If we follow God's leading, even when the path seems challenging or unclear, His provision will always precede us. In other words, if we live in God's will, His favor will go before us and open doors that can never be opened or broken down by anyone. Especially in the area of finances, God has led us marvelously during our time in Bible College.
A brief recap
It will soon be a year since we decided to spend another school year in the US. At the time, we didn't have the slightest idea how we would finance this school year.
Our savings were slowly coming to an end and we had no chance of generating income through a job due to our visa. Knowing that we were in God's will if we stayed at Bible College for another school year, we trusted in our heavenly Father - who created the heavens and the earth - that His provision was already there, even if we couldn't see it yet.
This decision was immediately followed by the first obstacle. In order for our student status to be approved for another year, we had to show a large five-figure sum ($46'730) in advance, which we didn't have. The amount was even a lot higher than in the first school year because we also had to pay school fees for Betty and Johann's fees for the 3rd school year are slightly more expensive than for the 2nd. What sounds like a bigger challenge, and actually was from a mental viewpoint, God used to speak to us through the story of 2 Kings 4:1-7. Once again another example that God speaks and gives guidance in our lives through his word about 95% of the time.
The Bible passage is the story of the widow who came to Elisha and asked for help.
1. Make use of what you already have!
Instead of relieving her need and giving her money, Elisha was inspired by the Lord to ask her what she had in her house. She replied, “Nothing but a jar of oil!” We stumbled over her answer. Because, literally, this was exactly the same answer we had given when we were faced with our money problem. “Nothing but...!” Suddenly, needing more money than we had, we no longer appreciated our current account balance. So - we believe we heard from God - God said: “Treasure what you already have and use it so that I can multiply it.” In our eyes, it was nothing special. In God's eyes it is valuable and if we have faith in Him, He can multiply it!
And we acted accordingly. From then on, we adopted a thankful attitude every day and spoke blessings over our account balance. What may sound a little strange to you was the reality for us. We realized that we could not handle this situation in our strength (which was never supposed to be the plan, by the way) and that God had to be our source. A temporary solution would not get us far. We learned to focus on what we already have and not on what we don't have yet. God uses what we currently have and multiplies it in His own way. The widow must have had faith, otherwise she would not have followed Elisha's instructions. Obviously, the little bit of oil wasn't even enough for the one jar she had, let alone the others she was to borrow. The meaning was clear. God would multiply the oil if she took the step of faith to take the little she had and pour it into other jars. And that is exactly what happened!
2. Act where you can. God has already spoken his blessing!
If we have a word from God, we can do it because it has already been placed in us and been blessed. We can rely on God's promises and assurances. “It is the LORD'S blessing that brings wealth, and no hard work can add to it. - Proverbs 10:22 (ERV)” This does not mean that we simply overlook the reality of life. But we do not allow circumstances to dictate how we proceed. We must recognize that God's word is above everything and will certainly come to pass.
If you look at an airplane and see how it flies in the air, you will notice that the force of gravity is not suspended. It is more that another law of nature, namely the principle of “ buoyancy”, ensures that an airplane flies. It is the same with blessing and faith. Reality is not invalidated, but the blessing will trump reality. But for this to happen, we also have to let the plane take off.
We didn't just sit back and do nothing. Rather, our prayer was that God would give us favor with people and create opportunities that did not violate the laws of the government. There were opportunities here and there for us to help people.
3. Start right where you are!
We tend to look at what we don't have instead of what we do have. Jesus' disciples looked at the crowd and not at the boy's lunch. They thought the five loaves and two fish would not be enough. But when they gave Jesus what little they had, he gave thanks and it was blessed. What they had rejected fed the whole crowd afterwards (John 6:1-15).
Just like the widow, the Lord has given each of us something that will multiply if we give it to the Lord in faith.
How our story turned out...
Just a few days after we decided to do another school year, two people contacted us who were willing to lend us the money we needed to stay safely in the US. We took this offer into our prayers and this is what we believe we heard: “Take it, you will need it for the visa, but you won't have to use a penny of it during your time in school.” Again, an answer for the current situation but no information about what happens after that. And that's exactly what we did.
A few months later, we were contacted by the Swiss tax authorities. As we had paid taxes for the previous full year, we were credited with a larger amount after filing our tax return. We had not been aware of this and were of course very happy. With the help of our monthly partners and this amount we would be able to cover 75% of our costs. Many thanks again to all those who support us financially every month!
Then, at the end of November, the surprise! Our school contacted us to let us know that an anonymous donor from the US had given us a large sum that will now cover 100% of our costs until the end of our school year. Once again, something we absolutely did not see coming. At first we thought it was a SPAM mail. But the school confirmed the donation the next day. As if that wasn't enough, two days later we received another large donation from Germany. We gratefully accept these blessings from the hand of our Father and pray that this financial blessing will come back to the donors in a great way.
God writes his story with each of us in his own way, if we let him. As with the widow or the feeding of the 5,000, “little” is much when combined with faith. In our guestbook you can read from Ronja from Switzerland how God helped her and her family financially.
We pray that this testimony will bless you.
Ps: Speaking of finances, Betty is fully funded for her mission trip! Wohoo - we thank God for each and every one of you who contributed. God will surely repay you!
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