Friendship and Faith - Lara

When Kerry and I wanted to do this blog, I did not think I would write very much for it. I am a natural journaler, but a blog is so public that I wasn't sure I would have anything to say publicly. It turns out that I have plenty. I have come to realize how important a community of friends are in preparing for our trip to Scotland.

I often like to think of myself as not needing help from anyone in my pride, but as the last blog showed, that was squashed pretty quickly and it continues to get squashed. I have never experienced so much in so little time. From difficulty raising money to my mom's brain tumor removal to our car breaking down and in the shop, I have felt like the American soldiers bombarded in the woods of Germany as portrayed in Ken Burns' World War II documentary. I have come to see what the important things of life are, and because of that we press on more determined than ever. It is what God has told us to do and what all our friends and family advise us to do. The result is I must give up figuring things out and just follow the light ahead with the faith of a child who doesn't know where daddy is leading, but knows everything will be OK in the end.

As the whirlwind of life has swept away the plans and lists I had created in my own power and as I gave the ashes from the fire that it caused to God, a beautiful phoenix has emerged. This time of trial has not been all dark; God has come to the rescue as well. God could have come to the rescue through unknown people, or the lottery, or even some sort of tax error, but instead he used friendships. The community around my mom has supported her and prayed for her as she is making a miraculous recovery from her surgery. While I was with her unable to accomplish anything concerning the move, friends have carried the vision of going to Scotland for us. Friends have helped us in planning and carrying out a garage sale. We have even been able to make our deadline for the student visa because of friends. No one person is giving us the whole amount for our visas, but the combination of so many people whom we care about and who care for us are making it seem possible. Each one is doing as much as they can: as it talks about in Acts 3 and in I John 4, the love of God is shown through his church. Not the building, or a church service, or an organization, but just people who, on their own conviction, saw a need and heard God's voice to answer it. People have given before we could ask for it. Some gave us money, other helped us with fund raisers, even more just bought the things I sold as an act of kindness. One couple even gave us an interest free loan to help us have more time to raise money without concern for the deadline. Not only that, some friends gave us advice, pictures, contacts, and information that was essential to continuing on in our preparations.

We are continuing to let people know our situation and asking for support, but so much has happened before we could even ask that it is overwhelming. The friends that have surrounded us and come to the rescue have done so in ways that blow my mind. Could Spiritual warfare be seen any clearer? I expected this blog to be about cute little stories of messing up Scottish idioms or having funny cultural experiences, but instead this is becoming a blog about God taking over some foolish twenty-somethings' lives and doing whatever he wants with them. I can bemoan our misfortunes, but instead I have learned to humble myself and ask for help from those God has equipped to do this work. I guess that is how a "body" of believers works.