Job 42:5 isn't my favorite scripture for nothing...
Candace and I say all the time that we're glad we came to St. Kitts in the manner that we did.
Of course, we don't advocate going to serve in a place without visiting first, but Jehovah knows that if we had visited St. Kitts first, we very likely wouldn't have returned, primarily because of the expenses.
However, not having much has allowed us to see Jehovah's hand in a marvelous way, a way that we wouldn't have seen had we had a lot of money.
Some of the brothers on this island have laughed a lot at the things Jehovah has done for us like, "man, how is Jehovah doing that for yall???" We'll then get to talking about something that we'd like to happen or see; for example, say someone said, "
man I wish there was Wal-mart here", they'll say, "
just have Candace and Jason ask Jehovah for it..."
To illustrate the point, let's rewind to the last few months...
The car we've been driving has been giving us a bit of trouble; the engine keeps running hot. The mechanics here are T.E.R.R.I.B.L.E., I mean, to the point that Jalyn could probably do a better job (I am SOOOOOOO serious).
So after spending money that we didn't have to fix a hose leak, the car is still running hot. So I go buy engine coolant to replace the water (yes...water) that these mechanics have been putting in the radiator.
That doesn't work either...car still runs hot.
Then I notice that neither the engine fan nor the radiator fan turn on when the car runs...ah ha!!! .
I let out a deep sigh, and prepare to go to the mechanic for the 9th time in the last 30 days (ah man...they suck so bad here)...
He tells me "tun deh cah ahn"...I guess that was "turn the car on".
Ok, I turn it on...
"Leave it runnin", he says...
I leave it running for 5 minutes, just watching money dripping out of the gas tank. "Where is he??"
I go look for him, and he's in the office sitting down, hanging with the receptionist. *sigh* "
fight the anger and bad thoughts in your head, Jay..."
He sees me, comes "works" on the car, and says, "I can't figga it out, we need to call meh boss"...
His boss comes and can't figure it out either. *sigh* "
fight the anger and bad thoughts in your head, Jay..."
So the boss sends me down the road to this Indian guy named Neil. *sigh*
Here's the fun part...
So at this point, on Tue, Feb 5, we have
$9.50 to our name, and I pray to Jehovah, "
Jehovah, you know we don't have any money, please let us get this fixed."
You know what I do next, what I
literally do next? As I'm waiting in the car for Neil to see me, thinking about what I just asked Jehovah, I stare at the big, green, cloud-covered mountain that's about 2 miles away, and guess what I imagined happening?
Matthew 21:21
I used my imagination to "see" it happening.
So guess what happens next?
First, Neil fixes the problem that's been lingering for over 4 months... YAY!!!!
THEN...here it comes...There's an awkward silence for about 5 to 6 seconds.
We're both staring at the hood...silent.
I'm thinking, "oh man, he's waiting for me to hand him some money", but I'm waiting on him to tell me how much.
He says..."
ok, just close the hood and you're good to go..."
In my head: "
wait...excuse me?"
He fixes it for free.
I'm
screamin in my head, "
MAN, JEHOVAH, YOU ARE AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Then I hurried up and drove off before dude changed his mind.
Would I have prayed that to Jehovah had we had the money? Probably not...
When the slave says, "use trials to see Jehovah's hand", man...it's no joke.
If you don't put yourself out there, you'll never know.
As a good friend put it (you know who you are), "
it's ok to be scared"...
I think leaving your job, house, country, congregation, "securities", etc, and experiencing Jehovah's hand elsewhere is like going on a roller coaster...
You're excited, excited, excited,
and then you get to the top, and you look down and you're like, "
no no no no no no OH NO...NO...AHHHHHHH!!!!!!",
and you drop...
But when it's over, you catch your breath, and you're like, "
DUDE, THAT WAS SO STINKIN AWESOME!!!!! LET'S GO AGAIN!!!"
It's ok to be scared, but once you just shut up and trust Jehovah, man...
You won't regret it.