Sunflowers and Tires

    What a crazy whirlwind the last few weeks have been, especially this last week. After I landed in Baltimore last Friday night, I started driving out to Indiana for my first run of meetings. I arrived in town Saturday afternoon after driving through most of the night after pulling over to sleep for a few hours. 

    To be quite transparent with you, I was pretty nervous for my first conference and official deputation meeting. Even though I know I am prepared, I know the burden the Lord has given me and I know that what I’m doing is right, I still felt somewhat anxious to actually get started. Yet, this conference could not have been more perfect to put my nerves at ease. The Lord used it to concrete even more so in my mind how much He is involved in this journey I have started for His glory. I have two specific examples of things that happened this week that I would like to share. Neither is more important to me than the other, they were both immensely used of the Lord to encourage my spirit and remind me that God is with me, He hears my prayers and He loves me. 

Some of you may know, depending on how well you know me, that sunflowers are my ‘God loves me’

sign. If you don’t know what that is, well neither did I for the longest time, but someone explained it to me in college. A ‘God loves me’ sign,  is something that the Lord gives you that just remind you that God loves you. It can be anything. It is usually something small that maybe only you ever notice, but it means the world to you. I recently discovered that Sunflowers are a small, tangible way that God uses to me how much He loves me. I have found that during times when I am stressed or anxious about something, God will often send me Sunflowers. Rarely is it actual flowers, sometimes its a picture, I’ll pass them on the road, or someone will be wearing them. It ALWAYS comes when I need it though. Just a small, regular reminder of Gods love and care. 

    On Sunday afternoon, the family who hosted me for the day, gave me a lovely bouquet of Sunflowers! They didn’t know I liked them. In fact, they hadn’t even purchased them on purpose, but God knew how much they would mean to me right then. My nerves and anxiety were instantly soothed! Praise the Lord for His goodness and grace, even in the seemingly little things!
    

    The second thing that the Lord has done for me this week, was a huge answer to prayer! I have been praying for and searching for a deal on used tires for my car for about a year, and just have not had any luck in finding anything. My tires were original to my 2012 vehicle and were in desperate need of replacement. Over the past year I have had them patched several times and was starting to have a problem with one of the sensors in the pressure gauge. None of which, Praise the Lord , have hindered my ministry thus far. On Tuesday night, as I was pulling out of the church parking lot, I noticed my tire pressure sensor was going off again, so I pulled off to check all my tires before continuing down the road. As I was checking all of my pressures, the pastors son ( who I didn't realize worked at a tire shop) ran over to see what was going on. I quickly explained that it was fine, just that I was pretty sure I had a bad sensor and I was making sure nothing was too low. He checked everything for me, and told me to bring my car by in the morning to make sure it didn’t need any patches. When I brought my car in the shop the next day, he came and informed me that after talking to his dad, the church decided to buy me NEW tires! He got everything sorted and figured out for me, and I left with four, brand new, top of the line tires to get me through my deputation journey! 

    God has been so so good to me! I am truly honored to represent the ministry He has in the Amazon. And I cannot wait to see what else He has in store for my life and ministry down the road. 

Thank you so much for taking the time to keep up with me! God bless you,

- Beca