doesn't use capable people, I know that there are people far more equipped, He uses open and broken people. His strength is made perfect in our weakness!

Another thing that I have been praying about is the numerous numbers of campers that will come to camp, get fired up, and make commitments to the Lord, then they leave camp and fizzle out. I know there are numerous reasons for that, but I think there are things that we can do at Patmos to help. One of those things, I believe, is making contact with the campers during the winter months, when they may not be thinking at all about camp or how God moved in their lives when they were there. Therefore, I am going to be going to as many of the churches, that attend camp, as I can. I am setting up dates at the moment to go in and speak to the different youth groups on keeping your eyes set on Christ! I am hoping to have engagements set up every week until may! I am very excited about this, and am pumped to see what the Lord does with it! I've already had the opportunity to speak to a couple of groups, and am excited to be used in this way!

Something else that I have been working on is getting some of the material that I've worked on/ spoken on in writing. I believe the Lord is leading me to write a book or a devotional of some sort... so please pray for me as the Lord guides me through this process.

All in all, I continue to see the mighty works of God's hands everyday. He has done so much in my life, and in the lives of those around me. But, I must not focus on all that He's done (He's God, of course He's going to display His power) but solely on Him! The moment I focus on the things he does, is the moment that I miss the point! The only thing that matters is that God is all-knowing and all-powerful, but is as equally loving and desires a relationship with us. The things he does aren't meant to impress us. God doesn't need to impress us, He's God. These things are meant to draw us to further understanding of Him, and as a result love Him better!

Please pray for me as I continue to seek the Lord's will...
and for crying out loud, let me pray for you!! Tell me what's going on in your life!!

Thank you for reading!

JC