Lilies and Ravens II

God has been so good to us since we left the ship and as we prepare to go to Ethiopia. In the last post we talked about accommodation. Here we will show that God has really looked after us in all areas...
Sarah's cousins moved to Indonesia the week before we came back from the ship in December. They very kindly gave us their car, free of charge. We had been hoping to have a car to be able to visit all of the friends we have dotted around the UK. It also made it possible to do the school run with the two boys going to schools in two different villages.

I had been a bit worried about what I would do for work for the six or so months we would be back. Supply teaching is less than ideal with a potent combination of stressful days at schools and little predictability in work supply. A temporary contract would also be difficult to find just for two terms. As it was, again God knew what we needed, and through a friend we heard about an opportunity that wasn't being advertised for part time teaching at a private school in Cambridge. Their current specialist teacher was leaving to go travelling in January and so there was a need. I had a phone interview while still on the ship and it was all sorted while still in West Africa. It has been a perfect job for this time, with enough hours to pay the bills, but time each day to work through the various elements of preparation for going to Ethiopia.

As part of our debrief chat with our pastor, Julian, he mentioned that he would not feel able to recommend our next journey out to Ethiopia without us having a holiday first. This was fairly difficult with the boys in school and me teaching it would be hard to fit in. Having the SIM training over Easter, there was really only June half term available. Being the school holiday we were convinced that it would be too expensive, but we were looking around, as we trust Julian's judgement. We found a few caravan parks for at least £500 for the week. The week after our chat with Julian, we had somebody post an envelope through the door with £200 in and a note saying for it to be used for a holiday or something nice. A friend of ours had told us about a cottage they had stayed in that offers discounted rates for full-time or overseas Christian workers. We were convinced it would be booked up already for the June half term holiday, but our friend phoned them anyway and before we knew it we were booked in for a week over half term for the total cost of £199!

Amazing!

God is Good, all the time! All the time, God is Good!

"So I tell you, don't worry about the food or drink you need to live, or about the clothes you need for your body. Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothes. Look at the birds in the air. They don't plant or harvest or store food in barns, but your heavenly Father feeds them. And you know that you are worth much more than the birds. 27 You cannot add any time to your life by worrying about it.


"And why do you worry about clothes? Look at how the lilies in the field grow. They don't work or make clothes for themselves. But I tell you that even Solomon with his riches was not dressed as beautifully as one of these flowers. God clothes the grass in the field, which is alive today but tomorrow is thrown into the fire. So you can be even more sure that God will clothe you. Don't have so little faith! Don't worry and say, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear?' The people who don't know God keep trying to get these things, and your Father in heaven knows you need them. Seek first God's kingdom and what God wants. Then all your other needs will be met as well. So don't worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will have its own worries. Each day has enough trouble of its own. [Matthew 6:25-34 NCV]