These are the words I have heard in my heart a lot over the past few months. It is a challenging time to be a missionary who is dependent on support due to the economic crisis in the world. I realize I am not the only one experiencing difficulties as several missionaries I know have either gone back home to the States or are really struggling just to pay rent and have enough to live on. This is the world we live in these days and many are hurting and feeling the affects of the economic problems.
While my support had been going down it also did not help that I changed my home church to Calvary Kaleo in Brawley, California after almost thirteen years with Calvary Chapel Boise. It was not something done lightly or easily but I felt God was calling me in a different direction than where CC Boise was going so it was the best thing to do under the circumstances. Pastor Bob of CC Boise was very gracious to continue supporting me for a time which I really appreciate as it helped a lot in the transition.
But now I am fully under Calvary Kaleo and excited about it. The pastor, Shane Herman, had been the pastor here in Bucharest so he knows exactly what the challenges and struggles are here and we are both on the same page as far as the vision for the ministry here. Unfortunately, since Calvary Kaleo is a church plant starting from scratch, they are not in a position yet to support me financially though in every other way they are so good to me.
While I was in the States from late August to mid October last year some things happened that served as a warning to me that I was going to experience some challenges when I got back to Romania that would cause me to consider moving back to the States but that the Lord still had things for me to do in Romania and that I should “walk by faith”.
The reason I recognized this is because it was not the first time the Lord had warned me. When I was planting the church in Braşov I had a dream in which I was back in the States and in the dream I realized I was not ever going to be allowed to go back to Romania. Still in the dream, I was so devastated I just cried and cried. When I woke up I realized that it was the Lord’s way of letting me know that Romania was still my calling and I was glad for this reminder as it was not long after that some challenges came up that made me want to quit and go back to the States. But I heard the words “walk by faith’ in my heart.
This time, while in the States, three good friends and my oldest sister in different ways and for different reasons talked to me about moving back to the States. They did not know each other or have any idea that the others had talked to me about moving back. For me this was very surprising as no one had ever done this before. Right away I wondered what was going on. So I took some time to seek the Lord about this as maybe what happened was the Lord’s way of telling me to move back to the States. I want to be open to what the Lord wants, whatever it is. While praying I still felt that God wasn’t done with me yet in Romania. Again what came to my mind was “walk by faith”.
Before I left to come back to Romania I received some confirmation from Shane as I talked to him about what people had said to me. His response was something like, “William, God’s ways are different. When the Lord tells us something we need to learn to “walk by faith”.
So, believing that the Lord still has things for me to do here I am staying. But what does it mean to “walk by faith” in the circumstances I find myself in today? I will explore that more in my next blog post.
