A little history...
We were with YOUTH WITH A MISSION (YWAM) as missionaries for more than 7 years between 1983 & 93 and most of those years we lived here in the states with monthly missionary support. When the boys were little, we were with YWAM NY & lived in an apartment in NJ. Our monthly support was $900, which covered rent $700 and utilities and God supplied over and above that. He even supplied for us to go from there for further training to Scotland. We have a blog post about this http://theluekens.blogspot.com/2014/06/manna-it-was-february-28-1993.html) And He has faithfully seen us through a variety of employment and ministry scenarios since.
While volunteering with Unashamed Ministries in Canada from 2010 through 2012, we had no promised support and no savings and no credit card to fall back on, and God faithfully provided. Yet how many of you know the endless stories of His faithfulness since we were silent about our needs? As we have prayed and waited on the Lord, He has been encouraging us to make our needs known as we did when we were in YWAM and to raise up prayer and monthly financial supporters.
Being stretched...
As you may or may not already know, Roger has had some health issues that surfaced over the past year or more that considerably effected his stamina and stability. Meanwhile, we felt called to be more involved with Operation Nehemiah and Roger was very frustrated that his involvement was so minimal and frankly we needed his input. As he sought the Lord and saw doctors it has been a time of patience as we wait for issues to be uncovered...the doctors finally decided he needed to be on a CPAP machine for sleep apnea but that has jeopardized his bus drivers license that he has had for so long. Right now he could not drive bus anyway, because they would not renew his license without a certain length of time on the CPAP machine. So stepping away from employment while his health issues are being resolved was taken out of our hands and we hope and pray that in the months ahead things will continue to improve giving Roger more time and stamina. So we have definitely been in Manna mode. There have been countless times where we had no idea how we were going to go somewhere or what we would eat the next day and we have not missed a meal and He has always provided the means that we would be where He wants us to be. We celebrate how faithful God has been!!
"FAITH IN A FAITHFUL GOD WILL STRETCH US TO THE LIMITS
OF OUR PHYSICAL, EMOTIONAL, SOCIAL, INTELLECTUAL, & SPIRITUAL BEINGS,
BUT THE STRETCHING WILL SERVE ONLY TO EXPAND OUR CAPACITY
TO KNOW GOD, & IN THE KNOWING TO DISCOVER
THE VAST POTENTIAL OF A LIFE LIVED BY FAITH."
This has been our hardest year with so many layers and levels to the struggle that we could never explain here. But as we have cried out to God, He has been addressing one thing after another and especially humbling us and addressing stuff in our hearts that we did not see, as we wait on Him.
We share all this to trumpet God's faithfulness as our Provider, but also as our Father. We have not had any promised income and there have been many times, having spent the last of our funds for the needs of that day, God has over and over again proven He sees, He knows and He cares. For an example, go to our blog post... http://theluekens.blogspot.com/2014/05/manna-god-knew.html
He also cares most about what's in our hearts and when there have been delays and things have been provided later than we would want, the Lord has worked in our hearts bringing fears and doubts, and more to the surface. He has convicted us and humbled us, and forgiven us in His mercy and we have been blessed by His loving discipline more than we could have ever known.
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