Perseverance and Provision

Five years ago {almost to the day}, my husband flew to Birmingham, Alabama from Belize, Central America, to start a new life with a girl he had written letters to for the past 3 years. I was graduating Nursing school, he was planning to return to school, and then we were planning to return back overseas as medical missionaries. Simple enough... until I didn't pass my Nursing boards, he couldn't find a job, and we discovered that, despite the vast amount of knowledge he had in Life and Theology, none of his prior academic achievements would transfer to the current academic system.

So, I took a 50% pay cut, he began valeting cars in the evenings, and he decided to take a free training course to become a Patient Care Assistant (PCA) in the hospital. We had one car, and one cell phone, and I vaguely remember him trying to direct me once through North Birmingham from a pay-phone that was at a gas station near a sports bar where he was valeting in the rain. {Side note- I think I was bringing him a rain jacket} WOW.


But the Lord provided for us that year, and gave us firm footing on which to build our marriage. I ended up passing my Boards, Derek took his GED and landed a 2-year scholarship at Jeff State Community College, and he began working as a PCA in a local hospital's ICU. Somewhere along the way he heard about the profession of a Physician's Assistant, and decided that this was "right up his alley."


When Derek's two years at Jeff State were coming to completion, he was awarded yet another 2-year scholarship to study at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Through a couple at the church where Derek was now serving as Young Adults Pastor, we learned about the Medical Technology (Lab Sciences) Program and decided this would be a great skill to one day use in diagnosing diseases we would see while on the mission field. He jumped into this program, and the day he came home and told me {excitedly} that he had smelled a "Belizean village" on a petri dish, I knew we had chosen the right course of study.

From Day One, the Lord has equipped my husband with a passion for and understanding of the material he is learning that will one day help to share Christ with the lost. He has continually given him favor with teachers and fellow students alike, granted him the ability to maintain a high GPA despite a strenuous work load, and He has provided for us financially every step of the way. In December, Derek was offered a position to join the Physician's Assistant Class of 2011 starting this August. Next week, Lord-willing, my husband will graduate with his Bachelor's in Medical Technology...and we will begin the third {and final} stage of our academic journey in preparation for life as medical missionaries.

So, what have I learned in these last 5 years?

1) "By perseverance, the snail reached the ark". I have no idea the context in which Spurgeon used this little quote, but it has kept me trucking along when I have felt we are moving at a snail's pace. {Which is why it has remained on our refrigerator for almost 5 years now}.


2) Provision- during our last year apart while Derek was in Belize, I made Derek a "Bread Box" based on Deuteronomy 8:3 which says

He humbled you, causing you to hunger, and then fed you
with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known,

to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every

word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

I filled this box with Scripture for him to read every day we were apart, and now use it to keep the Scripture and little notes of encouragement we leave for each other on a regular basis. Whenever I feel like we are plodding along on a mundane journey, I pull out the box and am reminded of Samuel's words to Israel in 1 Samuel 7:12

"...Thus far has the Lord brought us."