A church here in San Diego that supports our ministry to SDSU dropped off a truck load of presents to our family today. The pastor told us that God put it on his heart to bless us in this way. It was one of those moments where you are both humbled and confused. Obviously this church is aware that we are raising support and maybe they felt we may be struggling financially to buy presents for our kids this year, but the honest truth is that we are not struggling to buy gifts this year. God has been so faithful to provide for us. Ever since saying yes to Him we have had all our needs taken care of and have been lacking in nothing. It has been humbling to say the least and people have been so generous. If I have learned anything these last few years since becoming a US missionary it is that it is important to be a gracious receiver. We hear a lot about being a generous giver but God has been teaching me in this season of life how to be a gracious receiver, and yes it is humbling at times but always a blessing, and what I have learned is that the blessing often times is more for the giver then it is for the receiver, and we should never stand in the way of a blessing no matter what end of it you are on.So when this church dropped a truck load of gifts off at our house I knew I had to except the blessing even though it made no sense to me at the time, but I trusted that God laid it on this pastors heart to do this for a reason. As I piled the gifts up in the corner of our living room I imagined the kids faces when they got home and I was struggling with just what I was going to tell them about this generous gesture because I wanted them to get it... even though I wasn't quit sure I knew what "it" was. So I began to ask God to give me wisdom to explain what he was doing to my children. So when the kids got home from school Brandon and I sat them down in front of the pile of gifts and with their jaws almost to the floor we began to explain to them what we had been given.
We talked about the nature of mommy and daddy's job, and that is to minister to college students at SDSU, but in order to do our job other people, churches, friends and family have to give us money for our food, clothes, house etc. So that is why every Sunday for the past 5 months we have been traveling to different churches so that daddy could tell about our ministry and so that people and pastors would partner with us to make that ministry happen. We told the kids that they have been so good going to all the different churches with their best behavior while meeting new people and attending different children's services with such great attitudes, they really have been amazing through it all. My greatest fear when we first felt called to this life was my children and all they would have to go through, from moving four times in 2 years, to changing schools 3 times and all the while they have gone about it with happy hearts and adjusted so well. We have truly been in awe of our children during these crazy few years, they have become just as much apart of our ministry as we are. We are truly in this as a family and it has been so amazing to unite in this way...and right then it hit me...So with a lump in my throat and tears welling up in my eyes I told my kids that maybe God told this church to give us this pile of presents because he wants you to know how much He loves you. Just as simple as that... He loves you! So what we did next was began to pray and thank God for his continued faithfulness and love for our family, each of the kids wanted to pray and when Peyton the oldest began to pray her eyes weld up with tears and her voice cracked as she thanked God for his love and it was in that moment that I knew... maybe for the first time... that she got just how wide, how long, how high and how deep Christ love was for her.
I am convinced if nothing else God had those presents delivered to our door today so that a couple of kids would understand the depth of Gods love for them, and that my friends, is the best gift of all.
