Deeper Still

I once read a quote by Corrie Ten Boom that read, "There is no pit so deep that God is not deeper still." The pit of our first term on the mission field at times has been incredibly deep. Our children suffered repeat illnesses in Costa Rica causing many late night treks in search of a taxi at 2a.m. to get us to the emergency room. Lori lost her Mother to cancer while we were in Costa Rica also. We arrived in our new country of service to experience various robberies. Our children also have suffered strange illnesses to the extent that Lydia was in the hospital for three days. Now we have nearly lost our children and someone tried to break in our house one night after we moved to a "safer" area. So do I write all of this to say "poor me?" No, I write all of this to say that God is sustaining us. Through many prayers, email, calls, and even visits we are being renewed. I don't understand it all fully except to say that it has been a God thing in our lives. Some view us as heroes of the faith, but we prefer to just be seen as faithful. Emotionally, so much has transpired that we have wanted to scream at times. Yet every turn (teaching A Purpose Driven Life, listening to online sermons and a Beth Moore study, and time in God's Word) seem to contribute to keeping us on track.
So what has God said? He has chosen to remind us over and over that our faith is not based upon feelings, but promises. We must choose to stand upon the promises of God when the hurricane of doubt threatens. That is not what our flesh has wanted to do, but it has been what we have known to be the RIGHT thing to do.
Jacob has been speaking to us through our studies to remind us that when we wrestle with God He may allow us to win, but we may still walk with a limp. In a sense, we trust that nothing happens to us (or our children for that matter) outside of God's reach and purposes. So having wrestled with God about the safety of our children as we serve, we have resolved that all of our emotions do not change our call. We have said with Job, "Though he slay me, yet shall I praise Him." We won this battle as we can still kiss our children goodnight, walk down to watch the train, and walk the dog to the vet. That does not mean that we don't have a limp. I cannot explain all that our limp entails now, but we trust God to heal in His time.
The Apostle Paul listed a laundry list of challenges that he faced in one of his letters and at the end he noted that one of his greatest burdens was for the churches. We continue to be burdened for the churches that we are working to start as well as existing churches. We are amazed by the spiritual warfare in the Bajio due to the great amount of lostness in this area. The things that I have mentioned here are only the tip of the iceberg when thinking about the work here!
Keep praying, giving, and going.
Listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches (not the buildings, but the body of Christ!)