I spent eight days in Sao Paulo in May and though it went by in a whirlwind, the Lord was clearly in control of every detail. When we left Brazil quite suddenly in 2009, missionary friends were kind enough to distribute our belongings to various garages (so that someone else could move into our rented home). But after all this time some of them could no longer store our things and I felt it was time to relieve them (and me) of that burden. Since it was necessary for me to return to Brazil to renew my visa, I planned the trip to coincide with the huge yearly yard sale at the American school to facilitate the unloading of our junk.
Almost as soon as I got off the plane, I made my way to a friend's house and began sorting through hundreds of our books. As I prepared for the sale, I found many items that would not be of interest to rummage sale shoppers. I set those aside, asking the Lord to help me find people who'd be interested in them. Because I had no time to hunt them out, they would have to come to me. Well, that’s exactly what happened!
A seminary student came up to my friend, Barb, at a Friday morning prayer breakfast and asked if she knew anyone who had English theology books that he could add to his library. At a Thursday luncheon I met a Brazilian missionary to Albania who desperately needed Sunday school materials. Another missionary family needed our double bed (They’d been sleeping on the floor!) Another man came over to get the beat-up old file cabinet. Everything that did not go at the sale went some other way!
The week was full of miracles, but the biggest one was the absolute peace I had about leaving. I never once felt that our career in Brazil was over. Though letting go of many of our possessions, I was not letting go of the country or the people. I felt wonderfully free, and certain that our future is in the Lord’s hands.
Hope, thank you for sharing this. I really needed to be reminded that God is in control of and cares about even the little things or what is just our "dumb stuff."
Posted by: Rowena AtLee | June 10, 2011 at 04:54 AM