How I know that God is going to use us in Powerful ways in Sudan...

I am convinced that the Lord is going to use us and work through us in amazing and powerful ways in Sudan! I am convinced of this fact not just because He is God and He can always work in powerful ways, but because the devil is ticked right now!! Christopher and I knew going into this month that we would be up against a lot as we prepared for this next season of our lives. We knew that it would be no easy task to sell everything, move to Africa, and do as the Lord has asked us to do. We knew that the devil would try to do things to stop us and we tried to stay on guard against his evil schemes. Here are just SOME of the events of the last two weeks that have us convinced that the devil is not only angry that we are going, but downright scared of what the Lord WILL accomplish through us.

• My Father-in-law broke his ankle and had to have surgery
• (He is supposed to be coming to Sudan for a week or so at the end of March and we are still praying that his leg is completely healed enough to do that!)

• My Sister-in-law's lap top fell off the counter onto the tile kitchen floor and broke
• She is coming with us to Sudan!! (Did I tell you that? My heart is very happy she is coming)
• We are waiting to hear a diagnosis on the laptop and what it will cost to repair it

• We found out a week ago that the Malaria medicine we had ordered for me to take, although it was safe for Mama and Baby, would not work against the strain of Malaria that the mosquitoes carry in Sudan.
• We were able to get a different prescription called in and are praying against the crazy dreams that could be a side effect of this medicine (but it is literally the ONLY Malaria medicine that is safe for me to take while pregnant and works against these mosquitoes.)

• Our Passports got lost as they were traveling to the Sudanese Embassy to get our Visa's!
• They were found and now both Passports and Visas are safe here with us in Indiana

• We bought a bunch of supplies for our trip at a camping store about 35 minutes away from our house. On Thursday as we were attempting to pack, we went to open the package of filters for our water bottles (VERY IMPORTANT) the package was empty!!!
• Someone had shop-lifted them from the store resulting in us having to drive all the way back out there to return them, only to find out they were out of them!! (We will be buying them in Indiana - no worries)

• There have many moments of silly tension between my husband and me over things that typically we would both be able to let slide.
• Some of this is my pregnancy hormones and the tears flow easily right now :-)

• My husband accidentally hit my car as he was backing out of his parents driveway to run to our house and get the very last load of stuff to move out!
• Aside from some minor scrapes and scuffs, both of our cars are okay - even though it didn’t appear that way at first glance!

• We realized after we were already on our way to Indiana that the Malaria medicine for Christopher and Nicole (my sister-in-law - get used to her name, I am sure I will mention her a lot :-) was packed in our storage unit - WAY IN THE BACK!!
• They can get this in Africa - so it will be okay

And those are only the things that I remember and that pop to the top of my head. Needless to say, it has been a hard couple of weeks! We have tried the best that we can not to let these things get to us. I could have gotten upset with my husband when he hit my car, but all that would have done is cause tension between us which is just what the devil wanted me to do. Instead I wiped away the tears and reminded myself it is ONLY a car and although I love my baby girl, she is not worth causing tension between my husband and me.

I am blogging about all of this not to cause my readers to feel sorry for us, but for our readers to be aware of what we have been and are facing and to ask you to please battle with us. If there is one thing positive that I can say about the last two weeks (aside from all the ways that the Lord has continued to provide for us) it would be how it has caused me to truly live 1 Thessalonians 5:17 - PRAY CONTINUALLY! I have never struggled with praying. In high school, I would pray while walking through the hallways. But these last few weeks have caused me to pray for things I never have before. Just last night as I was drinking a large glass of Orange Juice because I was starting to feel a little sick, I prayed that the Lord would touch this OJ and cause it not only to just be "good" for me, but to heal me of any sort of little sicknesses that were trying to invade my body.

We are in a battle against the devil and could really use you, as prayer warriors, to join us in this battle! Pray that this week as we are resting in Indiana, before we leave for Sudan, that we really would be able to REST!! That we would be renewed and refreshed, ready to tackle all that the Lord has for us in Sudan!