Road Weary & Yet longing To Finish Well!

              

On the road again.

  It has been an amazing adventure but like all adventures they eventually need to come to an end, don't they? This furlough like the ones before has been an exercise in faith from beginning and I am sure it will be until the end. We left PR in pretty bad shape and unable to pay the bills for the last two months we were there. We did not know where we would go, how we would get there, or where we would sleep or what we would eat. We had some ideas though, and most things turned out to be completely different than what we had thought they would. The trip has been a mixture of mountain tops and valleys as most good journeys do.

The Lord led a man we had never met to give us a car to drive throughout the course of this journey, fully insured, and it has ran great for over 10,000 miles now. We have met more amazing people than I could name here, and I have had the opportunity to preach two revivals, in two separate states just days apart. Reports back say that they are continuing to impact the communities they were in. The one in IL was the most

20 min. before revival service begins

attended they have had there and several of the churches that participated are now seeing real growth. Though several of the places we went cost us more to get to and stay for the time we were there than was placed in our donation box, others took up love offerings that made up the difference and kept us on the road headed to the next one. There have been many unplanned Bible studies that came perfectly timed and we have made new friendships that will continue to grow and flourish in the years to come and we have had several opportunities to reunite with dear friends we have not seen in years. 

            We have also had our fill of bumps in the road as well. Sadly the Bible I have

So what are my choices?

taught every Bible study, preached every sermon with, each revival, and every church start since I was 14 was lost on this journey after having been placed on the roof of the car while kids and materials were being loaded from one church to the next. In truth each one of us have lost more than one thing on the trip. It is to be expected really with all there is to keep up with, the lack of sleep, and those endless miles something is bound to get lost along the way.  We have also been battling illness. For three weeks we each had our time with the flu, both congestive and stomach. Poor Jacob’s temp reached 103.7 and it prompted a trip to urgent care. Since we do not have health insurance as we travel, medical costs are typically high for us. Thankfully Jacob and all of us are back to our healthy selves. May God grant us health and safety the rest of our time here.

Here it is now mid Jan. and we are wondering what is next, longing to be back home in PR, we have not yet met our ministry’s fully funded goal, we have spoke at most of the churches we have in the past, new opportunities are not opening up like they did when we first arrived, and we have even lost existing support as we have traveled (though new support has balanced that back out now). We are not that much further ahead in committed monthly support than when we left PR.           

           Yesterday I was feeling pretty discouraged as I thought on these things and also

Birthday surprise with friends

from the response I received from a church I had reached out to earlier in the day when I received a text from my best friend.  We have been best friends since High School (20 years) and though we do not always get to spend as much time together as we would like to visiting with each other and our families or talking over the phone because of our schedules, we do seem to know how the other is feeling just in the way the other will say hello. Having not heard from me in a while he texted me with encouragement on the journey and hope for a good and what he felt would be a well earned ending, even though he knows that means we will be an ocean apart once again. His text came at just the right moment with exactly what I needed. One of only a few times I have seen Eph. 4:29 fulfilled to its fullest by others in my life:

^“Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” ~Ephesians 4:29

        His words surely fit the occasion of my life at the moment and I am grateful both for my friends love and encouragement and for the Lord’s leading and timing in our lives.

Those words reminded me of another portion of scripture that are often needed and to easily forgotten:

“And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”~ Galatians 6:9

The journey continues.

This coming month will be our last month of furlough. I do not know yet where we will go, who we will meet, what opportunities or challenges lay ahead but I do know with the Lord and the love and support of our family and friends we will press on being encouraged to not grow weary of doing good and looking for the time of reaping of all that has been sewn. 

          Maybe things have not gone as you had planned or working out quite the way you felt they would. If so let me say to you with all confidence and with all the love I posses that God loves you and has far better plans for your life than you or I can even imagine at this moment and that this is my prayer for you,

…”that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;  that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the of Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins." Col.1:9-14

 

God Bless,

David Ingram

New Day Christian Ministry

Isa.43:18-21

www.newdaycm.org

PS. Any church, Sunday School Class, or small group that you are a part of that would like to have us come and share about this marvelous work the Lord has called us to we would love to have the opportunity to come and share before we head back and continue on with what the Lord has called us to. 

Update: After writing this blog post we faced a very scary challenge later in the day. While I was on my way back from the store Heather called very upset explaining Jacob could not lift his head or craw and that he was in a lot of pain. Hannah had been playing with him, thinking she was entertaining him. She lifted him up about a foot and dropped him on to her air mattress thinking he would like it. We did not know how badly he was injured and was 40 minutes from the hospital which was the only place prepared to work with children in the area. When we arrived they looked him over thoroughly and decided that nothing was broken and that his muscles in his neck, back, and shoulders were strained. He has been bathed in prayer since we left for the hospital and we are grateful for all who have been in prayer for Jacob. He struggled to go to sleep and woke many times through the night. Today we are happy to say he has improved greatly though still recovering. He is able to sit up, hold up his head, and has crawled. He is still recovering and clinging close to Heather but we are encouraged by all of his improvements this morning.