{"id":2285,"date":"2014-08-14T15:53:00","date_gmt":"2014-08-14T15:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/?p=2285"},"modified":"2026-10-02T01:35:30","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T01:35:30","slug":"three-big-prayer-requests-and-a-slight-delay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/?p=2285","title":{"rendered":"THREE BIG PRAYER REQUESTS AND A SLIGHT DELAY"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Have you ever been in a setting where fellow believers ask for prayer requests and you rack your brain and then come to the conclusion “Life is good and smooth … I’ve got nothing”? Praise God for those times!<\/p>\n\n\n

That’s not where we are right now.<\/p>\n\n\n

Now, no doubt about it: we have had an incredible<\/em> summer – visiting many wonderful congregations,\nmeeting new people, renewing friendships, and catching up with family.\u00a0 We’ve been the recipients of so much generosity and hospitality and thoughtfulness.\u00a0 There have been side trips to the zoo, an\namusement park and Gettysburg.\u00a0 There has\nbeen sweet corn, watermelon and ice cream galore.\u00a0 And very few chicken drumsticks!<\/p>\n\n\n

As the summer comes to a close, though, anxiety is rising\nfor Melissa and me.\u00a0 With our rental house opening up just a week ago and needing some attention before new renters can move in, our To Do List is far from finished.\u00a0 This drove\u00a0us to call Missionary Flights International yesterday and get our return flight to Haiti bumped back a few days.\u00a0 Instead of August 21st, we’ll now be back in Vaudreuil on August 26th – God willing!\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

All the anxiety about finishing our summer well\u00a0reminds me\nthat we need to take these burdens to Jesus.\u00a0\nHow good to be reminded that He cares for us and He\u2019s in control.<\/p>\n\n\n

Would you be willing to lift the following in prayer? They\nare listed in order of rising anxiety!<\/p>\n\n\n

1) We have a van whose age and performance are not cause for\nconfidence.\u00a0 Rather than junking it, we spent the money needed a few weeks ago to get it whipped into shape.\u00a0 We would like to drive it to\nFlorida next week alongside\u00a0a rental van\u00a0and leave it at the Missionary Flights International airport\nin Fort Pierce for the year.\u00a0 Will it\nmake it? In Creole, the phrase is “Bondye konnen!”<\/p>\n\n\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

“God knows!”<\/p>\n\n\n

2)\u00a0 We have our old\nhouse that is empty again after the latest renters moved out.\u00a0\u00a0Plus, I finally took the plunge and had the above-ground pool removed.\u00a0 It’s going to take a lot of time and energy\u00a0to get\u00a0the property\u00a0presentable for new renters.\u00a0 And FIND new\nrenters – preferably responsible adults. Non-smokers.\u00a0 Non-drinkers. No pets.\u00a0 Well-behaved children.\u00a0 (Is that too much to ask?)\u00a0 If we don\u2019t get everything fixed up,\u00a0we will be leaving behind a\u00a0burden for\u00a0family members or we\u2019ll have to hire it out. \u00a0Once it\u2019s ready for new tenants, if the house\nsits empty for too long, well, that will be a problem. Plus, there are some\nissues to work out yet with the former renters.<\/p>\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

And last but NOT least:<\/p>\n\n\n

3) Our support account.\u00a0\nWe started work in Haiti last year\u00a0before reaching 100% on our funding but with\u00a0a cushion of funds that had been\ngiven during our year of Stateside fundraising.\u00a0\nThroughout this past year of\u00a0ministry in Haiti, that cushion has\nmade up the shortfall each month.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

Now\nthat cushion is less like a pillow<\/strong><\/em> and more like a pillow case<\/strong><\/em>!\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

When we\u2019ve been the beneficiaries of so\nmuch generosity this summer (and the last two years in general!), it’s hard to process the cold reality that until we reach 100%, we will continue to be hounded by the fear that we’ll have to put the ministry in Haiti on pause in order to give full attention to closing the gap.<\/p>\n\n\n

This pause\u00a0is the\u00a0possibility that nags at our confidence in the Lord’s provision.\u00a0 It fills our minds with “What Ifs”.\u00a0 I suppose it is similar to a hovering fear of being “laid off” from work – but it’s not just work.\u00a0 It would involve leaving friends and coworkers, kids leaving their school, and\u00a0our family leaving our house.\u00a0 It is something that I have to continually lay back down at the feet of Jesus.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

Melissa and the kids and I would be so grateful if you would join us in lifting these situations in prayer.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

As you pray, if the Lord is prompting you to give towards closing this gap in our funding, our gratitude would know no bounds!\u00a0 Here is a link to the quickest way to give: http:\/\/www.onemissionsociety.org\/give\/TheGrosses<\/a>\u00a0. Or drop us a quick email to let us know: sgross@onemissionsociety.org<\/a> .<\/p>\n\n\n

As always, THANK YOU for joining with us in this ministry among the beloved people of Haiti through your prayers and generosity!\u00a0 God bless you.******************************************************<\/p>\n\n\n

”\u00a0Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.Instruct them<\/i> to do good, to be rich in good works [fn], to be generous and ready to share,\u00a0storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

life indeed.”\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

\u00a0– I Timothy 6:17-19<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Have you ever been in a setting where fellow believers ask for prayer requests and you rack your brain and then come to the conclusion “Life is good and smooth … I’ve got nothing”? Praise God for those times! That’s not where we are right now. Now, no doubt about it: we have had an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2286,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2285"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2285\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2287,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2285\/revisions\/2287"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}