God’s encouragement always comes at the right time… never early but never late. He is faithful… He is ALWAYS faithful. Just when we feel like our legs are going to give out from beneath us, His steadfast love holds us up (Psalm 94:18).
June was a hard month for us. Construction work was slow in coming. We have had to begin to find a way to get health insurance for our family which is never a simple process. We are also quickly learning that raising funds for mission work is certainly a test in faith. Needless to say, we were in need of some encouragement.
An old friend stopped by one Sunday for some dinner and “catching up”. He shared with the us the things that God was doing in his life and encouraged us with stories of how the Lord was directing him and providing for his needs. We were blessed by the testimony of God’s faithfulness in his life, yet our hearts were heavy. During that evening with our friend, we began to pray together and while we were praying, our friend read this passage to us:
Deuteronomy 32:10-11
10 In a desert land he found him,
in a barren and howling waste.
He shielded him and cared for him;
he guarded him as the apple of his eye,
11 like an eagle that stirs up its nest
and hovers over its young,
that spreads its wings to catch them
and carries them on its pinions.”
Our friend shared with us that he learned recently that when the mama eagle is wanting to teach her little babies how to fly, she begins to take apart the nest – the only home in which those babies have ever known. Then she throws them over the edge of the cliff where nest once laid and hovers over her babies as they free fall through the air. She spreads her wings to catch them before they hit they ground and flies them up to higher ground.
As our friend spoke these words to us, our heavy hearts began to melt. We are able to see what the Lord was doing in our life as a family. We know He has called us to Belfast, Northern to do His work there… but there is a work He must do in us here as we wait.
At times it feels like our nest, our lives as we have known it is utterly being disassembled. Although, we feel like we are just free falling through air, we see now that our Lord never leaves us. He hovers so near to us. He will not let us smash to the ground. This is not punishment nor is it abandonment, but a lesson in trusting that He will take us to higher ground. He alone will lead us through this journey. He alone can teach us how to truly fly. This season is a season of growing and developing into what need to be… more like Him!
So, please continue to pray for us. Pray that our faith will be strengthened and renewed each day! We want to be faithful to the work God has called us to do, as well as allowing Him to do the work that needs to be done in us as we prepare for Belfast.
A big thank you to all of you who have been supporting us through this journey! Your words, prayers, gifts, and love have been such a huge encouragement to us! The second we begin to wonder what we have gotten ourselves into, you have been so quick to remind us that God really did speak to us and our heart for Belfast was given to us from Him. So, thank you from the bottom of our hearts (and don’t stop).
Because He IS faithful,
Troy and Noelle
Happy June!
This Thursday, Troy is flying out to Belfast with our good friend (ahem, and fantastic web designer) Tom Rose. They will be spending the week with the folks from R.O.C.K. Community Church as well as shooting a short film about “G.O. KIDZ”, R.O.C.K. and life in Belfast, Northern Ireland. We hope to have the film posted on our site by the summer. If you would like a copy of the film, please contact us! We love sharing with others the work that we are joining up with in Belfast! (contact us through email: emailrhodes@gmail.com) Please keep Troy and Tom in your prayers the following week as they travel to N. Ireland.