Ever More

I love the beach, and often feel so close to God when we are there. As I walked along the beach at Palm Coast this summer, I felt as if God were speaking to me, telling me of a new work I would do for him. I remembered a scripture I had read years before, but I wasn't able to find, not then anyway. I thought of our mission trip and wondered what purpose I might have after we came home from Africa. As I pondered and prayed, I began thinking BIG thoughts and dreaming BIG dreams. My dream included building a home for orphans. (I was thinking China at the time.)

As the time drew near for our mission to South Africa, I began to focus on the work he would have for us there. I began to anticipate the inconceivable.


I would never have imagined that I would find such joy in seeing Shandakani, the first child we identified to sponsor, or that I would feel sadness in my heart when I saw her for the last time before we came home.



Nor could I have imagined the love I would feel for a little boy who jumped into my arms, put his arms around my neck, and rested his head on my shoulder. I never anticipated the joy I would feel when I was able to see Adi one last time or the excitement of learning he would be the second orphan we would sponsor in the school next year.



As I have been praying Ephesians 3:20, and as our mission team read and claimed Habukkuk 1:5, God began to move in ways we would never have imagined, and would hardly have believed, even if we had been told.

We would learn that Brad and Hazel Palmer of Build the Nations had wondered if they should begin providing a home for orphans. As they learned of our desire to work with orphans, they contacted a local pastor. He helped them identify Faith, Solomon, and Shandakani. Visiting the home of their grandmother and learning of their situation, they began to make plans to bring the children to the mission base to stay Monday-Friday. Their grandmother is 84 years old, slightly crippled and blind in one eye. She and the children are excited about the possibility of their staying at the school during the week. The children wanted to go to school on Saturday!

Then, as I fell in love with Adi at Auntie Lydia's, I was moved to ask Hazel if she thought Adi could be the second orphan we sponsored. But, Hazel took it a step further and asked Auntie Lydia if Adi could live on the mission base, at least during the week. She also made plans for Zuavhudi to do the same.

Hazel began to talk with me and others on the mission team. She shared her dream of building a home for orphans on the base, and we shared her excitement. We were quickly promising to come home and help raise funds to build that house!!!!

That night in my prayer time, I thought, for the first time, of the prompting from the LORD while I was at the beach. And, just like Jesus, I found the scripture I had looked for earlier, but couldn't find. I found it when it was TIME. "Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert."

It was time, the time was now, for the new thing to spring forth. I was in the wilderness in Afria, in the dry season, where the place looked like a desert. God was showing me clearly the new thing. And, as I read more, I found Isaiah 45:2, "I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight."

So, ever more than I could have imagined when we felt called to go to Africa, ever more than I could have imagined when we left home, we broke ground for the new building for orphans, a step of faith, before we left Africa.




Look carefully at the photo with Josie-Tatum in the foreground. You will one day see a new thing spring forth from the plot of land that looks like a wilderness. You can be part of the new work for Jesus by joining us in prayer. And, if the LORD leads your to contribute monetarily, please email me at rbmattox@bellsouth.net

Join me in.....Anticipating the Inconceivable.

(You can read more about Faith, Solomon, Shandukani, Zuavhudi, and Adi at our family blog...http://meimeimakesfour.blogspot.com )