God is in Switzerland

Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name;
make known among the nations what he has done.
² Sing to him, sing praise to him;
tell of all his wonderful acts.
³ Glory in his holy name;
  let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.
⁴ Look to the Lord and his strength;
 seek his face always.

⁵ Remember the wonders he has done,
  his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced,
⁶ you his servants, the descendants of Abraham,
his chosen ones, the children of Jacob.
⁷ He is the Lord our God;
 his judgments are in all the earth.

Why do we need to recall? Because we are prone to forget.

So tonight, I am going to recall God’s goodness:

I cannot recount to you how many times God has miraculously provide for our family. And not just our needs. We have always had our needs met. But I am talking extra things.

When Peter left The New England Life Insurance Company 10 years ago, while I was pregnant with Hope, to enter full time ministry, we knew we were walking by faith. He was taking a 40% pay cut and our family was about to grow.

But we knew that God would be faithful to us.

I am really actually embarrassed to write down all that God has done for us. It is honestly overwhelming. But suffice it to say that God has provided a new addition on our home, a cars, thousands of dollars for a college education that we could not afford, numerous paid vacations, money for Rebekah’s missions trip and two violins.

This past summer, God provided Rebekah with an instrument so that she could major in music at Bob Jones University.

We were told that she would need to start out with a $5K instrument and that she should upgrade as often as possible until she reached a $10-15K instrument to get her master’s degree with. Of course, we don’t have that much, so we prayed. And God provided that money for her. Miraculously. Without us telling a soul.

Today, I got word that Rebekah was at a missions meeting this week in Switzerland when a Master Violin Maker approached her and asked if she would be interested in playing an instrument that he made during the upcoming service. She of course was delighted.

She reported that the sound was “amazing” and that several of her team members told her how good her sound was that night. The next day, she and several friends went on a two hour tour of his workshop.

He told her that he wanted to give her one of the instruments if she was interested at an “amazing” (that is teen talk for inexpensive) rate, and that if she could pay him back in the next 5-10 years, then wonderful, and if not, she was not to worry about it. Of course, we will repay him for his generous gift to her!

Why am I telling you all this?

Because God is in Switzerland. And he is working on the behalf of my daughter and our family over there, just as He is here. And He is all goodness and care for those who love Him.

And God was in Egypt, even when Joseph endured imprisonment and shackles, God was there, doing something big.  Psalm 105 tells us:

¹⁶ He called down famine on the land
and destroyed all their supplies of food;
¹⁷ and he sent a man before them—
    Joseph, sold as a slave.
¹⁸ They bruised his feet with shackles,
    his neck was put in irons,
¹⁹ till what he foretold came to pass,
 till the word of the Lord proved him true.
²⁰ The king sent and released him,
the ruler of peoples set him free.
²¹ He made him master of his household,
    ruler over all he possessed,
²² to instruct his princes as he pleased
    and teach his elders wisdom.

Why did all this happen to Joseph? God was sending him BEFORE so that God could rescue his people during the famine.

And God is working in your circumstances, too. I know He is.

And weather you are seeing Him in a new violin or in an unimaginable trial or tragedy, can you trust that He is there and working on your behalf?