There's still hope!

Wow, dear hubby has gone and done two posts in a row! Time to fulfil my 'quota'...

I just got news of the outcome of my scholarship application... it's a no-go. The funny part was that I had been waiting for an email to notify me of this outcome; the results were supposed to have been out early last month. So after a month and a half of waiting on tenterhooks, I succumbed to my impatience/curiosity and gave the scholarships office a call. After a few tries over a couple of days, finally managed to get a human being on the other end of the line. It took her all of one minute to check on my records, and she came back on the line to say sorry, I had been unssuccessful. Sigh.

Well I could have taken the news in two ways... and I did. My heart really sank after I got the news, which was just before meeting Joerg for lunch. Man, I was brooding the rest of the day. Even the Merlo brew couldn't perk me up as it usually does- I barely tasted it! Joerg kept reminding me that it's true that getting the scholarship might have done a good deal to ease our burdens about finances, but that ultimately we could still trust God to be our provider. Thinking about it, I realised that I - in fact both of us - had put our faith in that scholarship, believing that was the answer to all our needs. We had literally banked on it! It had become such that my faith was in that scholarship more than in God's love and ability to provide for us.

So that was yesterday. Last night we prayed over it again, and affirmed our faith in Him as our provider, no matter how He chose to bring it to pass. After all, His ways are higher than ours! Today, it was a new day, and I did feel that peace knowing that God's in control and that He loves and provides for us in ways that we may not even think of, even though it seems like nothing is happening. Interestingly, these couple of weeks I've been reading the book of Genesis for my quiet time, and it's been all about people who were treated unfairly for a long time before they saw any rewards or redemption. Especially in the case of Joseph- the poor kid was sold off by his brothers to some exotic country as a seventeen-year-old, became a servant in one of the governor's homes, fell victim to a desperate housewife who then got him thrown into prison for a long while. And after he helped one of the other prisoners who managed to gain his freedom, Joseph was again 'sabo-ed' because the dude he helped forgot to tell the king good things about him!! If anyone had the right to be upset, bitter, and take revenge, it was Joseph. But what really struck me was his response. When Joseph was about 35 years old and himself a governor of the country, his brothers had to come to him for help. When they found out that the governor was none other than their little brother they had sold off so long ago, they were terrified. But Joseph said to them:

"Yes, I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt. Don't worry or blame yourselves for what you did. God is the one who sent me ahead of you to save lives. There has already been a famine for two years, and for five more years no one will plow fields or harvest grain. But God sent me on ahead of you to keep your families alive and to save you in this wonderful way. After all, you weren't really the ones who sent me here--it was God. He made me the highest official in the king's court and placed me over all Egypt." (Genesis 45:4-8)

He's in control of every situation. That's our hope as we continue in a journey of faith together. It's also our hope that you'll put your hope in Him in all things! :)