Saturday, August 6, 2016

In the Ninth Hour

When I look back on the many times God has been faithful to provide and answer prayers so clearly and fully, I shake my head. So many times, He answers our prayers in the 'ninth hour,' so to speak. This is yet another one of those times. I can't help but think that He answers in the ninth hour only for my benefit as I "still" seem to struggle with patience in my heart even after all these years of His incredible faithfulness and goodness. Back in April this year, Jon was accepted into Rift Valley Academy, the American boarding school in Kenya where both Janae and Josh have and are attending. It is an incredible school and now all of our children have a deep desire to go there for some, if not all, of their high school years. Even though we realized that finding the money to send Jon there would be a huge step of faith, we enrolled him. Just a few weeks ago, our van sold which will help provide for his tuition there (despite the fact that we were totally honest about all of the mechanical issues that the van continues to have). This was a huge praise for our family. It was also a confirmation that God did indeed want Jon to attend this fall at RVA as a ninth grader. Enter my heart for Josiah and Josiah's heart ... Josiah has never been alone without one or more of his older siblings. Until just this year, he had never even slept in his own room before. Pretty much everything and everywhere he has gone all of his life has included at least one of his siblings -- even visits to friend's houses. Josiah began to grieve the loss of his sibling, Jon, almost immediately. It was tough for him to think about. It didn't help that he knew this was a possibility. The reality of it hit hard. That set both Josiah and myself to praying and seeking God for the opportunity for him to go to school locally. There are two really good options nowadays (there didn't used to be) for an eighth grader MK here in/near Jinja. I was able to get him accepted for a Friday day-only option, but this still left him homeschooling alone for four days of the week. Now if you know Josiah, he needs people. He was born to need to be around people even more than any of the rest of the Bob Peterson family. I had quite a list of reasons that I told God why Josiah should be allowed to go to school this year (as if God needed me to point any of them out). Now in the process of this praying, I was convicted that I need not "advertise" that I was willing to work part-time at either of the schools that could possibly take Josiah in order to hopefully reduce tuition to a place where we could afford it. (In a moment of weakness one day, I did email one school director but interestingly enough, she never read it.) Instead, we asked God to speak clearly. We would leave it up to Him. I would not approach either of the schools with a firm offer to give my services. If I was supposed to work part-time (full-time would be impossible as I could not continue to do ministry), then the leader(s) of the school would approach me and ask me to work part-time for them in some capacity. Otherwise, we would ask that God provide the funds in totality. Either of these two scenarios would answer our prayer specifically. If neither of these options occurred, then we would know that Josiah would be homeschooling. While the notion that our homeschooling era might be ending was a bit alarming to swallow, I believed in my heart that this was the case. We further decided earlier this week that if nothing happens before this weekend (like before today), then we would know that homeschooling is His answer to our prayers (again, not something that we were 'advertising'). As I write this, it is Saturday morning. Yesterday evening, I received a phone call. An anonymous donation was being made on our behalf specifically for Josiah to be able to attend one of the MK schools here locally and it was the entire amount needed. Did you hear that? It was just last night ... yes, the ninth hour! Today we would have made a decision to homeschool ... BUT ... God!!! Now Josiah will be attending an MK/Expat School that only goes through the eighth grade (his current grade) and is just 20 minutes away. There was another very good option 45 minutes away, but we believe in our hearts that this is the place where Josiah will attend. I talked with the administrator yesterday and she confirmed that Josiah would be accepted. Not only was he being accepted but she already had books for an eighth grader and a new desk because someone else for that same grade had cancelled!!! Only God could have orchestrated this and in His perfect timing. Why do I continue to have an impatient heart? I am still so weak and falter in my faith. I don't know if I will ever be patient in the way that God would want me to be. All I know is that He is a faithful God and He will never change. How good He is and how deeply He cares for our concerns. He is always working whether we see it or not. And I am filled with gratefulness, especially this morning ... in the ninth hour!!!

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