We are so thankful that God continues to provide for our needs.  This is our latest purchase for LightShine - a 2005 15 passenger van!   Please read on for an encouraging story ...

"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you."  Matthew 6:33 (read verse in context)

 

Don't Worry!   God is in Control!   by Tom Denlinger

Last week, my employer told me to take the next day off because he had nothing for me to do.  Obviously, our economy has seen better days and all of us are concerned whether we will be able to pay our bills and provide for our families.  But I have learned to trust God even when I have no idea what He is doing.  I know that God is always in control of my life so I simply went home and planned on spending Wednesday doing office work for LightShine.  Let me encourage you that sometimes you need to shift the focus off your own problems and ask the LORD how you can serve others.  It's amazing how He will encourage you when you seek Him like this.

My wife and I raise financial support as missionaries with LightShine and I decided to use this opportunity to get some much needed office work done (working for LightShine for the day). Recently our board approved the purchase of a van because our ministry is sending a team of Amish guys to Alaska this summer. Since they cannot fly, we need to purchase a van so one of our team leaders (Rob Paire) can drive them to their assignment.  One of our administrators in LightShine (Jeff Zimmerman) was looking at vans on the Internet.  So while Jeff was looking around for vans, I sent out a ministry email asking people to PRAY - and many of you did!  Jeff found a van (now ours above) at a dealer in Delaware and another LightShine administrator (Scott Shenk) called down to them and offered them $1,500 less than what they were asking. They basically told us they would accept our offer but they would not hold the van without a deposit. They wanted to move it. So Scott called our LightShine mechanic and team leader (Larry Newell) and Larry just happened to be free (he is normally very busy in his business) and he and Scott drove to Delaware to look a this van with plans to purchase it if everything looked good mechanically. That evening (as they were driving home with it) Scott called me and told me all the features it had and we were absolutely BLOWN AWAY. It only has 89,000 miles on it and is very clean and sound mechanically. It even has a DVD system in it (which will help in making a 10,000 mile trip).

All of this happened in one day.  I realized (as I have many times in my life) that God always has something to surprise us with ... if we only take time to seek Him.

I wanted to thank you for your prayer. God is good and HE KNOWS our needs - especially when our desire is to serve Him with those needs. REMEMBER - all this happened in one day! From my perspective, it could of been a day where I sat around and worried about my job. But instead I put into practice the faith that God gave me to believe Him.  The next time you are tempted to worry, I want to encourage you to do the same!

Thank YOU, Father! You are my God, our Provider and Sustainer. There is none like You!

We also want to thank, Ken Leaman Signs for donating the van lettering as seen in the photo above.