The passing of years can seem to be a long time or only a few days — it’s all in perspective. Looking at the rocks and mesas surrounding Immanuel Mission evidence of many years of God’s use of His creation is seen in the scouring and shifting sands. Yet -
It seems only a few days ago that there were worry lines on the face of a wife who never knew the delight of being submissive to her husband. She has been brought up in the tradition of the matriarch — the woman makes the decisions and leads. God is doing His work and is using the truth of His Word to scour away the worry lines and replace them with wrinkles of joy as she looks with respect to her husband and he returns to her his look of love. Thank you God for the sands of time that you allow to trickle through Your fingers for the benefit of Your chosen ones.
And then there was the shy and quiet Navajo man whose eyes reflected the gleam of fear each time he was to speak aloud. Just as we experience new vision after the cloud of dirt, debris, and sand of this earth settle following a violent storm, now he too has the new vision of the Lord. With the confidence of Christ as his Savior, his eyes not on his shyness, but instead on the glory of the risen Savior, he can speak openly and without hesitation of what God is doing in His life. Thank you God that Your sand of time is doing it’s work.
These are some of the changes that we, Dave and Leona Douglas, have been privileged to witness in 16 years as staff at Immanuel Mission. And now the sands of time are causing changes for us personally. God has shown us that it is time to leave Immanuel Mission and He desires to shift us to a new area and move us on to the next thing He has for us. At the end of this school term we will be going from full time support work — bus mechanic/maintenance worker and bookkeeper — to full time retirement work. — discipleship and nurturing of those He puts in our lives and our grandchildren as well. As our grandchildren are located in the Pacific Northwest that is where we will be heading.
Verses He has given us come from Deuteronomy 33:18-19 NASV — “…Rejoice, Zebulun, (Dave) in your going forth, (from Immanuel Mission into the unknown of My choosing) and, Issachar, (Leona) in your tents, (our 12′ slide-in camper parked just wherever He leads). They shall call peoples to the mountain; (to Christ as their personal Savior) there they shall offer righteous sacrifices ; (worship of God and God alone) for they shall draw out the abundance of the seas, (those we encounter in the seas of the Pacific NW) and the hidden treasures of the sand.” (as already shared above).
It is with trust and trepidation that we embark upon this new “Sierra” in our lives. We are trusting God for His leading, yet somewhat like Moses — “What if they will not believe me, or listen to what I say…” and His answer is still the same — “I, even I, will be with your mouth, and teach you what you are to say.” Thank You, God, that even though we see the shifting of the sands of earth and the resulting changes, You are changeless. You are the same yesterday, today, and forever.