The lady in the office took one look at my application, signed it, stamped it and said here’s your visa. Wow!!!! Unbelievable! I’m so humbled by the grace of God in this moment of my life. That God would care so much to put a stamp in my visa. It’s His stamp. Every time I look at it I’ll remember that He Himself moved on my behalf.
Thank you so much for all your prayers. I’m humbled that you all have cared so much and have prayed so hard and left so many wonderful comments to support and encourage the team and I. This morning as we considered all the circumstances of what could happen, we had some moments of tears and fear, wondering how things would turn out. It was in that moment that one of our amazing Real Life students, Missy Garvey, the youngest member of our team, opened her bible for our team devotions and began to read from
Psalm 3:
1 O LORD, how many are my foes!
How many rise up against me!
2 Many are saying of me,
"God will not deliver him."
Selah
3 But you are a shield around me, O LORD;
you bestow glory on me and lift up my head.
4 To the LORD I cry aloud,
and he answers me from his holy hill.
Selah
5 I lie down and sleep;
I wake again, because the LORD sustains me.
6 I will not fear the tens of thousands
drawn up against me on every side.
7 Arise, O LORD!
Deliver me, O my God!
Strike all my enemies on the jaw;
break the teeth of the wicked.
8 From the LORD comes deliverance.
May your blessing be on your people.
Selah
I wept at the promises of God in this passage and I could hear the RL Youth Choir singing their hearts. In my mind it was the entire choir singing for me, reminding me that God, the creator of all things, the one who’s so, so, so very BIG, BIG, BIG is my shield, my deliverer and my provider.
We will update this evening with more photos and possibly some videos. I’ll post a picture of my visa once it gets back to me.
I love you all, especially my wife and family. :)
PE
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21 comments:
What a Mighty God we serve!!!
Our prayers continue to be with each of you. Glorify Him with the words of your mouth and the meditation of your hearts.
We love you Staci...
Mom & Dad Miller
I'm sitting here crying because of Gods goodness!!! Missy, thank you for that amazing word!! I'm so glad the Lord loves us more than we could ever love each other and that His care is far deeper reaching than our could ever hope to be. I'm reminded of the lyrics "His strength is perfect when our strength is gone. He'll carry us when we can't carry on. Raised in His power the weak become strong...". Vintage, I know, but it works!!! I can't compete with Mo's vast musical knowledge here! (love you Mo, miss u). To the team thanks for all your support! Mom & Dad, can't tell you what it means knowing your over there- I love you both dearly!! Eran- I couldn't be happier! I love you now & forever!!! (hope this means you have more days to shop for a really big present for me..tee hee). People! I'm kidding!!!
so so in awe--
God never fails.
I just woke up, logged on, and read the wonderful news about your Visa! I called my friend and tried to read to her what you wrote as tears of joy just gushed down my face. The amazing works of God just overwhelmed us! Thank Him too for seeing to it that the medical supplies, equipment and luggage were returned! TO GOD BE THE GLORY!!!!
Not much new to say - these others have said it all. God is amazing and moves on behalf of his praying people!! Surely the Lord has great designs on your time there in Africa. 'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the LORD Almighty. Zech. 4:6
Wow.I could barely finish reading through my tears. Thank you Jesus. Miracles of Miracles. God has great things in store for you guys over there! To me, it proves the hearts of the team. We continue to pray for all of you!
Missy you were still, and listened, and obeyed! How Awesome.
We Love you Missy! Mom&Dad
i knew it was gonna be a good day!! i just KNEW it. i'm so glad and hyped up, i think i'll actually be awake for my first class....this is so exciting! And lemme just say, i love love. Especially God's love. It doesn't get better than that! all my love, thanks, and prayers!
GOD IS AWESOME....Thank you for sharing that answer to prayer. He cares sooooo much. A Visa can't stop his work. Thank you for keeping us in touch. We will continue praying that God will show himself to you each step of the way.
PE, I'm sitting here at work, completely overwhelmed. Yesterday, the worship service at Full Gospel was incredible. Our kids worshipped with their whole hearts, from youngest to oldest. Maurice, they did all Israel's stuff LIVE!! We kept saying how we were wished you guys were there to experience it with us. You were all in the back of our minds!!!
We sang "He Knows My Name"-
"I have A Father, He calls me His own. He'll never leave me no matter where I go. He knows my name, He knows my every thought. He sees each tear that falls and HEARS me when I Call!!
Then-We sang
"I'm not a man I cannot lie, I know the plans for your life. I'm asking you to dream again, to believe again and take the limits off of me.
I'm not a man I cannot lie, I know the plans they're MY design. So I'm asking you to hope again, and take the limits off. Release Me to accomplish what I promised you. Take the Limits Off....
we sang....
No limits, No boundaries, I see Increase, All around me. Stretch for, Break for, Release me,
It's a time of favor, It's a time of reign
It's a time of increase, It's a time of harvest
It is a time for reaping,
You've shone in many tears,
You've shone countless nights,
You've paced your floor back and forth,
You've believed,
You stood on words that you have yet to see come to pass
But this is the time for reign, Ask for the reign
Ask the reign in the time of reign
Ask for favor while favor is falling
Halleluiah!!!!
Then in total abandon and praise we sang-
You are Alpha and Omega
We worship you our Lord
you are worthy to be praised
We give you all the glory
we worship you our Lord
you are worthy to be praised
After reading your blog....I'm looking back, realizing we sang and we were confirming what was about to happen or had just happened. I don't know how the timing works out. But we got up to sing the 2nd part of our set at 5:00-5:15pm. I do not know how it happened, but the order of the music got switched around. We started with Psalm 23. "The Lord is my Shepherd...He leads me...He annoints my head with oil...He restoreth my soul"...They did a great job on it. Greg "sang" that song. Then we got to "Thou O Lord..Art a shield, my glory and the lifter of my head." Exactly what you wrote about. There were some kids that for an unknown reason were apparently and unbeleivably overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit. They sang "Thou O Lord" like I have never heard them sing, with conviction and passion. I was blown away and I couldn't figure it out.
God was at work showing His love and power. We were on the opposite side of the world, believing and God created/made this miracle.
Lord, I'm totally overwhelmed and in awe by what happens when we take the limits off and allow total control.
I just received a call from Juanita telling me to log onto this site right away. She said it's overwhelming. And it is.
Every song we sang yesterday was a prayer for your team. It really was....and we didn't even realize it. And our kids sang with everything they had! Juanita is right...the Holy Spirit moved so powerfully yesterday in each of us. As we sang "He Knows My Name" I was so overwhelmed that I couldn't even sing. The tears came and simply wouldn't stop. When I think about the words "He sees each tear that falls and hears me when I Call" I can't even describe my thoughts. He is so very big! He saw your tears as you accepted the fact that you may have to leave Africa...He saw our tears as we prayed for His goodness and miraculous touch on this situation. He HEARD our prayers and He showed us, once again, that He is the provider of miracles! I am in awe!!
We were right there with your team...the miles didn't matter!! We were there with you!!
PRAISE GOD from whom ALL blessing flow!!! Thank you Lord Jesus for being our Provider...thank you for loving us...thank you for showing your Mighty Hand once again!! And thank Lord for watching over this very precious team!!
YES!!!
Hi Mom,
I hope you are having a great time in Africa. Many things are going on at the house, you're lucky you're not here. The trip was good but we did not go to New York City.
Love,
Joshua
PS: Oreo smells. I wish you were home.
The previous comment from "Aja" was composed for Pat Byrd.
PS. I (Aja) am also proud that you decided to sacrifice your time to great cause. Please take advantage of this experience to the fullest....a Congrats! to Pastor Eran on the visa.
God is Able! Ps 37:5... Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him, and he will act!
Bet you never had to be worried about being deported before huh?
I'm so so glad to hear you got your visa PE.It's amazing to know how mighty God is.God Bless You guys and we'll keep praying for you guys.
WOW IM just in tears GOD is just so great!!
MISSY I just want to say that as one of ur best frieds that im so pord of you Im here just crying I pray for u everyday and I pray that GOD will just use u in such a great way I love you and miss you I love you and I love u alll!!!
gina texted me early this morning at work and said i needed to call her asap...needless to say as soon as i could i called and was concerned something was wrong...she proceeded to tell me about gods victory with erans visa...and then with my hands raised she read to me the scripture verse missy had chosen to read...i fell apart...on a construction site with a hard hat on in a pick up truck wheeping and shouting PRAISE to the lord for his greatness in what was happening...it was an amazing time of joy in my heart and the lord is certainley very pleased with every one of you who are willing to step out and serve unselfishly for his glory....we will continue to pray for your safety..love and miss all of you..god bless
Thank you for this blog, Pastor Eran! It is amazing to be able to share in your prayers and praises!
Please tell Jen Bohner Happy 21st Birthday for us (10/15)- -what a way to celebrate!
Donna, Brian and Erika Peiffer
(and Grandma Fix)
I am really glad that you got your visa. Jen, I love you and I just wnated to wish you a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! I miss you so much. I hope that you are having a great time. See you soon.
Blessings,
Renee
Good for people to know.
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