Testimony – God is our provider

I don’t know how you deal with some Bible verses. God’s word is the truth and He always stands by His word, I know that in theory. Let us look at the example of provision. Some Bible verses lead me to think: “Is God serious about this promise and does it apply to me as well? Surely, there are a lot of people out there that are in greater need of His provision. I think I’m doing okay in that area.”

The verse fitting the topic would be Luke 12:27-28:

“Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; but I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. 28 But if God so clothes the grass in the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will He clothe you? You men of little faith!”

We’ve always experienced God’s provision and always had enough. And when we found out that we were expecting a son, we expected him with great joy in our hearts. However, every now and then I had thoughts coming to my mind the like of “How am I supposed to buy clothes for him? Will we have enough finances for everything that we need for him?”

And right now we’re experiencing the fulfillment of those verses again and again, right before our eyes. We stand in awe at what God is doing for us. Many things were gifted to us, other things were loaned to us for the time we need them or we were able to buy them well under price during a sale. God has been guiding our eyes towards more and more opportunities and things He prepared for us. Especially when it comes to clothes! I can’t stop thanking God for what He is doing in that area. We’ve been able to borrow beautiful clothes by the box from a dear friend of ours.

I was of “little faith” when it came to these things and I’m thankful how our Heavenly Father is teaching me a lesson in love. He is our provider and He will never forsake us!

Please let this be an encouragement to you. No matter how desperate your current circumstances may look. Trust Him! He knows your situation and will provide for you!

„Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.“ (1st Peter 5:6-7)

 

Naming the baby

My wife and I are really looking forward to the birth of our child. Around 5 more weeks and our precious one will have “arrived”.

Recently we’ve been guests at the Prophetic Conference “Hear His Voice” at the GZD church in Dabringhausen, near Bonn. The guest speakers there were Ivan and Isabel Allum from London, Ontario. My wife Corrie knows them from her times of living and getting equipped in Toronto, Canada and they have known each other for about 14 years now. Corrie has had the honour to translate their book “Your Destiny : Unlocking the impossible promises of God” into German a few years ago and they enjoy a connection based on trust and friendship.

Therefore, it was also my pleasure to finally meet Ivan and Isabel for the first time. Isabel – bless her heart – thanked me for making Corrie so happy. I can only pass the thanks and the glory on to God, as He is the one who has helped me to grow into the man and husband I am today. And I still got quite a few things to learn, believe me.

During the conference, we met up with the host family where my mother in law stayed during the few days we went there. A lady called Ruth invited us in and we started chatting. As Corrie’s pregnancy has become more and more evident in recent weeks, it was of course one of the topics we talked about. Ruth asked us, if we knew the sex of the baby and if we had already picked a name for it. We confirmed, that we had talked about names right at the start of the pregnancy and had agreed on versions for both sexes very quickly.

Well, to our surprise Ruth carried on, by asking whether we knew if the names we picked were also God’s first choice for our child? I got a little uncomfortable, as I had gotten very used to the names we had picked. Ruth had a friendly and winning way of challenging us to pray and ask our Heavenly Dad, which name He thinks is fitting God’s calling on the child’s life.

So we got together and prayed, but the only person who really got an impression she wished to share, was my Mom in Law. She mentioned that she had been given part of the calling the child would have and also a name. She gave us that name on a piece of paper and it was slightly different from what Corrie and I had previously agreed on. However, it was a name, Corrie had thought of, just before we slightly changed it, talking about various names.

That night, we went back to the church and Corrie and Isabel happened to bump into each other near the restrooms. Isabel asked Corrie, if we already knew the sex of the child and Corrie confirmed that we did, but she didn’t reveal what it was. Isabel went on to tell her the correct sex and a name, of which she said this was the name God has spoken over the child. It was the same name we had been given in the afternoon and also the same name, Corrie had originally on her heart.

Ok, now I have to admit, I was slightly disappointed and felt a bit hurt in my pride as a father. However, I have no problem submitting to the Eternal One, who is Love in person and knows best, without any ulterior motives. So I agreed that we would change the name back to Corrie’s original choice, even though she was slightly uncomfortable with that, too, for reasons we won’t be able to reveal until the baby is born. 😉

Since then, I started calling the baby by this different name, whenever I spoke to it, through Corrie’s belly. And it is funny, as well as kind of crazy to experience, how much more responsive the child seems, when it is being called by that special name.

We’ve previously been talking to the child, calling it by the name we had chosen together and there wasn’t anywhere near as much movement in Corrie’s womb as there is now, whenever we’re using this special name.

We believe it is really astonishing to experience how God has already been calling our child by it’s name and feel it is already used to being called that. That’s why we get such a happy response whenever we’re using this name now.

I guess that’s been settled then and I can’t wait to meet our firstborn child in person.