Provision

Welcome back to 2022! We hope you all had a restful and enjoyable time over the Christmas and New Year break. We would like to take the time to fill you in on where we're at in the Japan journey. This is quite a lengthy post so if you don't have time to read it all now, scroll down to the end where you can find our prayer points for this month.

Matthew 6:25-34 says this '"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you- you of little faith?

So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your Heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."'

Sometimes I think our society can subtly feed us this lie that if we're not "worried" about something, we're either not caring enough--not taking enough responsibility, or perhaps we're just not busy enough. As Christians, we are specifically told by Jesus not to worry. But, He doesn't just leave it there. We have action on our part that we need to fulfil. Instead of worrying, we are to 'seek first his kingdom and his righteousness.' Why? Because God already knows what we need and has promised to provide. How can our worry change the promise of God? It can't. But it can distract us from fully taking hold of the peace and fellowship that God offers us- resting completely in our Almighty Saviour. 1 Peter 5:7 says, "Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." We have the freedom to place all of our worries and anxieties at the feet of Jesus. He takes it. He handles it. No other religion, no other person (at least that I've met) offers to unconditionally take all of my anxiety and worry. I cannot over-burden Jesus. He has already borne my burden at Calvary and He was and still is VICTORIOUS! Amen! Leave your worry and your anxiety at the feet of Jesus and do not pick it up again.

At the moment, Japan's borders remain closed until at least February 28th. There are some whispers that this may change, some flexibility may return but for now, we wait. Are we worried? No. Why? Because we have chosen not to. Instead we follow these commands of Scripture. So, whilst it looks like we're in this space of limbo, we have been challenged to draw closer to God and seek out why He has lead us to this season of waiting. We are learning to be grateful for every season even if it may not be our favourite. This season has given us opportunity to connect with friends and family- fill up our tanks before we are physically separated for a year. Jo has been able to get some things done around the house in preparation for the move and has had time to begin brushing up on her Japanese- it will definitely be needed! We are grateful for God's provision of this waiting season.

In early January we had an email from a missionary couple in Japan who have been serving with OMF for a number of years. They had received our application from OMF with the request that they host us. They wanted to get to know us a bit more, and so we met via Zoom. Most unsure of what to expect, and what God might be orchestrating, we entered the meeting somewhat intrepid and curious. Amazingly, the meeting went so well, and we were left on such a high that God seemed to know our desires and prayers, to such a level that we hadn't even voiced before. We now had options for where we would be living in Japan--what the living arrangements would be, etc.

The challenge though was that we didn't know whether we would need to provide an answer as to whether or not we would accept the offer or even if this was the offer God wanted us to accept. Particularly since this opportunity was not a part of our originally elected ministry areas. It was quite out of the blue. It was a door of opportunity, but was it the right door? Were more offers going to come over the convening weeks? As we prayed through this period, one of our prayer warriors sent us a wonderful message of comfort, sensing through prayer that God would not allow us to deviate from the path He was guiding.

A few weeks later, confirmation came. We heard from our OMF coordinator that we had been placed with a couple willing to host us (i.e. support us in ministry) and a place to live in. It was the same couple we had met via Zoom! God had provided and made it undeniably clear this was our pathway.

We are so blessed that we will have our own house to live in. It will enable us to host neighbours in our home and build relationships with the intention of planting Gospel seeds. We will be situated in a totally unreached neighbourhood, so plenty of challenges, and opportunities to start planting and praying that God will water the seeds sown. Around this time, we also received word that our Certificates of Eligibility had been approved by the Japanese Government and sent back to the OMF team in Japan. This has since been posted out to us and we hope to receive them in the next couple of weeks and find out more about visa applications.

So, we do not worry about tomorrow. We embrace today because our God is faithful, good and He is the great Provider.

Please find below our prayer points for this month. Thanks for praying with us!

Praise God for:

• the provision of a home

• the provision of hosts to support us in Japan

• the peace we continue to experience and know comes from God

• the acceptance and provision of our Certificates of Eligibility

Pray for:

• the neighbourhood we will be living in

• hearts to be being prepared to hear the Gospel

• our Certificates to arrive safely and the visa application process

• borders to open at precisely the right time- God's time