PART TWO
We mistakenly thought it would be a
simple process to get his paperwork taken care of. Two months later,
he called and said that I should come back to Japan with Joshua so
that we could at least be together. So we did.
Now, when we left, he had also quit his
job, of course, and the base where we were now staying was too far
away to go back. He had spent the past few months searching for work,
in vain, and the small amount of money we had hoped would help us
start out in the States was now quickly running out. Our room at the
base was a bit on the dingy side, not well furnished, and very small.
I remember one day looking around, wishing we had this and that which
would make our life so much simpler. At least a table would sure be
nice... We had nothing in the way of worldly goods but some clothes
in our suitcases! In my heart, I said, “Lord, if you wanted us to
stay in Japan, why didn't you just leave us alone? We were perfectly
happy right where we were! And now look at us! Here we are, destitute
and uncomfortable. No car, no job, no nothing!”
One day I was the only person at home
at the base, and my curiosity got the better of me. There were
myriads of empty rooms, and I began to wonder what they were like. I
went up the hall, opening the doors to peer inside each one. Most
were similar to ours. Then, I came to the last one at the end of the
hall. It was so full of stuff that I could not open the door all the
way. It was piled high with all manner of furniture (including a
table!), and even many of the items that we had donated to the base a
few months earlier! I was indignant! That was MY stuff! Why couldn't
I be using it? It would help in making my life so much more
comfortable!
(Friends from the YWAM Base)
I ran back to my room, fighting back
tears. How was it possible? Maybe I could ask the director if I
could... ? But then I felt the Lord sharply but kindly rebuke my
thinking. It was not my stuff! We had given it away! If we
gave it away, we had absolutely no rights to it. It was none of our
business what they did with it … it belonged to the base, not to
us! I gloomily looked around our empty room one more time.
And then, there came that voice again,
“Don't you think I could give it all to you again?”
That very afternoon, we went for a ride
on our (borrowed) bicycles, and once again spotted a nice pile of
“gomi”. I was intrigued when I spotted a rug that looked rather
large, all folded neatly and tied up with a piece of twine. I
couldn't open it all out on the road, so I put in on the back of my
bike to take a closer look at home.
When we got home, I opened it out and
nearly cried. (I had been doing that quite a bit lately!) It looked
brand new, like it had never been stepped on. It was exactly the size
of our room. And it was my favorite color. And there was that voice
again, “Don't you think I could give it to you again?”
Well, soon the day arrived when we had
spent our last yen and had no promise of more coming in from
anywhere. We ate our last meal and decided to go for a ride on our
(borrowed) bicycles again. We were feeling rather hopeless and
discouraged, but God still had more to teach us about His
faithfulness and provision for us. We had told no one of our
situation – that we were planning a “forced fast” for the
next... rest of our lives! But then we got a phone call. It was a
missionary that I had met only once and Fabio had never met. He
wanted to meet us at the base, so back we biked. When he arrived with
his family, they opened the back of their van and began to take out
bags and bags and bags of groceries... for us. We were floored, we
were thrilled, we were humbled and in awe. When they left us, we fell
down on our knees and worshipped our great God who takes such amazing
care of us.
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