My good friend Lisa, after reading my last post, sent me an excited email asking if she had missed a good “God story”. She happened to be privy to a little piece of information that, somehow, I forgot to blog – and it’s important! Let me explain…

E doesn’t actually have a dorm room yet. Yep, you read that right! Because she applied to and was accepted to her school so late, we knew it was probably a long shot that she would be assigned housing right away. She was placed on the wait list, at the beginning of June, at number 374. Hubs and I really wanted her to be on campus the first year, but the planner in me was ready to start checking out apartments, etc., just in case. Certainly, we were praying about it, and her number was going down. However, after a phone conversation with my mom, and reading something (of course) with my small group, I was challenged in my faith. Following is what I wrote to them:

Earlier this week I was talking to my mom on the phone. I was telling her about the continuing vigil we are holding, as we wait for a dorm room to come available for E. We’re currently #182 on the waitlist. Now, Hubs and I really want her to be on campus for the first year. Because the application and acceptance to this school came so late in the game, we felt relatively certain that we would be put on a wait list for housing, so this didn’t come as a surprise. But the planner in me would like to have several back-up plans in case things don’t pan out. I’ve been praying for God to make space for her, but my tendency is to help Him along a little and go look at apartments! My mom listened patiently to all this, and then she said, “Don’t you think that the pull you feel to look at apartments is Satan trying to thwart you from having faith that God can get her a room? Certainly, he doesn’t want you to rely on God.” And, as mothers often are, she’s right.

I was reading Chapter 5 in our book, and was struck by one phrase in particular: “confident expectation”. On page 95, Jennifer [Rothschild – Lessons Learned in the Dark] talks about how “endurance develops character and character strengthens our confident expectation…” God has shown the way for Emmie – shouldn’t I be “confidently expectant” of His provision for her? Shouldn’t I believe that He WILL do it and not just that he can? I can think of actual situations in every one of our lives in which we could and should be confidently expectant that God WILL provide, WILL protect, WILL heal. Surely, if we do, He WILL use our endurance of trials and suffering for His glory and give us “joy – special goodness in the widest sense.”

We just returned from freshman orientation, and like my last post stated, we are preparing for that dorm. We are waiting with “confident expectancy” that God will provide. Two weeks ago, she was #111. Our next update is tomorrow. I’ve told other people about this, and I usually get the “you DO have a back-up plan, DON’T you??” response. I kind of feel like Noah…people looking at me skeptically, wondering at the wisdom in my “plan”. But that’s just it – it isn’t my plan. It’s God’s. Just like Noah, we’re preparing for rain.