(Written by: Holden Carson)
“The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness…” Exodus 34:6b NIV
WOW! Two years ago, I remember reading the blogs for the first Czech trip and not wanting to get too involved with our ministry in Czech…And now, here I am writing a blog post! We’re less than four weeks away, and I am about to go where God has laid my heart to be for a MONTH this summer — the Czech Republic! God has made a way for this to be possible even amid many factors that might have prevented it. This is what HE has done, and it is amazing!
But what is He doing right now? I see God doing 3 things.
He is slow to anger. Summer is often a very busy season in my life, and in that I try to take it all on my own, thinking, “Surely, I can handle this.” But, I fall short, not always doing what I should be and I know what I should be doing. When I fall short and fail I feel a little ashamed, “I’m supposed to be going on this mission trip in a few weeks, yet I can barely get in enough study time. Surely, God must be angry with me at this…” but He’s slow to anger. This doesn’t mean I shouldn’t keep pursuing what God has for me in a godly way, but rather it means that when I fail, God is slow to anger. He is gracious and compassionate, and I can try to do it again in His strength, not my own.
He is faithful, abounding in love and faithfulness. God has faithfully opened doors and revealed His will. I have issues with food (simply put) that make vacations and long journeys away from home…difficult. The only reason I’m going to the Czech Republic is that through the local church there God has provided me food. Not once, but TWICE! Which is why I am staying the extra 13 days. God has made a way for this to happen and I know He will continue to!
I have fear in going to the Czech Republic. There are so many unknowns that loom in front of me: “What will I eat? How will I teach English? How’s it going to work being thousands of miles away from my family?” (Aidan will be in the Czech Republic but he’s my brother, not my mom or my dad). As I’ve already said though, God is providing ways to accommodate my diet on the trip. God is preparing me to teach English through lesson planning, and I’ve been away from my family before and God has taken care of me – this time is just a little farther. In ALL that…God. Is. LORD. All authority belongs to Him. He’s got the details and I can trust Him.
I know I said I was going to answer the question, “what is God doing?” You might have expected the answers to look more like, “God is being slow to anger, He is being faithful, He is being Lord,” but that implies that He is only doing those things now, but God does NOT change He is those things all the time. I just get to see that more clearly as I am preparing for this trip.
Prayer Requests and Praises
- Pray for Aidan and Andrew as they train for their internships
- Pray that preparation for the rest of the team goes smoothly. We now have two camps to prepare for.
- Pray for health of the mission team and our Czech counterparts.
- Pray that God draws students for two full camps this year.
- Pray for the remaining support and supplies for our team.