I would like to share a brief testimony with you. I have been self employed going on two and a half years. My business was in software (database and web design) -- cos you know Youth ministry doesn't pay. It was well when everything was swimming, tech boom, etc. but after the birth of my second daughter, IT departments were pulling back their budgets to outside contractors. Business really dried up!!
God really tested me. Times when that stiff upper lip just had to melt and myself and my wife cried because we had no idea where the next penny was coming from. People reneging on paying for bills, pulling the plug on a single contract worth £25k, other designers costing me because of unreliability, I admit I felt really depressed sometimes but God kept on reminding me he had not finished with me it. Like Job (sans the skin disorder and lost children) I felt like it was all tumbling in around me. But God continued to provide with a roof over my head, bills paid and children fed -- my bread was always sure. PRAISE THE LORD!! He kept a song in my heart!!!
Some of you know that I even went on a fast to find out from God what he wanted me to do as things were getting really desperate. Sometimes spending more time on here than I should but .... I just want to thank you all for your words of support, words of encouragement, humour and prayers. Just when I thought to myself
"God, OK am I subject to more poverty?"
" Is this gonna be for much longer?"
... he placed in my lap not one but two employment opportunities. He placed an opportunity for my wife as well (always quicker than mine -- who says God does not have a sense of humour). He has shown me that I will be in full time ministry but not quite yet, just hold own while I sort some stuff out and continue in my spare time doing my designing.
Going forward I think the many hours I have spent praying and posting on this forum will definitely decrease, but I want to share with you that my faith and trust in God over the last year has grown in leaps and bounds. Taking me down the highway and back on a tank that read empty is nothing short of a miracle. God has continued to shape a once stubborn ultra-conservative head strong Christian into one who listens more and considers himself a fundamental liberal (For definition, I know what i believe but temper it with more compassion than I used to. God can fight his own battles - just concentrate on fighting the ones he gives me). I am not afraid to admit when I am wrong -- for me that has been a steep mountain to climb!!!!
Thanks to all of you who unknowingly worked with God to help me change and shape me into the man I am. God knows what you have done and said and some of you have already had the PMs from me. Keep praying for me and my family as we do for you. I love the family and fellowship here and hope in some way through my presence I share jsut a little bit of Jesus with you, a little bit of the end result of what started as a simple plan in Eden. Let us continue to edify each other with love patience and wisdom, and TAKE HEART....God will never let you down.
God is MY STRENGTH
Dave 
God really tested me. Times when that stiff upper lip just had to melt and myself and my wife cried because we had no idea where the next penny was coming from. People reneging on paying for bills, pulling the plug on a single contract worth £25k, other designers costing me because of unreliability, I admit I felt really depressed sometimes but God kept on reminding me he had not finished with me it. Like Job (sans the skin disorder and lost children) I felt like it was all tumbling in around me. But God continued to provide with a roof over my head, bills paid and children fed -- my bread was always sure. PRAISE THE LORD!! He kept a song in my heart!!!
Some of you know that I even went on a fast to find out from God what he wanted me to do as things were getting really desperate. Sometimes spending more time on here than I should but .... I just want to thank you all for your words of support, words of encouragement, humour and prayers. Just when I thought to myself
"God, OK am I subject to more poverty?"
" Is this gonna be for much longer?"
... he placed in my lap not one but two employment opportunities. He placed an opportunity for my wife as well (always quicker than mine -- who says God does not have a sense of humour). He has shown me that I will be in full time ministry but not quite yet, just hold own while I sort some stuff out and continue in my spare time doing my designing.
Going forward I think the many hours I have spent praying and posting on this forum will definitely decrease, but I want to share with you that my faith and trust in God over the last year has grown in leaps and bounds. Taking me down the highway and back on a tank that read empty is nothing short of a miracle. God has continued to shape a once stubborn ultra-conservative head strong Christian into one who listens more and considers himself a fundamental liberal (For definition, I know what i believe but temper it with more compassion than I used to. God can fight his own battles - just concentrate on fighting the ones he gives me). I am not afraid to admit when I am wrong -- for me that has been a steep mountain to climb!!!!
Thanks to all of you who unknowingly worked with God to help me change and shape me into the man I am. God knows what you have done and said and some of you have already had the PMs from me. Keep praying for me and my family as we do for you. I love the family and fellowship here and hope in some way through my presence I share jsut a little bit of Jesus with you, a little bit of the end result of what started as a simple plan in Eden. Let us continue to edify each other with love patience and wisdom, and TAKE HEART....God will never let you down.
God is MY STRENGTH
Dave
