So let me just start off by telling you a bit about how broken I am. I know, and I am so thankful for the Gospel tonight as I write this – that Jesus paid the price for my sin and rebellion by dying for me. And that death couldn’t keep Him in its grips – He is risen and today He has been reminding me that he hears me in my brokenness and redeems me.

Why the mini devotional you ask?

Let me just tell you. Today I was ready to throw in the towel. I asked Josh if we could quit. No, I totally don’t want to quit. I just hit a bump in the road. Raising our support this summer and not being done yet has me flat out weary. I feel like I need more time in my day, more time with the Lord, and maybe a little less Lifetime movie watching when I am in a crabby mood already. So I broke down and laid out all my frustrations to Joshua. Then to God. And I was handled with such grace. Josh decided He would show me a good time and see if I still felt so sad after a swim in our new kiddy pool and a steak dinner.

Here are some pictures of him taking care of Ruth and I. But you should keep reading at the bottom because it is a special story tonight.

Yum. He was right. I was feeling better – then came time for Josh to make support calls. We have a list of people that we don’t know but they live in our area and have supported Crusade missionaries in the past. So we have been trying to get ahold of them for the past two weeks. Josh admitted that even he was feeling pretty unmotivated and maybe a little defeated. Don’t get me wrong – God has provided SO much for us and through YOU! We are so thankful – we just were having one of those nights where we just wanted to have our team of supporters completed so bad so we can do ministry every night instead. Anyways, we prayed. We asked God to just provide one new monthly partner before this holiday weekend. And we confessed how sinful and unthankful we are and asked God to just refresh us.

So Josh got ahold of a man he had never met before, and they joined our team. No meeting, no nothing. Just the Lord’s glorious hand at work using this available man and his wife to remind us that God is God. I cried. Josh tackled me in excitement. It is a good night. Praise God with us tonight. We are at 94%. God sees our troubles and we are not ignored. He isn’t weary and I am so thankful that the Everlasting God of Jacob is Jesus.

My stepmom shared this scripture with me and it is more than appropriate – Isaiah 40:21-31

²¹ Haven’t you heard? Don’t you understand?
Are you deaf to the words of God—
the words he gave before the world began?
Are you so ignorant?
²² God sits above the circle of the earth.
The people below seem like grasshoppers to him!
He spreads out the heavens like a curtain
and makes his tent from them.
²³ He judges the great people of the world
and brings them all to nothing.
²⁴ They hardly get started, barely taking root,
when he blows on them and they wither.
The wind carries them off like chaff.

²⁵ “To whom will you compare me?
Who is my equal?” asks the Holy One.

²⁶ Look up into the heavens.
Who created all the stars?
He brings them out like an army, one after another,
calling each by its name.
Because of his great power and incomparable strength,
not a single one is missing.
²⁷ O Jacob, how can you say the Lord does not see your troubles?
O Israel, how can you say God ignores your rights?
²⁸ Have you never heard?
Have you never understood?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of all the earth.
He never grows weak or weary.
No one can measure the depths of his understanding.
²⁹ He gives power to the weak
and strength to the powerless.
³⁰ Even youths will become weak and tired,
and young men will fall in exhaustion.
³¹ But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.
They will soar high on wings like eagles.
They will run and not grow weary.
They will walk and not faint.