| Second to salvation in Christ, prayer is the greatest gift God gave us. He allows us to commune with Him. We have the freedom to approach the throne of the creator of the universe. I find that often I feel as though my prayers come up short. Do I speak to Him endearingly and casually, or with reverence and reserve? Maybe the answer is somehow either, or both. After all, David prayed through all emotions and praised Him for His constancy, while Paul teaches us to cry out to “Abba Father.” No matter the way in which we speak to Him it never-the-less remains miraculous that it is possible. We are also promised that when we seek Him in His will, He listens. “And this is the confidence that we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will he hears us. “ (1 John 5:14) What about the prayers we don’t pray? Yes, the Holy Spirit can interpret the groanings of our heart (Romans 8:26), but God also provides for things we didn’t ask for and sometimes didn’t even know we needed. We were recently on a trip back to Arizona. It was bittersweet as we greeted old friends and then said goodbye for several years. This was the first of many goodbyes that we will say. Our community in AZ will always be an important anchor for us. We were reaching out to new ministry partners and had spoken at our church. A man; whom I had met once before but didn’t know well, approached me and reintroduced himself. He continued by telling me that his son had been an aircraft mechanic but had passed away a while back due to an accident. After I expressed my sorrow at his loss he said, “I have all of his tools and I want you to come look at them and take whatever you want.” I have to pause the story here to emphasize what this means to a mechanic. Some people look at tools as merely possessions. To me they are how I support my family, my lifeblood. They are what I use to serve Christ and live out my faith, they are a part of who I am. You also need to know that there were 2 tools specifically that I was looking at purchasing that would be needed in Nairobi, one of which was very specialized and expensive. Needless to say, he had them both, plus some. I must have sounded like a broken record with the number of times I said thank you. God provided something I honestly didn’t think to pray for. We have always enjoyed family hikes through the aspens on Mt. Humphreys in Flagstaff. |
| Anna and I received a notification one day that someone began monthly support. We scrolled down to see the name and were quite confused as we had no idea who they were. We had to ask around to find out who knew them. They were friends of my sister. They had never met us, and only knew the few things my sister had told them about us and God moved in their hearts to support us. We strive to spend time in prayer each time we meet with someone and ask them to support. It is an experience that has reshaped how we pray for missionaries and deepened our trust in God to provide. Considering all the preparation and emotion we put into support raising it is humbling and re-affirming to have someone you didn’t ask or know choose to support you. Where are we at now? Currently, we are at 50% of both goals; our outgoing expense and monthly commitments. That means that God is continuing to provide ministry partners and the Holy Spirit is prompting people to give. Again, it is a humbling experience to see God work in the hearts of His people to rally behind His ministry through us. Developing ministry partners is a balancing act between gratefulness and faith. It is wonderful to know 50% has been raised and daunting that 50% remains. Our Targets must be met by We must continually declare trust in Him and remind ourselves of His sovereignty over his plans; That “He works all things out for the good of those who love Him…” but it is “according to His purposes…” not our own (Romans 8:28). In our previous letter I talked about the “Great Commission,” that God calls all of us to go to the nations. However; in Acts 13 we see an example in the church at Antioch of only two from the congregation being called out. We see that consistent story in the New Testament that not all the church went on the missionary journeys. So how do we reconcile that all followers of Christ are commissioned with the task of seeing the gospel taken to the nations and yet not all are called out? There are approximately 78,000 Christians worldwide for every one unreached people group. Not all 78,000 can or should physically go to a people group. However, it is impossible for missionaries to go without the support of believers at home holding their ropes. The task requires senders, mobilizers, givers, prayers or it cannot be accomplished. How has God commissioned you in the task of going to the nations? Would you pray about partnering with our ministry? If you are interested in partnering with us through monthly support or year-end giving you can use the link at the bottom of our emails. You can also contact us about other ways to give and connect with us. Connect with God on our behalf: Come to Him with gratitude for the ministry partners we have thus far. That he would continue to provide new ministry partners. For continued recognition in our hearts of our reliance on Him. For peace in our children and family as we begin to say goodbyes and grieve. For joy as we celebrate Holidays with family. Ask for guidance as we finalize decisions about schooling next semester. |
the Millers are Blessed to Bless 