As we begin to go through things and get rid of stuff and pack up our lives to move I am for the first time not having huge anxiety about moving. I have to say this non anxiety state is only by the grace of God. God has brought me here by many events in my life as well as His word.
After God delivered His people from Egypt and they are in the wilderness, and very unsettled I might add, God leads them by a cloud by day and fire by night. Exodus 13:21, "And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light. The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people. " (and you thought us moving to Uganda was ridiculous....how about following a cloud.....) I wonder what I would have been like following this cloud. I can imagine myself complaining and thinking, "Why are we following this cloud ?" Moses probably would have reminded me that God just delivered me from slavery in a miraculous way, and that I should trust and obey. I probably would have even said something like, "easy for you to say Moses, God spoke to you through a burning bush" (hopefully you see the humor in that......it's a joke).
Over the past week God has placed different scripture in my life and different people who have been reading the same scripture to bring an even deeper idea of following the cloud. In Numbers 9:15 the Israelites are still in the wilderness and following the cloud by day, fire by night that sets over the tabernacle that was built in Exodus. "And whenever the cloud lifted from over the tent, after that the people of Israel set out, and in the place where the cloud settled down, there the people of Israel camped" Numbers 9:17. Can you imagine what it was like to follow the cloud? To have total dependence and not know where God was going to take you but relying on the promises He had made? To be ready to pick up everything and move in such a short notice. To wonder if today was the day the cloud was going to move and you were going to have to move AGAIN to follow it? To always be ready and watching for the cloud to move. Wondering how long it would stay this time. I think that I find myself in a similar position. I often wonder why we just can't just settle down somewhere. But God continues to teach me that He wants me to have total reliance on him. Not on things I hold onto in this world. That is what He wanted from the Israelites. TOTAL DEPENDENCE.
For most of my life I have lived rather unsettled although all of it was not under God authority. I think God has used this in my life to teach me about letting go of control. You see if I can control a situation then I don't have to fear as much, especially from the unknowns. And when I am fearful I am not trusting in God. I am learning that I don't need to be in control in order to be happy. I just need to trust in God standing on His promises and knowing He knows what is best for my life, and for my kids lives. I just need to stay close to Him through word and prayer and be okay with the unknowns.
Letting Go and Following the Cloud,
Michaela
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
An Update
We are encouraged by some things that have happened in the last week regarding our move. The latest and exciting news is that we have a new member to add to our team. She really feels led to Karamoja, as we all do, and it is very clear to her she is to go with us. This is a HUGE answer to prayer!
Another exciting thing that happened a couple days ago is that I got an email from an American who is in Kotido. She just wanted to touch base with us and introduce herself to us and to let us know she is praying for us. It was exciting to know we have another person in Kotido that is a follower of Christ and who we can relate to.
On a different note we have had a lot of attack from the enemy which according to scripture is expected. It reminds us though that we must be in the word daily, even hourly and staying very close to Christ.
I would also just like to ask as a courtesy that if you really felt led to be a part of our prayer or financial support team that you would fill out the forms that were sent with the letter (or go to our website and fill out the "how you can help form). We are trying to get things organized and had a lot of response from people to receive a letter and are waiting for responses back. If you would like you can just send it all to us and then we can forward checks to Advance Him if that is easier for you. Also feel free to contact me with questions or concerns, michaela.fulk@gmail.com Thank you.
Michaela
Another exciting thing that happened a couple days ago is that I got an email from an American who is in Kotido. She just wanted to touch base with us and introduce herself to us and to let us know she is praying for us. It was exciting to know we have another person in Kotido that is a follower of Christ and who we can relate to.
On a different note we have had a lot of attack from the enemy which according to scripture is expected. It reminds us though that we must be in the word daily, even hourly and staying very close to Christ.
I would also just like to ask as a courtesy that if you really felt led to be a part of our prayer or financial support team that you would fill out the forms that were sent with the letter (or go to our website and fill out the "how you can help form). We are trying to get things organized and had a lot of response from people to receive a letter and are waiting for responses back. If you would like you can just send it all to us and then we can forward checks to Advance Him if that is easier for you. Also feel free to contact me with questions or concerns, michaela.fulk@gmail.com Thank you.
Michaela
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Still Waiting
Well not too much new has happened although we did get pictures of our house in Kotido. It was exciting to see where we are going to be living and to see our yard is big enough for a garden.
The reality of moving there is starting to sink in more and more. Every time I take a shower, flush the toilet, or turn a light on I think about how wonderful these inventions are and how much I will miss them, but they are definitely worth giving up for the sake of spreading the love and good news of Jesus to the Karamojong.
We are still waiting on some things and as my flesh began to get impatient I remembered what God had taught me a couple weeks in my lesson of waiting on Him and not getting impatient like Saul. I remembered how I felt good being in a total dependence on God. So easily my mind had forgotten and my flesh started to creep in. Then God brings me to Jeremiah 17:5-8
Thus says the Lord: "Cursed is the man
who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength,
whose heart turns away from the Lord,
He is like a shrub in the desert,
and shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness,
in an uninhabited salt land.
Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD.
He is like a tree planted by water,
that sends out its roots by the stream,
and does not fear when heat comes,
for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought,
for it does not cease to bear fruit."
I have meditated over this now for a couple of days and it has been amazing. I don't know about you but I want to be the tree that is planted by the water rather than the dried up shrub. God continually reminds me to trust in Him and HIM ONLY. It becomes easy to trust in other things at different times in my life rather than God. Seems to be pretty easy in America too where I have access to everything at all times, and so I tend to stop trusting God and start trusting man. But the end result in me trusting in man is disappointment. This is what I want to look like in my life now while I wait and especially when I move to the dry and arid land of Karamoja:
The reality of moving there is starting to sink in more and more. Every time I take a shower, flush the toilet, or turn a light on I think about how wonderful these inventions are and how much I will miss them, but they are definitely worth giving up for the sake of spreading the love and good news of Jesus to the Karamojong.
We are still waiting on some things and as my flesh began to get impatient I remembered what God had taught me a couple weeks in my lesson of waiting on Him and not getting impatient like Saul. I remembered how I felt good being in a total dependence on God. So easily my mind had forgotten and my flesh started to creep in. Then God brings me to Jeremiah 17:5-8
Thus says the Lord: "Cursed is the man
who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength,
whose heart turns away from the Lord,
He is like a shrub in the desert,
and shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness,
in an uninhabited salt land.
Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD.
He is like a tree planted by water,
that sends out its roots by the stream,
and does not fear when heat comes,
for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought,
for it does not cease to bear fruit."
I have meditated over this now for a couple of days and it has been amazing. I don't know about you but I want to be the tree that is planted by the water rather than the dried up shrub. God continually reminds me to trust in Him and HIM ONLY. It becomes easy to trust in other things at different times in my life rather than God. Seems to be pretty easy in America too where I have access to everything at all times, and so I tend to stop trusting God and start trusting man. But the end result in me trusting in man is disappointment. This is what I want to look like in my life now while I wait and especially when I move to the dry and arid land of Karamoja:
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