Jehovah Jireh

As I was putting Shayden to bed tonight and praying with him, I was thanking God for healing him (he's had the flu),"... And thank you, God, that you healed Shayden." 

And I added "You are Jehovah Rapha"

To which he promptly added,"And Jehovah Jireh"! 

I couldn't believe my ears! 

We don't exactly talk about God using these names around our house. 

But since Shayden learned about them one Sunday morning at the Sunday School of an African church in Germany (where they REALLY teach the kids!) - he's been mentioning them every so often - especially Jehovah Rapha (can you tell that we've had a lot of sickness here lately?). 

Sure enough - Shayden WAS right to mention Jehovah Jireh - our Provider! 

I was blown away by the timing of his comment!

Today we got some awesome news - a HUGE answer to prayer! 

If you've followed my blog for some time, you will have met Praise, my Ugandan friend and hero, caring for many orphans in the crudest of conditions. 

at a pool last September with some of the kids that Praise used to care for until they got adopted by one of the "Orphans Know More" families

Well, to make a long story short, Praise has been dreaming for some time of doing a Discipleship Training School with YWAM. 

She was going to do it a year ago but that didn't work out. 

On February 4th, 2013, the ministry we are with here in Tauranga, New Zealand is offering a "Tuition Free  DTS", which means that the students only have to pay their housing and food - and of course their transport to New Zealand as well as outreach costs. 

Rich and I felt to invite Praise to do this DTS - out of Africa - removed from all of her responsibilities (she's found people to care for her kids), get some quality input (instead of always output) - and besides that get a qualification that is accepted by the Ugandan government for caring for so many children.  

Getting Praise here and covering her costs was a huge faith project for us, as we didn't have any money at all towards her expenses, just barely keeping our own heads over water.

And we couldn't expect her to participate at all, since she's scraping by just to feed and care for her kids.

in front of her house - some of the children are hers, others just go to the school that she started

We need to pay her ticket in less than a month but up to today only had NZ$420. 

Not quite enough - hehe! 

(the first NZ$100 were donated by a young man from Iran who we met in AKL, believe it or not!)

SO - today was the DAY OF PROVISION! Jehovah JIREH did it again!

He used an elderly couple from Germany - not Christians - with a generous heart!

If I didn't know God so well, I would say UNBELIEVABLE! 

But - not so!

God's ways go WAY beyond our wildest imaginations!

There are still needs, but we can now get her plane ticket and pay for her housing and food during the lecture phase!

I am just OVER THE MOON - THRILLED TO BITS!!!!

I believe that God has a very special time in store for Praise and couldn't be more excited!!!

Now we "just" need to believe God to provide for this Discipleship Training School that Leilani has just gotten accepted to today! 

It's the same exact base where I did my DTS exactly 30 years ago next January! How about that?!!! 

Leilani felt in prayer that God wanted her to do her DTS there at that specific time!

She's been working hard to save up for it - besides finishing High School (home school) - 

but it won't be enough.

AND - our son Richard in Uganda will also be doing a DTS - starting February - right here.

Thankfully, this one is very cheap :) - we've definitely got faith for that!

JEHOVAH JIREH - YOU ARE AWESOME - A GOD OF MIRACLES!

So that they may KNOW YOU AND MAKE YOU KNOWN!