Pray More

We started the Kona DTS application process late. I am sure that there were some people who applied at the beginning of 2012 and throughout the summer. But, we had no choice. We had to wait for the church to approve my husband's sabbatical. We didn't even know that he would have a sabbatical. We knew that we had to do what we could, and that God would take care of the rest.

My husband and I had a small window of time to get things ready (one month before the program began). We got all the paperwork and medical forms ready. We called the Korean DTS office to see what we would need to do. (They have a Korean DTS office and Korean translation at the DTS because there are so many Korean speakers that attend).

My husband called our airline credit card company to see if we could use our points to go to Hawaii. He asked about January and was told that we had just enough for round trip tickets for all of us. Ten plus years of using that airline credit card had finally paid off! He also looked into taking money out of his life insurance policy, and tried to figure out when we could get our tax refund check. Unfortunately, both would be after the program started. I believe that God wanted us to depend on Him, not those checks.

I wrote someone who had gone to the Kona DTS. They are also in ministry. They also have a family of five. She told me that they were penniless before they went (sounds very familiar). She told me that if God wanted us to go, He would provide. He had provided all the funds for their family. Her words encouraged me so much.

Our whole married/ministry life, we have seen God provide for all of our needs and even some of our wants. Our home, our cars, the furniture in our house, a dream refrigerator, dream washer/dryer, the children's clothes... and so much more. He had provided all of those things for us. He showed us that as long as we trusted Him and served Him, HE would provide. He has shown us time and time again that HE is Jehovah Jireh, our Provider!

But, then... we were told

• that the DTS children's school was filled
• that they didn't have any more on-campus housing
• that the time that we had to go in January was peak season and that we would have to use double our airline points
• that we hadn't been accepted, but actually wait-listed, and second on that list

But my husband said, "God is just telling us to pray more." So, we did. 

On Sunday, everything was approved for us to go on sabbatical. We used our airline points to purchase one way tickets to Kona before the points were raised even more. We left the way back to God. I know that sounds crazy, but we know that He will take care of it.

On Monday, I had this thought that we should check to see if our application status had changed. I asked my husband to check, and he told me that we would get an email if we had been accepted. I checked my email, and there it was! The letter stating that we had been accepted!

We are still praying about the funds, but we know He knows.