Update and Urgent Prayer Request

Imagine saving every penny you possibly can for months on end, trying to save up enough so that you can buy a house that is closer to your ministry. You currently live 45 minutes from the church and children’s home and need to be closer to the work so that you can be more available and use less time for travel. Imagine that you are within just a couple thousand dollars of being able to make that purchase and have already chosen a home (with indoor plumbing even), when you suddenly realize that the money you have saved is the exact amount that is needed to complete a major project for the children’s home. What would you do?
A certain illustration has been used so often that it is now quite common place, but I would like to go back to it for a moment. Sometimes in life we look at what is happening and can’t quite seem to make heads or tails of it. It is like looking at the back side of a piece of embroidery, all tangled and full of knots. But from God’s vantage point the picture on the other side of the canvas can be seen. I was thinking about this illustration last night, and how God knows the end of every situation. He can already see the picture laid out in full. If these things be true, and they are, what sense is there in our trifling concerns over both the greatest and smallest of matters in our lives? My life is but one thread in the overall picture, a tiny French knot on a canvas large enough to fill eternity. God knows where to place it and how to use it. My only responsibility is to trust that He knows what He is doing and to obey as He leads. That’s it, the way to be happy in Jesus: Trust and Obey! It is in this position that one can make the very real decision that had to be made in the above situation.
For months now, we have been praying that the Lord would provide the funds needed for the girls’ dorm in the Central Asian ministry. In the last update that I sent out, I shared a list of the items that were still needed and asked you to pray that the Lord would provide. Last week I received a letter that still has me almost speechless. There are two missionaries working with this ministry. One is the director of the children’s home, he is the one who sent me the list of items that we still needed to pray about. The letter I received last week was from the other missionary. This couple has been saving every penny so that they could purchase a house closer to the ministry and be more involved with both the church and the children. When they tallied up what they needed for the dorm it was the exact amount that they had in savings (This was no small amount). After much prayer, they came to the decision that the Lord had already provided for the dorm. God is good to provide!
Please, be praying especially for this family. God has a reason for leaving them where they are, and for the distance that they are traveling. Pray also that in His time and according to His will, He would provide a way for them to be closer to the church and children’s home. Praise the Lord for their obedience to His direction in their lives!
What are you willing to let go of for Christ? Sometimes we need that challenge. We need to see someone give up something like this in order to remind ourselves to check and see if there is something that we are holding onto when we should be letting go. It doesn’t have to be our life savings, sometimes it is something small. Sometimes it is a hope or dream for the future, sometimes it is something so basic as the moment at hand. Whatever it is there is one truth that is precious: Whenever we let go of something, it frees up our hands to take hold of more of Christ.
I am not going to go into a full report from here. I feel it is better to leave you with these thoughts. If you are interested in seeing the progress of the the Job 31 Project, or checking out the upcoming events for the next couple of months you can check it out at the following addresses:
Job 31 Project:
Calendar of Events:
Please do not hesitate to get involved!  Please continue to pray for the ministry as a whole and for each of the ministries that we have regularly mentioned here. Ask the Lord what He would have you to do to help reach the fatherless of your community and around the world.
For His Glory!
Bringing the Fatherless to the Father,
Rachel Miller
ALERT: As I was getting ready to send out this letter we received word from our county jail of contractual and policy changes which will affect, not only our ministry with the ladies in the jail, but the ministry of every other church in the area, as well as removing the position of chaplain and replacing it with a volunteer coordinator. It will also abolish the practice of keeping  Bibles specifically, and other religious materials, around the jail. Inmates will have to kite a request for the book or materials that they are wanting to use and take them with them when they go, IF they get approved. PLEASE, be praying for this. The new contract is supposed to be out by the end of the month. Please pray that God will prevent it and that He would give wisdom and grace to the current chaplain during this time. We have seen many ladies come to Christ through this ministry and have just started the Rock of Ages Prison Ministry Bible Institute program there. These changes come in light of a lawsuit against the county by an inmate, a satanist, who had a “religious medallion” taken from him. This could also affect the Montana Women’s Prison where our pastor’s wife has been having weekly Bible studies for the past 6 years. Please pray that the Lord will hold these doors of ministry open. – How timely the thoughts of last night proved to be! God is good!