New work

Isaiah 43:19 Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall sprout; shall you not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.

A little background....last May the Lord started to do a work in my heart, preparing me for a new work. At the time, an old friend was back in my life and I told the Lord that I was afraid to leave him behind, basically that I would not leave him behind. Then in July a family who had been on furlough in the states was heading back to Japan and made a suggestion of me coming out there, coming alongside them. I told them, "I am not called to Japan." Had I ever even prayed about this? No. I always saw myself in a third world country, Japan is clearly not...they are probably more advanced than us in many ways.

This past summer I was approved to purchase a home. In early October I felt the Lord was urging me to put this search on hold, which I thought was just til the end of the year...I still have no desire to even look at homes :) In November, He started telling me to detach myself from work, to get the office to a place to be able to run without me...oh, the fear, the control I had to relinguish, my job has always been my stability, the place I can excel and a place of escape...all things that are not of the Lord. This has proven to be so exciting, such a welcome relief of a burden I didn't even recognize as such.

The Lord has really been searching my heart over the past few months revealing a lot of reasons why I have not "felt called," to Japan. As He has been revealing these things to me, He has been calming all the fears, quenching the voice of the enemy.

Well, two days ago, I took the steps to get in contact with this family in Japan. Come to find out the wife will be here in Richmond next week as she is returning to take her oldest daughter to college. She will be here 4 days and she and I will be taking a couple of hours to fellowship and go over any questions I have. This morning I received an e-mail with the information about their ministry and the needs down there...I can not put into words all that this letter says to me, confirming somethings I feel the Lord might have already been putting in my heart.It is all so much bigger than I. It amazes me, not necessarily scary, just wow...