Spiritual Warfare

I have already tried several times this week to write this post, but I have failed to be satisfied with it.  Then, as soon as I had it written, a new facet to the story would play out, and I knew I needed to change my draft.  In short, this has been a ROUGH week and Jeremy and I both want to share from our hearts how we have seen God working this week.  I'll start:

[SHELLY]  Last Sunday, we had the privilege of attending Central United Methodist Church in Asheboro, NC to speak about our Sudan mission.  The whole service was missions-oriented, and toward the end Jeremy spoke about our upcoming trip to Africa.  Considering that Jeremy has always had that ever-so-common fear of public speaking and this was a large crowd, I think he did wonderfully, spoke from his heart, and spoke boldly for Jesus!  SO proud of him, but ...I digress.  The congregation took up a love offering to help support our trip, and the people were SO incredibly generous.  God blessed us with another $1,594 for our mission!  We were blown away with the hugs, prayers, support, giving, and kind words. 

So, I began the week flying high and feeling great about how good God had been to us through CUMC.  That very same day, I started coming down with the typical springtime runny-nose and sinus pressure, but by Sunday night I was feeling LOUSY!  My teeth hurt, my eyes hurt, my face, my throat, bleh!  I just wanted to crawl in bed and sleep it off, but we had a lovely midterm exam to study for-- not to mention gobs of Hebrew vocab to review. Monday, I felt like death and looked like death as we headed to campus to take our midterm.  By God's grace, I got through it and felt like I did pretty well. 

By mid-week I was feeling alright physically, but started having car trouble.  My car wouldn't start and had to be towed to a mechanic.  A day or so later it stranded me again at work at 8pm in the pouring rain.  Luckily, I teach English at a school for mechanics, but had to stand out in the pouring rain holding an umbrella over my engine while some poor guy tried to get my battery going for me.  It was awful!  Another trip to the mechanic and the whole issue was fixed on Wednesday morning.  I breathed a sigh of relief and thought "okay, everything will be fine now."  

Wouldn't you know, that very same night Jeremy's transmission malfunctioned while he was going 70mph down I40.  I'm so thankful he didn't get hurt, but he was stranded, had to walk and rent a car just to get to work.  By this time, I was trying my best not forget all the good things God had done for us in providing for our mission trip, but I have to admit that my attitude was pretty funky.  A big ol' D on a church history test didn't help my attitude either!  

Two days of car searching and test-driving to no avail left me having a big ol' pity party.  I simply felt overwhelmed by school, by work, and by the strain of only having one vehicle, but I kept telling myself, "don't be like the Israelites and forget all that God has done for you."  I know Jeremy was feeling overwhelmed too.  I guess we both could sense each other's tension and stress.  On Saturday, my sweet husband called me to encourage me with something God had been revealing to him.  He said, 

"You know, I was thinking, I bet Satan hated that we shared our testimony at Central on Sunday.  I bet he hates that our mission trip is being generously funded by the Church.  I bet he hates that you and I are trying our best to be bold witnesses in the neighborhood and at work and wherever we are."

When he said that, I realized that what we had been going through indeed was a little taste of spiritual warfare.  Of course Satan hated the outpouring of support at Central!  Of course he hated it when Jeremy spoke from his heart about missions!  Of course he hates that we are trying our best to share the gospel!

He knows he can't have us so he tried his hardest this week to make us feel defeated, make us feel like awful students, make us feel like God had forgotten us, make us snappy toward each other, and well, do what he does best which is LIE to us.  I thank Jeremy so much for reminding me of this and for encouraging me that Satan can do all he wants, but in the end Christ wins and we win because we are His children.  

If we're headed for a life of ministry, we are undoubtedly headed for a life of Satan hating us and trying his best to undermine us.  This lesson this week is one I hope to never forget - - That we're victorious with Jesus!

Stay tuned for a post from Jeremy.
And check out that thermometer that's creeping ever so close to our goal!!! 
Thanks to everyone who is supporting us!