The AMAZING Favor of God!

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My God is amazing!!! After much prayer and reaching out to our family in Christ for prayer, after doing all we could do and depending on God for the rest WE ARE GOING TOGETHER! When this journey began I was scared! One Sunday morning during worship God clearly told me, "Fear not, I have gone ahead and prepared the way." This last week or so I have had to cling to that. And my God came through!! This move is a practical lesson on trust! God has been showering me with lessons, devotions, even our last WM's meeting all on the subject of trust! EXTRAVAGANT TRUST! I am in tears now thinking of how God is able to do all things (even change the army's mind!)!! I wish I had more words to express thanks and praise to God!

If I would just look...

Not sure how many of you know what is going on right now with out move, but I can say I have had a tough week. We had been told we would have concurrent travel (the entire family would leave and travel together). With this assurance we put the house up for rent and have a renter moving in May 1st. Bill received his orders last week stating deferred travel (he would leave first and we would follow when housing was available over there). This basically left the kids and I homeless... Let alone the fact I am tired of having our family separated. My first reaction was totally human...I cried and felt like I was punched in the stomach. Then I prayed... prayers of desperation, prayers crying out to my Daddy to fix this. For two days I prayed and cried and tried to cheer myself up. The first day I said nothing to anyone, I didn't want to talk to anyone. The next day I reached out to my sister's in Christ. They lifted us up in prayer and encouraged me. Thursday we found out it would only take one email from the housing office (the same people who told me we would have concurrent travel) to change our orders. I wanted Bill to take care of it so I gave him all the information to call. He tried to call for three hours with no answer. He finally called me to tell me his phone was dead and I would have to call. My first call to the housing office and someone answered! hmm?? I was able to speak to an american (most of the workers are German and sometimes communication is hard). He had me send him all the notes I had saying we had concurrent travel (something Bill would not have had access to). I sent it to him and he promised to call back that day. His office closed at 4 German time...at 5 German time I gave up hope...at 5:30 German time he called back. He told us that everyone coming to Germany at this time was on deferred travel BUT because we had been told we had concurrent we would! It is not official yet, by the time we spoke on Friday everything over there was closed for the weekend, but it is God at work. If I had not asked about concurrent travel weeks ago, I would not have had the things saying we had it. If I had not been the one to get through to the housing office, Bill would not have had the correct info to give them. God at work. I can't say that I am totally at peace..I ask for your prayers still. But I am standing on God's word and reminding myself and encouraging myself moment by moment in His promises. I still am trying not to think about it or talk about it... I am depending on God minute to minute... I know His ways are perfect..

If God is with us...than what can stand against us?!

Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.

Luke 12:6-7

To say that I have been a nervous wreck since we received news of our move, would be an understatement. I have been scared passports won's be done in time, scared our command sponsorship won't come through in time, scared the house won't be ready to rent, and so on and so on... Most of all scared that the friendships we have made here would be forgotten or that I wouldn't be strong enough spiritually to step away from my support system. Well God heard my heart...not even my prayer because I was even scared to tell God about my fears (how silly is that!)!

Romans 8:31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

Sunday was the first time in awhile we were able to go to "big church" and weren't working in children's church and WOW did God know we would be there. Ms. Denise sang an amazing song, "Our God", by Chris Tomlin

And if Our God is for us, then who could ever stop us
And if our God is with us, then what can stand against?
And if Our God is for us, then who could ever stop us
And if our God is with us, then what can stand against?
What can stand against?

As I stood there singing, God spoke so clearly.."Fear not, I have gone before you and prepared the way" I can't say that I am not still worried but now I know God is already working and already has everything in place for us. I was able to see a glimpse of that this morning. We had to have an appointment for our medical screening before the first week in April to have everything done in time for us to travel together. We were told yesterday that they were VERY backed up and wouldn't be able to get an appointment in time. We quickly filled out the GIANT packet of paperwork and turned it in ASAP and were told to call this morning. I called at exactly 7:30 and was given an appointment for March 30th!!! A week sooner than we needed! How cool is God! :)

I know He has this under control... next time..more on my friendship fear ;)

We are going where?

As most of my friends know the Eckert family has received orders to move to Germany. As most of you also know I was none to happy about this at first. God has some crazy ways of changing the way we see things. Let me explain a few things..

We have been here in Savannah for almost 5 years now. That is a lifetime in army terms. We moved here from NC in July of 2006. To say I did not want to move here would be an understatement. I was comfortable in NC. We attended and served at a small country church. We lived in a small country neighborhood. I was a youth leader and loved the kids there. I was in my own little box and did not want to venture out. God used my time in NC to begin to show me that I indeed did have a call on my life and I had slowly began to step out and walk in it. So why in the world did God decide to move us away from there?

Moving to GA was not my finest hour. I fought, yelled, cursed, sulked, pouted...you name it, I did it! It took us almost a year to get back into a church, but when we did WOW! God showed OUT! Our SSAG church body embraced us like no bodies business. And I mean EMBRACED!!! Who else would have shown up in 110 degree weather to be with me in a hot, crowded hanger to welcome home my soldier, whom they had NEVER met?

Through our SSAG family we were invited to Tres Dias. Again God was on a roll! God used Tres Dias to change our lives. We quickly became involved in Tres Dias and VN. I was in HEAVEN! We now have not only life long friends but true family. We really feel like we belong to the family of God now.

So how can I say good-bye to all of this? It has taken God about a week to push past my stubbornness this time. (alot less than last time LOL) I can honestly say that God has used the last five years here to break down the walls that have surrounded my heart for so long. That combined with everything He has taught us is the reason I can say I am not excited about this new adventure.

There has been alot of confirmation the last few days. Confirmation in small things that would mean nothing else to other people. I refuse to waste the opportunity laid before us and we are eagerly accepting this new missionary position. I know that we are backed by countless prayer warriors all over GA and NC and this gives me the courage and strength to push forward!

God is going to do amazing things these next three years and I have decided to blog and document them all... I am not a writer so bare with me :) Love to all of you!